Pink Salmon

Pink salmon are the smallest Pacific salmon, and most confusion comes from mixing them up with chum or coho salmon when they are fresh from salt water. In the ocean or right at the mouth of a river, pinks are bright silver with a slim body, small scales, and large oval black spots on the back and on both lobes of the tail. Chum and coho also carry spots, but coho only spots the top of the tail, not both lobes, and chum have no spots at all. That tail pattern, big black ovals covering the whole tail fin, is the fastest way to separate a pink from anything else in the water.

Once pinks move into rivers to spawn, males change dramatically. They grow a huge humped back and a hooked, snaggle-toothed jaw, which is why they are commonly called humpies. This body shape is far more exaggerated than the mild hooking you see on spawning coho or chinook, and no other common salmon develops a hump like it. Spawning females turn olive and blotchy but keep the tail spotting and stay slimmer than the males. Pinks also run smaller than every other Pacific salmon except maybe a small chum, usually three to five pounds, so size alone is a decent clue when everything else is muddy.

Pink salmon live in the North Pacific and spawn in coastal rivers and streams from the Pacific Northwest up through Alaska. They spend most of their two-year life in saltwater, feeding along the coast, then return to their home streams to spawn and die, the same as other Pacific salmon.

Runs are strongest in odd-numbered years across most of their range, though some far northern rivers see decent even-year runs too. You will find them staging near river mouths and tidewater before pushing upstream, often in water so thick with fish you can see their backs breaking the surface.

In saltwater, pink salmon feed on zooplankton, small crustaceans, and baitfish like herring and sand lance. Once they enter freshwater to spawn, they stop feeding entirely. Any bites you get on the river come from aggression or reflex, not hunger, which is why bright, flashy lures worked right in front of their face get more strikes than anything meant to look like real food.

In saltwater or river mouths, troll or cast small spoons and spinners in pink and silver. Pink is not a color choice by accident here, these fish respond to it more than almost any other salmon species.

Once pinks are staging in rivers, light spinning tackle with a small pink or chartreuse jig under a float works well. Cast across the current and let the jig swing through pods of fish, twitching it as it drifts. A bare hook wrapped in pink yarn can outfish an expensive lure on a crowded day. Because pinks stop feeding in freshwater, keep your presentation small and quick rather than working an area slowly.

Pink salmon fight hard for their size and are excellent on light tackle. Check your state and river-specific regulations before you go, since limits and open sections change year to year and some systems are closed to protect spawning fish.