That jaunty spring in your step, that gleam in your eye and that incurable urge to run your fingers through a pile of hot-pink hoochies is called Humpy Madness, and it’s on us as we speak, coming down the Strait of Juan de Fuca in the form of one of the largest runs of pink salmon to hit the area in at least a half-dozen odd-year cycles.
The Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife predicts about five million of the small salmon through the Strait, and over a million for the rivers of north Puget Sound, after the majority swing north toward the Fraser and other British Columbia streams.
“That’s better than the run in 2007 by almost double,” said charter owner and fishing activist Gary Krein of Everett, “and in the top 10 percent of runs forecast over the last many years.”
That information will gladden a lot of hearts, since the fishery always pulls thousands of casual anglers out of the woodwork. Humpies aren’t large, going 2 to 6 or 8 pounds, and they’re not sockeye on the table, but they’ll be out there in numbers, they bite well, they’re close to home and, if cleaned and put on ice immediately, they’re very decent fare. Pinks are blue collar, easy-going folks, always willing to join you for dinner.
And, they’re very punctual.
“You can set your watch by their run timing,” Krein said. “By August 1, there will be a few fish in the local area, being caught off the west side of Possession Bar and off the beaches on the west side of Whidbey Island. By August 10, it’s game on in Humpy Hollow, at the shipwreck, in Brown’s Bay, and at other hot spots, through about Sept. 10 or so.
“We get about a month of top fishing and about 10 days of insanity time, usually between Aug. 20th and the end of the month.”
Pinks come east, past the tip of Whidbey Island, and run up against the Mukilteo-Edmonds shoreline at the shipwreck, where they mill for a while, then split north for the Snohomish and Stillaguamish rivers, or south for the Green. The area between Mukilteo and the shipwreck is loosely called Humpy Hollow, and is probably the most popular pink fishery in local waters for anglers launching at either the Port of Everett or Mukilteo ramps.
Humpies are schooling fish, and they tend to be very definite “on or off” biters.
“When the bite’s on,” Krein said, “you’re likely to see 30 nets waving at the same time. Then, an hour later, nothing.”
So the moral is to work the fishery hard when the bite is on. There’s almost always a major bite, Krein said, during the first three or four hours in the morning, and usually one or two more during the day. Being on the water early is particularly crucial for anglers without downriggers, since the fish tend to be closer to the surface and available to those trolling with, say, a 6-ounce crescent sinker. Tides seem to make little difference in the humpy bite, Krein said.
The fish can be caught anywhere from tight to the shoreline (they’re taken in 30 or 40 feet of water by beach fishermen at Picnic Point and other spots, for instance), to clear out in the middle of the shipping channel, halfway to Whidbey Island. Krein said the best depth early in the morning is often between 30 and 50 feet, dropping to 50 to 70 feet for the remainder of the day. If you’re not catching fish when everyone else is, you’re either not where they are, or you’re trolling too fast or doing something else wrong. If you’re not catching fish and neither is the rest of the fleet, that’s just humpy fishing.
The standard setup is a number “1” or “0” dodger in either white or chrome, followed by only 14 to 16 inches (the rule of thumb is 11/2 times the length of the dodger) of 30- or 40-pound test leader, and a pink mini-squid. Some like the standard double-hook tie, using 3/0 hooks or so, but Krein said he prefers a larger, 4/0 or 5/0 single hook.
Troll slowly, and when you hook a fish leave the rest of your gear in the water and cut your speed even more. Multiple hookups are common in that situation, Krein said. Another idea is to take a couple of trout-weight spinning rigs along on your pink salmon trip, and a handful of small, pink Buzz Bomb jigs. When you locate a school by trolling, it’s fun to stop, drift, and try for a fish or two on light tackle.
Pinks are soft-mouthed salmon, and there are two schools of thought about playing them. Krein subscribes to the school which says “don’t be in any hurry to bring the fish in. Exhaust it first, away from the boat, since pinks are notorious for putting on a final flurry at the net, and are often lost there.”
“Other folks say ‘skate ’em on in, because you’re going to lose 50 percent of the humpies you hook anyway,’ Krein said.”
And finally, Krein said, take a big dose of patience. Launching will be crazy, elbow room on the water will be at a premium, and the bite may or may not develop. It can be a fun fishery, he said, but you have to approach it with the right mind set.
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