Where I have Fished: Skykomish River, WA (Pink Salmon)

Friday, September 16, 2011

Skykomish River, WA (Pink Salmon)

SEPTEMBER 10,16,17, & 18, 2011
Salmon fishing is fun and there are many ways to fish for salmon. September is the time when pink salmon run up the rivers through out the Puget Sound. My river of choice is the Skykomish or Snoqualmie river because they are both fly fishing friendly.

When fishing for pinks on the fly use a pink fly. When fishing for pinks go pink. I used both a pink marabou and a pink bunny leach. keep them between an 1.5" - 2" and you'll do good. I used my both my 5wt rod and my 8wt rod. Humpies range from about 3-6# in the Puget Sound. A five weight was a little light with the current of the river and an 8wt maybe big but probably ok. Ideally I would say use a 7 wt., and fish 10# line. Your going to snag a few so the extra line weight helps. The only day I actually fly fished for humpies was the first day. I hooked into 2 but lost them both. What I did catch however was a very nice Rainbow Cutthroat.

The rest of the days I used my salmon spinning rod. I fished with my buddy Dalton, his brother Kevin, and another buddy of mine Ben. We fished buzz bombs, dick nite's, jigs, and spoons. The most snags came with the jigs and the spoons or dick nite's were all clean hook-ups. I also had a clean hook-up on a bobber with a jig below. Some people used sand shrimp as bait and others worms. Pretty much though if you threw something pink and had patients you would hook up sooner or later.

Summary:
Location: Skykomish River, near mouth of Sultan River, WA
Time: various times of day
Rod: 5 wt w/ sinking tip, 8 wt with sinking tip, spinning rod 8-12lb medium action.
Tackle: Pink Marabou and Pink Bunny Leach on the fly or pink buzz bomb, dick nite's, jig, and spoon on the spinner
Fish: 7 legal
Species: Pink Salmon
Biggest Fish: 8#
Smallest Fish: 3#
Rating: 7/10