This season’s returning Pink Salmon are in big-time and fishing was great this weekend! We started at Richmond Beach this morning, and had a little action but not phenomenal, so we ran north to Marine Area 9 and fished in the deep water between Possession and Picnic Point. As we approached, we could see Pinks jumping in multiple areas to the right and left of us, so we decided it was a good place to slow down and deploy our trolling gear.
Pink Salmon are a schooling fish, so we had confidence that if we worked the area, we would eventually troll through a large school and have some opportunities. It didn’t take long to find some action, and we picked up quite a few.
We trolled rods at 30′, 50′ and 65′ and those were all the magic depths, so we didn’t need to play around too much with that. Our gear choice is in the attached photos, with a little herring scent and a small herring strip on the top hook. I experimented with one of the new Yakima Baits SpinFish trolled off the flatline rod behind a 4 ounce mooching sinker and that picked up a few as well! I was surprised on the light boat pressure in that area, but the few other boats around us were finding success as well.
This is turning into the best Pink Salmon season in my memory, and hopefully you are encouraged enough to get out and give it a go!
I wrote a pretty thorough post on Puget Sound Pink Salmon fishing if you are just learning or want a little more detail. Best of luck out there everyone!
Puget Sound Coho Salmon Clinic – August 24th in Woodinville
