Len's Sportfishing Adventures - Ph: 1-604-991-0287

Pink

Salmon fishing in British Columbia can be spectacular! In fact, the Fraser River in B.C. is the largest salmon producing river in the world with huge runs of Chinook Salmon ( King Salmon ), Coho Salmon ( Silver Salmon ), Chum Salmon, Sockeye Salmon and Pink Salmon. The timing of the runs often over-lap and it is frequently possible to catch several species in the same day. They can be readily caught fly fishing, drifting, mooching, spin casting or with ultra-lite tackle.

Pink are probably the easiest of the five pacific salmon to catch and can be a lot of fun on ultra-lite spinning or fly tackle. They love . . . . . jigs. They are in local rivers in September and October only during the odd years. (e.g. 2001, 2003 etc).

Pink Salmon are the smallest of the pacific salmon species, the average size is around 6 pounds with the larger males in the 10 pond range. What they lack in size they make up in numbers, there is an average of 15 million pink salmon returning to the Fraser River to spawn.

When They Return To Spawn!
The pinks have a 2 year life cycle, after they hatch they start there journey to the ocean immediately. On the Fraser and other local waters they will return in 2009, 2011 est. Pink Salmon are known also as humpies and hump back, the male pinks develop a large hump on their backs sometimes the size of a small plate.

What Time To Fish Pink Salmon!

On the Fraser and Harrison rivers the pinks start to return in the later part of august. They are in full migration by the second week of September, with millions of them returning.

Pink Salmon Fishing Methods!

There is a lot of different fishing methods used to catch these fish; as long as your lure or fly is pink they will readily bite it. Some of the methods’ we employ are, fly fishing with 5, 6 and 7 weight fly rods. When fly fishing for pinks I like to take my guests to the slower parts of the river, here we use a floating line with a long leader or a sink tip with slow sink rate. In some instances they will even take a floating fly, this can be difficult but it can be done.

The other method often used is spin casting with ultra light rods. With this type of fishing gear a spoon is used. Float fishing for pinks with marabou jigs is a lot of fun also.

Who Should Fish Pink Salmon

This fishery is a great way to introduce children and those that do not spend a lot of time fishing. With the great September weather and so many fish in the river it is a lot of fun. The action can be fast and that is exactly what you need to keep the youngster interested. Having said that I also enjoy fishing for pinks and when doing so I like to experiment with different techniques to see just what they will bite on.