Every odd year is special. Our salmon returns in Puget Sound get a major boost most odd years from the more-than-famous Pink Salmon! Whether you find them the most exciting part of your salmon fishing season, a complete nuisance, or something in between, this blog post will unpack when you can expect in the year 2025, the year the humpy!
Let’s get the big news out of the way: 2025 is expecting a MASSIVE return of Pink salmon back to Puget Sound. And some rivers are going to be absolutely hammered by hordes of pinks. It’s gonna be unlimited fun!
2025 is easily expected to be one of the top 3 return years of recent memory. Consider this: 2023 was a really good pink return year for many marine areas and rivers around Puget Sound, and now we are going to double that! I’m here for it. The run of pink salmon in 2025 might be one to remember for a long time!
Now, not all parts of Puget Sound benefit the same, and some don’t even benefit at all, they actually get a smaller run of pink salmon in 2025 compared to 2023. So where are all these pink salmon headed to?
North Puget Sound Pink Forecast for 2025
Let’s get the bad news out of the way right off the bat: we are expecting fewer pinks back to North Sound rivers in 2025 as compared to 2023.
Places like the Nooksack River get a big, almost 4x increase, but the Skagit drops about 90k pinks, and the Snohomish forecast is about half (325k fewer) of what it was in 2023. The Stilly also is almost reduced by 50%. I don’t know if that will impact any of the seasons or perhaps reduce the chances of a saltwater bonus bag limit on Pinks in MA 7, 8-1, 8-2, or potentially even 9.
Now let’s get to the juicier parts of this forecast.
Mid Puget Sound Pink Forecast for 2025
Whoa! What’s going on here? Well, the Green River that got absolutely slammed and choked with pinks in 2023 is going to more than an additional MILLION?!? Oh my! Are we going to be able to walk across the river on pink salmon? Oh yeah, and then the Puyallup is going to get almost 2x what we got in 2023.
It’s gonna be fun, my fishy people; it’s gonna be real fun. Good luck catching anything else with all these pinks around once they fully invade! I’m going to consider it a crime if we don’t get a bonus pink limit in Marine Area 10 this year.
South Puget Sound Pink Forecast for 2025
I’ve actually only got a forecast for one river in the South Sound and that’s the Nisqually. I remember in 2023, the river was absolutely plugged with pink salmon in August. And wait, am I reading this right…They are going to get almost 4x more Pinks in 2025… Another million pink salmon? It’s like Oprah’s handing out pink salmon runs to all the rivers. And you get a million pinks! And you too get a million pinks!
The Nisqually is one of my favorite pink salmon rivers because water temps are really good, and water clarity is usually good; it’s a spinner and jig heaven for aggressive biting salmon. I’m just going to have to cancel all my other plans in August!
Hood Canal Pink Forecast for 2025
And now we know where the rest of the additional 4 million Pink Salmon are headed in 2025. Wow! From around 500k in 2023 to almost 2.5 million in 2025. I just hope we get to fish on them in Hood Canal and aren’t impacted by the Hood Canal natural coho stocks that are expected to struggle and potentially constrain fisheries in 2025.
Wrapping up the 2025 Pink Salmon Forecast for Puget Sound
If you’re worried about stocking up and preparing for the pink salmon season before everything pink in your local tackle shop is gone, I’ve got the guide for you. You will want to head to our comprehensive guide to catching pink salmon here.
Also, in general, this guide will help you with Puget Sound salmon fishing here.
It’s going to be fun and we should see a bonus limit. Make sure you get kids out to enjoy fishing.