Northwest Fishing Reports

Where are the fish?

I was on the lower Snohomish River Sept 26, and didn't see any fish except for a few Pink zombies. I was out previous weekends too, and didn't see too much.

Is the pink/coho season done? Or where on the Snohomish/Snoqualmie/Skykomish are they? Or are they still in the salt?

Thanks,
Jake

Coho is just really getting started. if we get a good rain the Snohomish and skykomish will be full of silvers. as it is they are all throughout the system you just have to find them. I got one in Monroe Monday afternoon and saw them jumping, yesterday they were gone, probably moved up or dropped back to deeper holes with the water dropping.

No fish in the snohomish, I hear the green/duwamish is on fire though.

Try Bob Heirman Park. Hike around.

Rotary, ebey slough and langus are good places to check out for fresh fish coming up from the salt. Theyre bitier as you get closer to the salt, early yet though.

When were the Pinks supposed to be in the river?
What section of the river?
And how long?

It seemed like they started coming in the middle of September, and only lasted 2 weeks in the lower Snohomish.
When they were there, I didn't see too much action.

Is the Pink season really that short?
What is the timing?
Are they somewhere else in the river system?

snakyjake wrote:When were the Pinks supposed to be in the river?
What section of the river?
And how long?

It seemed like they started coming in the middle of September, and only lasted 2 weeks in the lower Snohomish.
When they were there, I didn't see too much action.

Is the Pink season really that short?
What is the timing?
Are they somewhere else in the river system?

It varies from year to year. Normally they start hitting the lower river in August and will be thick through September, then start tapering off in October. Typically you can still catch darker and spawned fish higher in the system from late September through October, but they are not very attractive or desirable by that time.
This year the run was not very strong, peaked early, and seemed to be done in a few short weeks with it being pretty much over by the end of September. Unless you are fishing up higher in the system and are content with dark fish, then it appears you'll be lucky to find some bright Pinks right now in the lower river. Pinks are usually a nuisance in late September when trying for Coho with jigs, but this year they're pretty much non-existent.
Time to target Coho and hope that run lasts a little longer than the Pinks did.

That's too bad. When I was out a few years ago, the Pinks were just crazy, silly, and fun to watch. I thought my boat was going to catch more fish than I could with a hook. I was really looking forward to showing my kids the fun.

Hopefully the Coho run will be good, or perhaps I need to start in the salt.

The coho are fewer in number by a lot when compared to the pinks. Also, the coho go lock jaw easily. All I hear is how unpredictable they are.

Two years ago they wanted Brad's Wiggle Warts. Some guys us Dick Nites and some use jigs. Eggs seem to be the top choice. I do hear that if they hole up instead of racing up river, they tend to hold in the loggy areas next to their route up river. Lose a lot of gear fishing those areas.

Good luck, I know I need it too. Got to find those buggers to catch them.

Coho are super bitey so far

+1 the coho seem very bitey this year.

snakyjake wrote:When were the Pinks supposed to be in the river?
What section of the river?
And how long?

It seemed like they started coming in the middle of September, and only lasted 2 weeks in the lower Snohomish.
When they were there, I didn't see too much action.

Is the Pink season really that short?
What is the timing?
Are they somewhere else in the river system?

Super small run of pinks this year compared to last few pink years....small fish as well.

The pinks were kind of small. My biggest was a 6 lb. buck. They were also in different spots than 2 years ago, at least for me. Plus they liked purple in the jig- thanks jonb. Caught my biggest in the middle of a log pile. Need strong line there.

I fished my first day for silvers on 9/30. Didn't see any rolling and no strikes but I was just surveying on low tide with the sun out. There seems to be more logs this year. Water is kind of low and 56 degrees. I want to try some eggs and new jigs from RiverBend. They have some great maribou jigs with awesome length for more action.

Goldrigger1 wrote:The pinks were kind of small. My biggest was a 6 lb. buck. They were also in different spots than 2 years ago, at least for me. Plus they liked purple in the jig- thanks jonb. Caught my biggest in the middle of a log pile. Need strong line there.

I fished my first day for silvers on 9/30. Didn't see any rolling and no strikes but I was just surveying on low tide with the sun out. There seems to be more logs this year. Water is kind of low and 56 degrees. I want to try some eggs and new jigs from RiverBend. They have some great maribou jigs with awesome length for more action.

I didn't find them in my usual spots this year either.

strider43 wrote:

snakyjake wrote:When were the Pinks supposed to be in the river?
What section of the river?
And how long?

It seemed like they started coming in the middle of September, and only lasted 2 weeks in the lower Snohomish.
When they were there, I didn't see too much action.

Is the Pink season really that short?
What is the timing?
Are they somewhere else in the river system?

Super small run of pinks this year compared to last few pink years....small fish as well.

Unless the real world numbers have changed, the estimated 1.6 million pinks returning to the Snoho system is an all time record. We won't know until official counts are in but I don't think I would call that a small run.

Oh and PS, the pinks are relatively recent addition to the Snohomish system.

Bodofish wrote:
Unless the real world numbers have changed, the estimated 1.6 million pinks returning to the Snoho system is an all time record. We won't know until official counts are in but I don't think I would call that a small run.

Oh and PS, the pinks are relatively recent addition to the Snohomish system.

I don't think the actual numbers are going to live up to the estimates this year. Between what I've heard from the tribes and seen on the bank I'd be surprised if it's that big. Could be wrong though.

I fished the Sky from when the river opened above Monroe until the end of September 7 times. I caught only about 15 pinks. If the run was truly 1.6 million I should have stepped on more than 15 fish. In 2011 on one occasion I caught 9 fish on 10 casts. Where did the fish go?

goldenme wrote:I fished the Sky from when the river opened above Monroe until the end of September 7 times. I caught only about 15 pinks. If the run was truly 1.6 million I should have stepped on more than 15 fish. In 2011 on one occasion I caught 9 fish on 10 casts. Where did the fish go?

Sorry didn't want to seem to unsympathetic

If you were fishing <in the> right <spot>, you should have been catching that many in a couple hours. My son who fishes a few times a year with was able to bang his limit each time out. Perhaps you should have been a little lower on the river, like on the Snoho instead of the Sky where they're about to drop their loads with a half inch of slime on both sides. Most of the fish we took were very bright.

As the old saying goes, "Fish where they are, not where they aren't.".

I caught 155 pink salmon and retained 52 this year, it was a great run, if you fished the right spots with the right technique.

although i had some great days fishing pinks this year, i'd say the wdfw pink forecast for the snohomish was way off. the small average size of the fish i saw this year makes me think the ocean conditions werent great. i figure bad conditions affected the food supply leading to far fewer fish returning than expected and explain the size this year.