Good post. Thank you very much.
Pinks Like it Sloooooow
I've read quite a few posts (in fact many) of people not being able to connect with Pinks this year. I'd rate this year with one of the top years since I have been fishing (over 55 now).
Pinks are the most aggressive of all salmon. Yes springs and cohos and dogs have their moments but how many times have you seen any of those attack your lure in the company of others? Probably highly unlikely. Pinks are voracious if you feed them right.
Its true that you can chuck almost anything and catch a pink. But to truly capitalize on this fishery, I offer a few hints:
- first and foremost, the retrieve has to be SLOW. If you think you are retrieving slow, then slow down even more. Yes you will catch pinks at fast retrieves but nowhere near what you will get when you retrieve almost pitifully slow. The intent anyways is to keep your lure fishing, not how fast you bring it in.
- almost any colour will catch a pink. It doesn't have to be pink either..greens work well as do reds and blues and yellows and whites and..well you get my drift. But..if I had to choose one colour..it would be pink hands down.
- as far as lures go, again almost anything will catch a pink. Why spend 3 or 4 bucks on a spinner or a spoon (and maybe lose it on a snag) when you can spend maybe 60 cents and get 'humpie candy'...ie a pink lead head jig and plastic tail? Jigs are deadly for pinks.
- you have 3 options for fishing a jig (two if you are fishing on shore) :
option 1: cast the jig. Let it freefall for a few seconds (depending on the water depth). Depth of fishing isn't critical. If the fish can see the lure, it will react to it. Lift your rod no more than about 18"...drop it quickly. Reel once..slooooooow..lift the rod...drop it..reel once (need I say sloooow again?). Just get ready to set the hook! Pinks are great followers and at the last minute will hammer it, often right at the boat or at your feet.
option 2: cast the jig. Let it freefall for a few seconds (depending on the water depth). Sideways pull your rod no more than 18"....reel once slooooow....sideways pull the rod again....reel slooooow and so on.
option 3: if in a boat, let your jig freefall to the bottom and reel up a foot or two. Vertically jig...lift the rod no more than 18" and drop it back down quick...hits can be quite vicious so hang on! Vertical jigging can be very deadly and works well where there are lots of snags around that interfere with casting.
Fishing location is also important. Pinks, like all salmon, are remarkably like humans...naturally lazy! So try to find areas that are out of the main current on the Fraser (ie slack areas behind bars) or fish the mouths of side streams like the Stave or the Sumas. Fishing can be phenomenal there. If you follow what I have said above, 20 or more fish in a morning's fishing will become old hat. Just remember that the key ingredient is slooooooooow.
Pinks are the most underrated of all salmon. Time and time again I see someone bonking one and almost offering an apology to a nearby angler that its going to the smoker. Pinks deserve a better fate than that. Oh its true they don't quite have the taste of oiler fish like sockeye and red springs and they don't offer the mystique of catching coho but I can tell you this...with proper preparation (did I say teriyaki sauce?), pinks are a meal fit for kings. As far as fight goes, I have had pinks that fought like old boots, as with some cohos I've caught..but tell me, how many times have you giggled with laugher, almost soaked, by the wild antics of a pink? Multiple jumps and when you release it, a good soaking for doing so! Not many cohos do that.
Pinks are the most aggressive of all salmon. Yes springs and cohos and dogs have their moments but how many times have you seen any of those attack your lure in the company of others? Probably highly unlikely. Pinks are voracious if you feed them right.
Its true that you can chuck almost anything and catch a pink. But to truly capitalize on this fishery, I offer a few hints:
- first and foremost, the retrieve has to be SLOW. If you think you are retrieving slow, then slow down even more. Yes you will catch pinks at fast retrieves but nowhere near what you will get when you retrieve almost pitifully slow. The intent anyways is to keep your lure fishing, not how fast you bring it in.
- almost any colour will catch a pink. It doesn't have to be pink either..greens work well as do reds and blues and yellows and whites and..well you get my drift. But..if I had to choose one colour..it would be pink hands down.
- as far as lures go, again almost anything will catch a pink. Why spend 3 or 4 bucks on a spinner or a spoon (and maybe lose it on a snag) when you can spend maybe 60 cents and get 'humpie candy'...ie a pink lead head jig and plastic tail? Jigs are deadly for pinks.
- you have 3 options for fishing a jig (two if you are fishing on shore) :
option 1: cast the jig. Let it freefall for a few seconds (depending on the water depth). Depth of fishing isn't critical. If the fish can see the lure, it will react to it. Lift your rod no more than about 18"...drop it quickly. Reel once..slooooooow..lift the rod...drop it..reel once (need I say sloooow again?). Just get ready to set the hook! Pinks are great followers and at the last minute will hammer it, often right at the boat or at your feet.
option 2: cast the jig. Let it freefall for a few seconds (depending on the water depth). Sideways pull your rod no more than 18"....reel once slooooow....sideways pull the rod again....reel slooooow and so on.
option 3: if in a boat, let your jig freefall to the bottom and reel up a foot or two. Vertically jig...lift the rod no more than 18" and drop it back down quick...hits can be quite vicious so hang on! Vertical jigging can be very deadly and works well where there are lots of snags around that interfere with casting.
Fishing location is also important. Pinks, like all salmon, are remarkably like humans...naturally lazy! So try to find areas that are out of the main current on the Fraser (ie slack areas behind bars) or fish the mouths of side streams like the Stave or the Sumas. Fishing can be phenomenal there. If you follow what I have said above, 20 or more fish in a morning's fishing will become old hat. Just remember that the key ingredient is slooooooooow.
Pinks are the most underrated of all salmon. Time and time again I see someone bonking one and almost offering an apology to a nearby angler that its going to the smoker. Pinks deserve a better fate than that. Oh its true they don't quite have the taste of oiler fish like sockeye and red springs and they don't offer the mystique of catching coho but I can tell you this...with proper preparation (did I say teriyaki sauce?), pinks are a meal fit for kings. As far as fight goes, I have had pinks that fought like old boots, as with some cohos I've caught..but tell me, how many times have you giggled with laugher, almost soaked, by the wild antics of a pink? Multiple jumps and when you release it, a good soaking for doing so! Not many cohos do that.
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Thanks for the post Rivahman.
good post rivahman. you are dead on with the sloooow advise, works deadly and even applies to those chuckin the flies. fished upper pegleg today (slow water )and had many many good fish on. kept three extremely chrome clean does, one for the bbq on sunday and others for family and friends.YUM YUM.and you're right about the taste, just spice up your pinks as they are the salmon with the highest protein level and low in fat thus a more bland taste. :thumbup: :thumbup:
Nice post!!! I have been out quite abit and been casting my brains out and getting some but taking forever to catch one. While watching other getting fish almost every cast. Next time I will do the sloooooow way and see what happens. Thanks for the info!
Good, some new tips to try out. I have been fishing lots , but never catch anything (hence my name ). I keep getting discouraged cause everyone says Pinks are easy to catch and they will bite anything, but I don't seem to catch any. I am not sure if it my location or my gear or technique. I buy the stuff advertised in the tackle shops for Pinks. I usually use wool, Pink, green or peach. But still nothing. I usually drift fish with the current, so are the Pinks not in the current at all ? I usually retrieve quickly as the float gets close to shore.
Wow. good post. that explains what i'm doing wrong! only gotten into one this year. i've been fly chucking in the top area of pegleg. but i'm either using fast short strips or fast long strips. gonna have to try the slow retreive. I use a weighted fly with a clear, slow sink tip and about a 10ft leader. good enough?
for fishing a fly at the top of pegleg use a type III sink tip with about 8feet of leader with a small weighted fly lets say a pink rolled muddler in size 8/10/12 perhaps. once you get near the 45degree angle of your cast start a slow retrieve and wait for the smash. once we figured out which tip we needed we couldnt keep them off ;D
HOOK
HOOK
Great post..Ok so ive literally got 5 days to catch a few here. ive had no luch what so ever. If someone can pm me a place that i can drive 2 after work and go fishing for a few hours please pm me. Im dieing to catch my first pink this year. Oh and well i live in port moody so anywhere around there.
For the better part of their lives, Pinks scoop up euphasid shrimp. They are not very adept at hitting moving lures unless those lures are retrieved slowly. Sure you will catch some with a faster retrieve but nothing like a painfully slow one. Also, its been my experience that the best fishing for pinks occurs in slack water and I mean really slack. Most Pinks will stay out of the slowest current if they have a chance.
Finally and this follows on my view that pinks aren't that adept at hitting moving lures. Try to keep your retrieve constant. It doesn't matter what type of retrieve you do, just keep the motions constant. Pinks are great followers and I think you get many more hook ups if the fish has a chance to anticipate what the lure is going to do next. For instance, if stripping a fly..do a count..like 1..2..3..strip in a foot...count 1..2..3.. strip in another. Again the sequence of the moves and the timing is not that important, its the consistency of doing the same thing over and over until the fly is retrieved. The same goes for jigs or spinners or crocs. Fish at the very slowest speed the gear will properly work in and keep whatever motions you give the lure constant for the entire retrieval.
Finally and this follows on my view that pinks aren't that adept at hitting moving lures. Try to keep your retrieve constant. It doesn't matter what type of retrieve you do, just keep the motions constant. Pinks are great followers and I think you get many more hook ups if the fish has a chance to anticipate what the lure is going to do next. For instance, if stripping a fly..do a count..like 1..2..3..strip in a foot...count 1..2..3.. strip in another. Again the sequence of the moves and the timing is not that important, its the consistency of doing the same thing over and over until the fly is retrieved. The same goes for jigs or spinners or crocs. Fish at the very slowest speed the gear will properly work in and keep whatever motions you give the lure constant for the entire retrieval.
Great input Rivaman... 
We have all been enriched through our collective knowledge...
:beerchug: Marko
We have all been enriched through our collective knowledge...:beerchug: Marko
Best post I have read in a long long time. Thanks so much and please keep posting. Great info for anyone new or an out of town guy thanks again. I look forward to using your advice all next week while I case the Pinks in beautiful BC. ;D ;D ;D
thank you sooooo much for the informative post now i have a good idea of what ive been doin wrong now with a little luck and info i might get one on thanks again :beerchug:
Great post! Now THAT's why I like this site. :thumbup:
Great thread. Nice to see this kinda stuff posted. :thumbup:
Excellent thread, this novice greatly appreciates the wisdom of the masters....
perfect information - I was at derby reach park last week everything seemed slow... Has anyone had any luck with pinks this weekend on the fraser - If so where? Thanks in advance
i gave it a shot tues and wend on the stave(i only get a few hours of sun after work and stave is close by) and it works better than so other lures i've tried, their teasin but not grabing on. now just need to really try it out on the vedder
treppy think im gonna try and hit it tomorow will let you know how it goes too bad your working
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