If you find yourself nearly beheaded by a buzz bomb or nearly clipped in the face by a Clauser, then you know it’s pink salmon fishing time on Puget Sound.
Every odd-numbered year in late summer, millions (that’s right, millions) of pink salmon return home to Puget Sound rivers from the Pacific Ocean. Right around that same time, an equal number of anglers, it seems, fill the beaches from Dash Point to Commencement Bay to try and fill their coolers with these abundant fish.
The scene at Dash Point last week, with anglers lining the pier standing shoulder-to-shoulder, would indicate the pinks have started their biennial run.
These fish, which anglers often refer to as “humpies” because of the exaggerated humped shoulder the males develop when they arrive in fresh water, enter Puget Sound through the Strait of Juan de Fuca, and hug the Sound coast line south until they reach their spawning areas in Western Washington rivers.
Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife reports that most of the pink salmon anglers encounter from Dash Point to Browns Point are bound for the Puyallup River, the de facto southern boundary for pinks in Puget Sound that sees heavy runs of humpies in early fall.
However, pinks have a reputation for expanding their habitat into neighboring rivers, and some humpies have been reported as far south as the Nisqually River at the southern tip of Puget Sound.
By all accounts and predictions, this year should go down in the books as a pink salmon summer to remember. WDFW reports that 5.1 million fish, that’s 2 million more than the record return of 2007, are on their way home to Puget Sound.
The Puyallup should receive more than 700,000 of this total, while the Green River will become a final resting place for nearly a million.
These fish have thrived during a time when so many Puget Sound salmon struggle because unlike chinook salmon or steelhead, young pinks return to the safety and vastness of saltwater quickly after hatching.
Other salmon fry battle for survival in Puget Sound rivers for up to a year before journeying back to the ocean.
While spending their adolescence in fresh water, chinook and steelhead must battle natural and human predators, while at the same time dealing with diminishing water quality and encroaching development.
Last week at Dash Point, anglers reported slow fishing from the pier, while anglers at Browns Point reveled in their morning and evening success that seemed to coincide with the incoming tide.
“When the schools come through, almost everybody has a fish on,” said “Bill,” a Federal Way resident fishing at Browns Point last Wednesday. “Although, it can be slow at times,” he added.
Bill didn’t want to give his last name for fear that we would print it in the paper and his wife would find out he went fishing instead of to the bank and grocery store, as she requested.
“Last night after 6:30 was incredible,” he said, “although we’ve done real well at sunrise.”
And for the next few weeks, the fishing from the beach should only get better.
Bill uses interchangeably a buzz bomb and a Dick Nite spoon, although he mixes up his presentation with a pink jig when the former lures don’t seem to do the trick.
Fly anglers tie on a pink and white Clauser minnow, or some variation of that classic fly, to lure in these willing biters.
Although pinks, which range in size from three to five pounds, are prized among anglers for their abundance and spirited fight on light tackle, their reputation as table fare is hotly debated.
The consensus suggests that fresh pinks caught in salt water and cooked immediately on the barbeque usually yield a reasonably firm, flavorful fish.
“They’re no silvers,” Bill said, “but they’re good.”
“Once they hit the river, though, smoking them is the only way to go,” he added.
The vast majority of anglers queried at Browns Point last week seem to prefer smoking pinks to firm the meat and add flavor.
Bill recommends “bleeding” pinks immediately upon catching them. He contends that removing the entrails and blood helps keep the meat firm and tasty.
Bill also packs in fish on ice in a cooler the moment after he marks his catch card and cleans his fish.
The daily limit for Puget Sound pinks from the beach is four, and anglers must mark the location, day and species of each catch on their catch card immediately.
With the excitement and revelry underway on local beaches, it’s a good time to introduce a young person to the sport of fishing. Generous limits and consistent action for hard-fighting pinks make for a great outing for the first-timer.
In fact, with 5.1 million chances out there, it’s safe to say you’re guaranteed a fish. The only thing aren’t guaranteed to find is a place to park.