humpies (pink) salmon run

Okanagan · September 16, 2009, 10:03:52 PM

Big run of humpies near my house. Plumb distracting as I enjoy catching them on light tackle.

I haven't done much with the fly rod yet. My brother-in-law joined me the past two evenings and we caught so many on spin gear that we didn't even try to count. He guessed we landed 35 between 6:30 or 7:00 and headlight dusk the first evening. We'd had seven doubles, both of with fish on, when I forgot to keep counting. Yesterday we went out around noon and hammered them till sundown. I had a string of seven fish in seven casts and he had a similar run.

We've kept seven bright firm fish so far. The meat is a mild, pale colored salmon, little flavor except whatever spices you add. As table fare they don't rank with sockeye, Chinook or Coho, but I like them when they are sea fresh and firm. Barbless hooks and we release them in the water. Three of those I kept were hook injured and that's why they went in the cooler. Picnic weather and lots of fun.

Todd Rahm · September 16, 2009, 10:23:51 PM

Pinks are great to get into if ya want some action.

And are great for getting kids started.

But like you, I like to go at them with my fly rod. They are good to eat but I generally use them for the smoker.

Those all look good. Do ya get any that get the hude hump going on? The things almost look freaky.

Okanagan · September 17, 2009, 12:30:14 AM

Quote from: Todd Rahm on September 16, 2009, 10:23:51 PM
Pinks are great to get into if ya want some action. And are great for getting kids started.

But like you, I like to go at them with my fly rod. They are good to eat but I generally use them for the smoker.

Those all look good. Do ya get any that get the hude hump going on? The things almost look freaky.

Yeah, I wish my grandkids were here. Perfect for kids.

These were the brightest I've ever caught in fresh water. Bright fresh fish are mixed in with darker fish with a big hump starting to form and mouth morphing into the hooked beak. It is amazing how much these fish change in such a short time. No one would recognize them as the same fish a few weeks later. If I remember to do it, I'll get a pic one of these days of a big hump backed male.

FinsnFur · September 17, 2009, 05:25:38 AM

Approx 35 in a half an hour?
Thats just not right

alscalls · September 17, 2009, 08:13:57 AM

Todd Rahm · September 17, 2009, 08:17:28 AM

Theres a nice one my buddy caught on this page here.

http://www.k-kustomrods.com/Fish_Gallery.html

pitw · September 17, 2009, 08:39:51 AM

I hate being stupid

but whats a humpy? Looks like that would be fun for more than just younguns to me

. Thanks for furthering my education

.

alscalls · September 17, 2009, 10:43:03 AM

humpies ..............(pink) salmon.......Its in the title.....

pitw · September 17, 2009, 11:30:20 AM

You're gonna like this

So you are saying "pink" is like the words Coho and Atlantic

? Kinda/sorta looks like the Kokaneee I caught this summer[guy from Montana told me what it was

].

Okanagan · September 17, 2009, 11:37:10 AM

Quote from: FinsnFur on September 17, 2009, 05:25:38 AM
Approx 35 in a half an hour?
Thats just not Right

My bad for sloppy writing again. It was well over an hour. We started about 6:30 or 7:00 (I'm not sure within a half hour of when we started) and fished until it was dark enough to need headlights to drive out. That would be well after 8:00 pm. They are strong fish and it takes anywhere from one to four minutes to land one on medium light tackle, depending on how big it is and how much he fights out in the current etc. Probably a fourth of them are foul hooked. If we hook a big male in his hump for example, we're pulling on him sideways and if he fights out in swift current that way it is a long strong fight unless a person is winching them in with heavy bait caster gear.

Pitw, a humpy or pink salmon is the smallest of the five species of Pacific salmon. A lot of these recent fish will weigh four to six pounds. Other times they will be around ten pounds or more, and come in schools of similar size fish. They are sliver and shaped like big trout when they are in salt water, like the single one in my photos. When they enter fresh water on their spawning run, they begin to change shape and rapidly turn red, green and partly black. Females become mottled in color. Males grow a high hump on their back and turn either a blackish brown or red with a green head, and their mouth warps into a toothy beak with nose hooked down. In the photo of three fish together, all three are males, and the one in the middle is starting to grow the hump on his back though he has not changed color yet.

They run every other year, on the odd years, and are two years old when they return. On even numbered years there are no pinks at all, zero, and on the odd years like this one there are literally millions and millions in a big river like the Fraser.

Their meat tends to go soft quickly once caught unless bled, cleaned and iced immediately. Some fishermen bad mouth them because they are easy to catch and aren't as good on the table. I'm a kid I guess, plus I like to eat a few meals of them when I can care for the meat myself . Plumb tasty. Humpies are a huge commercial resource and a lot of canned salmon is pink salmon if you read the label.

Okanagan · September 17, 2009, 11:42:34 AM

Quote from: pitw on September 17, 2009, 11:30:20 AM
You're gonna like this So you are saying "pink" is like the words Coho and Atlantic ? Kinda/sorta looks like the Kokaneee I caught this summer[guy from Montana told me what it was ].

Kokanee are sockeye salmon that are landlocked in freshwater lakes and do not go out to sea. Same fish, but they don't get as big because they don't have all that ocean forage to eat. They run up creeks from the lake to spawn and change color from silver bright to red with a green head, exactly like ocean sockeye do. In Alaska they call sockeyes reds.

pitw · September 17, 2009, 01:09:13 PM

Holy freaking WOW

What a great answer to a question

. I can see the hump starting and the hook jaw now that I know what to look at. I thank you for my edication and will always be in your debt

. That is just to cool to learn good stuff like this.

Okanagan · September 17, 2009, 11:24:06 PM

Pitw, thank you for the compliment.

Here's a photo of a male humpy (pink salmon) that I caught this evening. He is further along in developing his hump, maybe half of the way but hasn't changed color much yet. I plan to take at least one more photo of a male and maybe a female also, that are farther along. If I could figure out how, it would be good to put a series of these photos together showing humpies at different stages. They morph from silver torpedo to garish monster.

This fish was strong. Caught him with a spin rod but mostly used a fly rod tonight. Fabulous evening with a fly rod. Zowie! I'll probably post a bit about it in freshwater.

Okanagan · September 21, 2009, 02:58:11 PM

FYI for the curious about changes in salmon during spawning, a couple of photos of female pink salmon. Like the males, they start out silver in the ocean, and though they don't grow a hump, they change color. These photos show a couple of females in early stages of change, one darker and farther along than the other. The lighter colored doe had a tight skein of eggs, while the darker ones eggs were loose and scattered individually.

Black_Wolf · December 07, 2009, 09:00:12 PM

Those are awesome looking fish!

You must be in Alaska I would assume.

Really cool catches!

golfertrout · December 08, 2009, 02:24:57 AM

those would be alot of fun to catch, i would love to spend a couple weeks fishing for those. ive been in florida for 5 weeks and i have been catching some snook and they say they are very good to eat but i never tried one. thanks for the pics

GunDog · December 08, 2009, 10:45:14 AM

Quotei have been catching some snook and they say they are very good to eat but i never tried one

They are fighters and one of our favorites on the menu here. I'm bet'in you'll enjoy them linesides too!

humpies (pink) salmon run

Black_Wolf