Pink Salmon Beach Fishing August 2023

Fishing for Pink Salmon from the beach can be an incredibly exciting experience! We get to fish for pinks once every two years because of the odd-year return pattern they exhibit.

I don’t know about you, but I’ve been fishing from my boat with downriggers for salmon for almost 2 months now, and though I didn’t have much choice this trip with my boat in the shop getting the autopilot repaired, I was really excited to put my waders on and head down to the local beach.

Low tide was about 7 am, with sunrise around 6 am, and I wasn’t sure how many folks would be down there, so I decided to get there a little after sunrise to make sure I would get a spot even though it wasn’t the ideal tide setup.

What is the ideal tide setup? I would say a few hours after low slack all the way until high slack or within a few hours of high tide.

Even though I got started fishing for them early, most on the beach didn’t really start hooking up until about 8:30 am. After that, it was non-stop action!

The one exception is a few folks who could really bomb their gear out to where the schools were at.

And that’s one of the cool things about this fishery, you could see these pink salmon surfacing, finning, and swimming like schools of hungry piranhas just looking for a pink jig or buzz bomb to destroy!

Until the tide started moving in though, they were mostly out of reach.

I started fishing with this 1 oz buzz bomb these hooks, beads, and a b2 squid on the leader and I’m confident I would have gotten bit with this had I stuck with it (some folks were using the same thing and getting bit later on), but I had a problem with my approach that I want to highlight here so you can learn from my mistake.

I was using an ultralight steelhead rod rated for 4-8 lbs and 1/8 – 3/8 oz lure weight. And while that was incredibly fun to battle pink salmon with, it didn’t cast that 1 oz buzz bomb very well. You really need a bit more backbone to chuck that lure out there.

So I made a switch to my 3/8 oz pink squid jigs. The only problem with this setup is I was definitely not going to be able to cast these out as far, but it felt more balanced and not as awkward to cast.

I just waited until the schools got closer, kept casting and jigging, and then bam, it was fish on! And then fish off. I lost my first pretty quickly, but it was exciting because everyone was hooking up at the same moment!

I quickly got back to fishing and within 5-10 minutes I had my next bite and landed that fish after an epic battle where I’m sure I annoyed my neighbors with my ultra-light setup that allowed that pinky to run at their legs and basically be very difficult for me to control. Sorry!

I got back to fishing after grabbing a new GoPro battery and marking my punch card.

I had my stringer with me and put that fish on it after ripping a gill because it’s super important to bleed these pink salmon and keep them cool the entire time to preserve meat quality.

I tied the stringer around my waist since I didn’t bring my wader belt…which may not have been the best idea with the seals around there, but I wanted it to fully bleed out.

Within a few minutes, I had my 2nd fish. With a little bit more control this time, I brought it behind the line of anglers to do battle with it in the shallows. I could have released it and kept fishing, but I had an appointment a bit later in the morning and I was satisfied with my quick limit of beach pink salmon.

If or when I go back there, I will be bringing a little beefier rod. Something rated for 1/4 – 1/2 or even up to 3/4 oz, 6-10 or 6-12 lb line would be ideal. Like this Okuma 9’9 spinning rod for example.

I also plan to toss some lures vs jigging buzz bombs or squid jigs.

One of the dynamics when beach fishing for pink salmon is you want a lure heavy enough to be able to really bomb it out there, but light enough that it won’t sink too quickly.

What’s the problem with your lure sinking too fast? Grass, lots and lots of eelgrass. The ideal situation was to not let it sink more than a few feet. You also wanted to reel it as slow as possible though because pinks are much more willing to take slow presentations compared to something fast.

I will bring a spoon, or even a spinner next time I think in that 1/2 oz size range.

Whatever your approach is, now is the time, for a few more weeks to get out there and get it done from the beach for these wonderful pink salmon!

For more information on targeting pink salmon in both saltwater and freshwater, checkout our comprehensive guide to pink salmon fishing here.

For information specific to the pink salmon run in 2023 and the status, checkout this link.