Humpies head upriver

Published 2:08 pm Tuesday, September 6, 2011

Two different people who don’t fish – a colleague and my dentist – remarked today at how the Snohomish River near I-5 was just jammed with boats over the long weekday, especially on Labor Day.

“What happened on the Snohomish?” they asked.

Pinks happened.

Pink salmon, also called humpies, have been heading upriver in some decent numbers, and anyone with any sort of boat tried to catch one over the holiday.

I went out on the Stillaguamish, which also is seeing humpies come in, but not in the same numbers as the Snohomish.

It was a bit embarrassing for me because I went with a friend who wanted to learn how to fish for pink salmon and neither of us caught one.

I tried to teach him a few good spots. We definitely saw some fish in those spots, but not on our line.

The Stilly had a ton of anglers also. A lot more than I’m comfortable with. It’s partly caused by mania over the humpy run, which is decent this year.

I also think that the poor economy has a lot more people out fishing, either because they can’t find work and need something to do or they need to put some fish on the dinner table, or both.

I’m fortunate to have a job. If I did retire, I might have to come up with a different hobby because I don’t think I could handle that sort of combat fishing every day.