UTER
Photo: Erin McKittrick, CC BY 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons
Oncorhynchus gorbuscha
How to catch Pink (humpy) salmon
Pink (humpy) salmon feed in 45–62°F water and bite best at 50–58°F. Fish Scouter's season calendar follows them in 3 waters.
15 pts · trophy at 22"Feeds 45–62°FBest 50–58°FOut of season nowBeach / surfPass / inletFishing pierChannel edgeRiver
About
The humpy: the smallest and most numerous salmon, on a strict two-year cycle — Puget Sound gets millions in odd years and almost none in even years; Alaska gets them every summer. Easy, fun, and a kid's first salmon.
How to fish it
Anything pink, retrieved slow off the beaches, points and creek mouths on the tide. Light gear.
What it eats
pink mini-hoochiessmall pink spoons and buzz bombspink jigs
Live bait for it
HerringCut-plug for salmon: head off at an angle, guts out, two hooks in tandem so it spins slow behind a flasher or a banana weight. Whole and live on a circle hook for stripers where the herring run.
What to fish it with
the sizes that fish itLeader20–40 lb fluorocarbon
Hook#1–4/0
Jig head1/8–1/2 oz
Braid10–30 lb
The rule
not confirmed hereRules differ by state — check WDFW or ADF&G before you keep one.
The current rule →Where it is, month by month
PPeakSSpawningAArriving·AroundLLeaving
Alaska & Hawaii