Pink Salmon on the Fly

[Dust1n]

Can someone help me out on this? Iv never done this sort of fly fishing yet and want to try it out when im on the island.
Thanks

[Gust]

Pink for pink,,, I would get small hoochies and fanangle them onto a size ten hook. Another was a pink wool fat san juan worm home job and another looks like a pink walleye jig with some silver tinsel, that one was a gift and you need to wear eye protection while casting it.

If you are fishing close to where the pink are entering a spawn creek fish on the side beach towards where the water looks glassy, thats ffreshh water atop the salt water. Once the pink are in the freshwater they stop eating so make sure you are in a salt fresh mix.

Check your regs for rivermouth boundaries and good luck,, more pink are caught on odd years but you may chance a coho or even a chinook,

Post pics even if the bite is slow and ask the locals what the lure of choice is lately.

be safe

[Sitkaspruce]

Originally Posted by Fish Hunter7

Can someone help me out on this? Iv never done this sort of fly fishing yet and want to try it out when im on the island.
Thanks

Where you going to be fishing??

Pinks are a lot of fun on the fly. Not really a lot different that fly fishing for trout in still water or on a river. They are pretty acrobatic and will give a good account of themselves. The bonus is when you hook a coho or the odd spring that things really heat up....

I use an 7 wgt, WF floating line with a solid 6-8' 10 lbs leader and anything with red/white or pink/white on a #1 hook. I tie my own on with anything in those colours, but nothing fancy.

Look for rising or jumping fish and try to cast in front or beside them. They travel in schools and will usually move in with the flood tide, both on the beach and in the river. I find a strip of about 1-2', then rest for a second then repeat will work, but try all sorts of different retieves.

Make sure you have a knife to bleed them and some place to keep them cool as pinks will go soft fast.

If you have more questions, let me know.

Cheers

SS

[Bhflyfisher]

Location is key. If you're not in the right area. You wont touch fish. You need to know tides. Fly selection is not important. Anything size 6-10 in pink will get you fish. Again more experienced people will put you onto fish. Pink is not the only color you need though. Usually people would say to fish campbell river if you just want fish. But thats almost next to impossible this year on the fly. The river is the highest it has been in many many years. Water from bank to bank, and it is not a gentle river. Very dangerous. What are you fishing, beaches? Estuaries? Rivers?

That being said, i've gone every single year for the past 8 years. Its a lot of fun.

[fish gunner]

mysis shrimp patterns,colored pink or orange with a marker pen drive hummpies crazy in the salt. be on the water at least 30 min before the rise of the tide. be very careful wading in tidal waters, rips form on shallow sloping bottoms. this can wash the bottom right out from under your feet. study the wave action. most beaches will form wave sets=Π the rips form between the sets = √. generally a beach will form a steady pattern. Π √ Π √ Π √ Π. the rip is water rushing out to sea balancing the wave action shoving up the slope. know your local tides. research rips, keep your wits, wear a wading belt. have fun. catch lots of hummpies.

[AdamJ]

not to say that there won't be fish, but this is the off year for pinks. there will not be a big pink run. further south however, in WA and OR, there have been record runs of sockeye! seen tons of them staging in lake washington.

[Bhflyfisher]

Originally Posted by AdamJ

not to say that there won't be fish, but this is the off year for pinks. there will not be a big pink run. further south however, in WA and OR, there have been record runs of sockeye! seen tons of them staging in lake washington.

Adam, this is the ON year for the island. This is the better run for the island rivers (most get fish both even and odd years, but almost any streams bearing pinks on the island will have fish this year). The fraser valley areas are the ones that are odd year fish. The island gets even years.

Nice to hear about oregon though, im headed there on the 19th of august. Hopefully i can tag into some fish!

[bakerman]

I always use a 7wt quick sink tip with a 9ft 10lb test leader, you want to make sure your getting down close to the bottom.Use anything pink or lime green tied in a doc spratley pattern size8.

[AdamJ]

Originally Posted by Bhflyfisher

Adam, this is the ON year for the island. This is the better run for the island rivers (most get fish both even and odd years, but almost any streams bearing pinks on the island will have fish this year). The fraser valley areas are the ones that are odd year fish. The island gets even years.

Nice to hear about oregon though, im headed there on the 19th of august. Hopefully i can tag into some fish!

Very interesting, Jer. I did not realize that. The pinks are off this year in the puget sound area, so I assumed further north would be the same.

[Bhflyfisher]

Originally Posted by AdamJ

Very interesting, Jer. I did not realize that. The pinks are off this year in the puget sound area, so I assumed further north would be the same.

Yeah, its very commonly mistaken. I got my years mixed up a while ago. The island does get big runs in the odd years too though. Only certain systems though. Most are hatchery enhanced. Last year on the island was unbelievable. Never caught so many 6lb+ pinks in my life. Very fat and long fish. It seemed as though the 23-27" fish out numbered the 16-22" class. It was different, but it was very welcomed. The E fished really well, but the campbell was high, still fished pretty good though. Really got to know a small stream and had a blast catching coastal cutts!

This year is definitely not the same case as last year fish size wise... smaller fish this year (so far). Really small. 2lb 16-20" fish average with a few piggies mixed in... sigh. Life's tough.

I leave on sunday for my trip, and cant wait, i love chasing the salmon and coastal cutties around. Its a nice change of pace.