Northwest Fishing Reports

Hey Y'all,

If I want to target silvers to I throw a bait that the pinks would never take? I have heard that is doesn't matter, but I wanted to get the expert opinion. How do I target silvers in the midst of a ton of pinks?

Tie a little sign on your lure : 'NO PINKS!!!'

I catch both species on the same gear. Doesn't seem to matter. Some people say different colors work for different species, but I catch both on the exact same colors or setups.

Amx wrote:Tie a little sign on your lure : 'NO PINKS!!!'

Isn't that discrimination??!! The pinks might file suit against him. No fish shall be discriminated against based on race, color, sex or religion....I think that's in the Constitution somewhere......

I wish I knew....Not much of a salmon fisher......

In my experience pink jigs are not going to pick you up many coho, but Dick Nites will catch both... Just practice C&R and weed through the pinks until you strike Silver.

eggs, plugs, herring, green spinners. stuff that pinks wont normally look at, but dont get me wrong the will hit it. Ive seen a pink with a k-16 hanging out of its mouth

Gringo Pescador wrote:In my experience pink jigs are not going to pick you up many coho, but Dick Nites will catch both... Just practice C&R and weed through the pinks until you strike Silver.

I RARELY catch coho on pink jigs, but spoons catch coho (and pinks take spoons less than pink jigs generally, at least in my opinion.) You can't avoid the pinks, but try non-pink-salmon colors, such as, what, orange? Blue? Vibrax spinners in blue might be your best shot to increase your coho to pink ratio.

Yes, EGGS, the old salmon/steelhead standby, rarely if ever used by experienced fishermen to TARGET PINKS, but of course are great for coho/kings. So eggs might be a great offering, in the right water/clarity, etc.

Spinners.....or wait a week or 2.

casting plugs works.. dick nites in green and chartreuse colors will get both as well..

oneshot wrote:casting plugs works.. dick nites in green and chartreuse colors will get both as well..

Yea, but you saw how the pinks hit on those plugs too

Most guys try for coho with frog dick nites, 50/50, vibrax or corkies in orange and greenish colors. Anything but pink! Although really, you're just going to have to wait until there are more silvers. You'll catch 20 pinks for each coho until they rot all over the place and stink up the river.

Blue fox vibrax, eggs, plugs

Question, if you were to drift some eggs for coho's in the Puyallup would it have to be a pretty wet egg to milk a lot so that they could sniff it out since visibility is basically down to nothing? I also thought about possibly just drifting a spin n glo with some eggs or just a spin n glo with yarn and a lot of scent though I'm not sure how well that would work if you weren't plunking out there.

As long as there are pinks in the river, they will hit just about anything you throw out there when they're active. Dick Nites in 50/50 or Nickelback Frog will net you silvers, but you'll have to wade through some pinks to get to them. I caught a few silvers last week drifting Dick Nites.

Like Nate said, you're going to have to wait until the pinks are zombified if you want to catch silvers exclusively.

Pink is the only jig color that I have caught silvers on. Purple might be a good coho color to try but maybe try varying your presentation like different speeds/depths or water type. Oh yeah and can't go wrong with eggs

DRIFT EGGS!!!

natetreat wrote:

oneshot wrote:casting plugs works.. dick nites in green and chartreuse colors will get both as well..

Yea, but you saw how the pinks hit on those plugs too

Most guys try for coho with frog dick nites, 50/50, vibrax or corkies in orange and greenish colors. Anything but pink! Although really, you're just going to have to wait until there are more silvers. You'll catch 20 pinks for each coho until they rot all over the place and stink up the river.

Yup. I've been slinging my Coho jigs since the opener on the Duamish as well as Dick Nites. Haven't got a Coho yet, but have got plenty of Pinks. I believe things will change as the Pinks wind down and the bulk of the Coho come in behind them. I've hooked a couple fish that have fought completely different from the Pinks which never came to the surface. One came unbuttoned and one snapped my leader, so would like to think they were either Coho or a King, but that's speculation. Pinks are a nuisance, but at least they're a fun nuisance!

the Duwi is LOADED with COHO right now.. trolled herring, plugs, dick nites..

oneshot wrote:the Duwi is LOADED with COHO right now.. trolled herring, plugs, dick nites..

And with the projected rain over the weekend, and with any luck the dam will be opened a bit, I will be slaying some ho's Sunday and Monday up river a bit. Water is super skinny right now. Needs a good foot then...

chrome_chasin wrote:

oneshot wrote:the Duwi is LOADED with COHO right now.. trolled herring, plugs, dick nites..

And with the projected rain over the weekend, and with any luck the dam will be opened a bit, I will be slaying some ho's Sunday and Monday up river a bit. Water is super skinny right now. Needs a good foot then...

...and it's also loaded with PINKS! I'm still fishing the Dick Nites in Coho colors and can't seem to land anything but Pinks. Got two that were CHROME bright today. Thought I'd found my first Coho, but negative Ghost Rider....