Species Guide: Pink Salmon
Of all the waterways pink salmon spawn in (from California's Sacramento River all the way around the Pacific Rim to Japan) the streams in British Columbia and Alaska receive the most predictable large runs. In the case of pinks, "large runs" can turn into a real life vista of bank-to-bank fish. Some fisherman even return from Alaska or British Columbia complaining about pinks ruining, or at least interrupting, their fishing.That's because pinks inhabit the same waters as the larger, more glamorous types of Pacific salmon, and they occasionally constitute a nuisance. But the most common complaint about them is that they're "too small", most weighing in between three and five pounds. On a fly rod, record book pinks weigh 10 to 11 pounds.I understand the feelings of these trophy-hungry anglers, but learned a long time ago that if you match your rod, tippet, and fly to the fish you're after, you can have as much fun with a 12-inch brook trout as you can with any other fish.And if you travel 2,000 miles and find out there are no other salmon around, pinks can save the trip for you. They eat flies greedily, and when they are fresh from the ocean, make good sport on light tackle. And if you can't catch pinks, you can't fish. They humble the haughty occasionally, but generally make fair to middling fly fishers feel like champs.In salt water, pink salmon are not pink but silver. They have big black spots high on their backs and evenly over both lobes of their tails. The spots on the tails are oval shaped, which is important to remember when attempting to positively identify the species brought to hand.Pink salmon put up a good fight on light tackle, especially when fresh from the ocean. This specimen still has sea lice on its anal fin, meaning it hasn't been in freshwater more than a few days.In fresh water, male pink salmon develop a huge humped back, leading to their most enduring nickname: "humpy." They also develop a distinct pink coloration down their sides during spawning, and an extension and curl to both the upper and lower jaws.Most pinks spawn in coastal estuaries or just a few miles inland away from the ocean, although some less typcial races travel far inland to spawn. Like sockeye salmon, pinks often have a two-year cycle with a heavy run one year, and just an "insurance policy" run of spawning fish the next. Pink salmon are typically fall spawners, but can be found entering some rivers as early as July, and others as late as November.While pinks are not considered a prime species by the commercial fishing industry, their abundance in some watersheds makes them a logical table choice for conservation-minded fish- eaters. While the flesh of other pacific salmon species is either red or white, the pinks salmon have pink flesh. Some say this lack of redness comes from lack of oil, which makes the flesh less tasty. Others say less oil means less cholesterol, and therefore it's the modern man's (and woman's) preferred fish flesh. Whatver the case, I think it tastes great, and if my keeping a fish or two won't hurt local stocks, I'm happy to do it.
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