Screw 2020 and all even years! 2021 is another glorious odd year and that means hordes of Pink Salmon returning to the Puget Sound and the rivers.
This blog post is all about previewing and highlighting what are the best opportunities to have an epic fishing experience for pink salmon or “humpies” as they are often referred to.
My first salmon fishing experience in a river was targeting pinks in the Puyallup River, what an incredible gateway drug that was. Now I’m hopelessly addicted to the pursuit of salmon in the rivers.
But let’s not forget the 15-minute boat limits that happen out in the salt when pink salmon and finning and splashing in massive hungry hordes, staging before they come up in the rivers.
Before we start talking about locations to target these fun feisty salmon, let’s set a bit of context on the pink salmon forecast and what we can expect in terms of a pink salmon season in 2021.
As you may recall, we had this thing called the Warm-water Blob. And it was quite the suck for all salmon species in just about all of the PNW. The Pinks in 2015 were not healthy, they came back trout-sized and struggled to produce numerous offspring. In 2017, the pinks that did come back were big and healthy, but there were very few. WDFW called for doom and gloom in 2019, but yours truly had a sneaky suspicion that this would not be the case.
The Puyallup River had a huge “surprise” run of pink salmon in 2019 and the Puget Sound as a whole had a massive rebound in numbers from the dismal returns of 2017. Here’s what the “experts” are saying about 2021:
First of all, you should check out the complete 2021 Puget Sound Salmon Forecast here for all of the context and details on all five species.
For a place that’s all about fishing for pink salmon/humpies in Western Washington rivers, we now have a page completely dedicated to the topic.
Here’s a video you may find informative as well about fishing for pink salmon in the rivers:
Puget Sound Pink Salmon Forecast for 2021
The recent 10-year average is right around 4 million, and 2019 showed a nice rebound from 2017. Look at how big of a jump in the numbers occurred between 2007 and 2009 though. 2019 is somewhat comparable to 2007 in terms of the size of the return.
2021 Forecasted return of 2.9 million is still down 31% from the recent 10-year average, however, still represents a huge number of pink salmon. Could we see a 2007-2009 like jump in the numbers though given that ocean conditions are far better?
As you can see, 2019 wasn’t a total rebound for many areas outside of the Puyallup River.
Experts are predicting a good run in the North Sound, but not as good in the South Sound or in the Skykomish River. This is ultimately why there is no bonus pink limit in Puget Sound this year, however, there is a bonus limit on several river systems.
Where to fish for Pink Salmon in 2021?
First of all, there are going to be hordes of Pink salmon in Puget Sound, especially in the Central or North Sound.
There’s going to be a ton of pink salmon caught east of Possession and north of Shipwreck in the deeper water / shipping lanes, but fishing in the top 50 ft of water.
The area around Redondo and south to Dash Point has historically put a lot of pinks in the fish box for people. We’ve hooked pink salmon as fast as we could get the gear down in the past fishing this area. You can read more about fishing for pink salmon in Puget Sound at our Puget Sound salmon fishing page.
The rivers though are going to provide some of the best fishing for pink salmon in 2021.
Despite what’s in the forecast, I expect the Puyallup River to have a ton of pink salmon, and the Skykomish will also likely have many more than forecasted. That Duwamish / Green situation and certainly the Skagit / Nooksack look to be great options based on the forecast.
Here’s how the seasons are shaping up on the rivers. We still don’t have a final set of seasons, but this link gives you the current agreements with the co-managers / tribes on the rivers, which is likely not going to change a ton.
As you can see from the above DRAFT season, there’s a bonus limit of 2 additional pink salmon on the Skagit River, which matches the forecast shown above.
As you can see, consistent with the forecast, there is no bonus pink salmon limit on the Skykomish due to the lower expected run size.
Based on these proposed regulations for the Green / Duwamish you can keep a total of 6 pink salmon (if you didn’t catch any other species), wow! The Green / Duwamish looks like one of the best places to target Pinks in the entire Puget Sound.
It looks like the Puyallup will have a bonus limit of 2 additional Pink Salmon, which is great to see.
Wrapping up
Stay tuned to PNWBestLife.com and the PNW Best Life YouTube channel, I’m going to be putting out much more Pink Salmon-focused content this year to help put you on the fish! Also, you can follow me on @Pacificnwbestlife on Instagram for real-time updates on everything we are doing to harvest our own food and enjoy the PNW in the outdoors.
I want to catch a pink out of a river. I am from eastern Washington and don’t know the areas or rivers on the west side. Could you please give me some advice on where to go when to go and what setups to use. Thank you for your time and consideration.
Michael,
I’m actually about to work on my guide to pink salmon fishing in the rivers. My short bit of advice would be to fish the Puyallup. Here’s my page on drift fishing: https://pnwbestlife.com/river-fishing-for-salmon/drift-fishing-for-salmon/ which should get you started. I drift fish the Puyallup with 3/8 oz to 1/2 oz slinky weights and a 3-4 ft leader with 2 size 12 corkies and yarn.
More to come!
pnwbestlife.com/pink-salmon-fishing/ has a bunch of tips in it now.
The Green Duwamish river wdfw says it’s only a 3 pink salmon limit I’m very confused this season what is it 6 or 3 pinks ???
It is confusing. I believe it basically says: you can keep 6 salmon. However, only three of them can be a combo of chinook, silver or chum. Also you can only keep 2 chinook (the first two you catch). In other words, the only restrictions listed apply to chinook, coho and chum. Therefore you can catch 6 pinks if that’s all you catch.
I think?
Yeah, welcome to the WDFW regs! And yes, you’ve nailed it in how to interpret this section. 6 pinks.
I second Kyle that a simple bet is the lower Puyallup between the Main St. Bridge and the port in town. Wear your waders, come early to get a spot (like 4am) fish at official dawn when it opens back bouncing a corky and yarn. It’s great to get your feet wet with pinks, and if you go at the right time (or just get lucky) you can also catch the occassional Chinook and there’s a good coho run there too.
Great suggestions and pointers. I cannot wait to be down there!
Pink Salmon Westside
Go & visit the Snohomish River, there are many bank spots to fish , below town & Lowell-larimer road.
Pink anything, but starting out, pink jigs or pink buzz bombs will do the trick.
When they are in, they are everywhere.
Start fishing it when it opens ( see rules).
You also have a shotatSilvers.
Thanks for passing along the tip Wayne!
where is the best spot to fly fish for pinks on the green river and when is the best time to go
Doug,
Thanks for leaving a comment here. I would definitely think about the 3rd week in August being pretty reliable as far when a good numbers are in the river. I mostly have fished quite a bit higher in the system or down lower near the starfire sports complex in Tukwilla and walked the green river trail. There are many good access points, but on the lower river they often have steep slopes that would interfere with a back cast.
I would use Satelite view on google maps to look east of 167 for a gravel bar that looks accessible to the green river trail which runs along the river for quite a ways.
Good luck!
Hi,
Flying in from Florida end of August begin of September. We are staying at a beach house near Tala point/Shine tide lands park. Wanna get in the salmon mix! Can we shore fish that area or do we need to get in car and drive towards Skomish? Also heard there is some good clamming in that area? Any help on what we could harvest would be greatly appreciated!
Thanks
Mac
I would checkout Dosewallips State Park for shellfish harvest nearby: https://wdfw.wa.gov/places-to-go/shellfish-beaches/270200. In terms of Salmon, there will be lots of the pinks heading into the rivers as well as kings, but the Skokomish won’t be open to non-tribal. I would fish the Puyallup or Green in that timeframe. Also, anytime you are here just visiting, booking a charter is not a bad deal either.
Coming all the way from Florida it would do you we’ll to book a guide on either a river or on the salt. There’s a pretty steep learning curve for catching salmon unless you but the peak of the pink run just in the right place like on the Puyallup. The 90-10 rule definitely apples – 90% of the fish are caught by 10% of the anglers. Any guide you hire will be in that 10% and your best bet to get on the salmon.
Hi! My husband and I have gotten into fishing this year, after not really doing much more than trout fishing as kids. We have been having fun learning, but it’s really hard without a boat. ( he has bad vertigo.) Any pointers for where to find any pinks, or salmon at all this year still? We have tried a couple places with no luck. Would love some advice.
Amy,
Thanks for taking the time to comment here. I would love to help you and your husband get into some pink salmon! Have you had a chance to review my guide to pink salmon fishing here? http://www.pnwbestlife.com/pink-salmon-fishing/
Thanks for the information. Good stuff. The Skagit River has two mouths. Which one do you fish and which one do the fish run up? Thank you for your time.
I don’t have a ton of experience fishing the Skagit and certainly not the lower stretches. I believe fish will head up both, but northern most mouth has the highest water volume and the most fish.
The Green Duwamish river wdfw says it’s only a 3 pink salmon limit I’m very confused this season what is it 6 or 3 pinks ???
It’s 6
What are your recommendations for fishing the Snohomish River for pinks and coho? Can you successfully fish that river with small cut plug herring for salmon? Many thanks to anyone who replies to these questions.
You can use small cut plug on the lower river for coho, not sure how well that would work for pinks. Both coho and pinks are very aggressive fish though, so I would want to use jigs and spinners. My YT video dropping at 5pm tonight is going to cover this topic in more details.
I’ve been using 1/4 oz spoons like Little Cleo and Kastmaster in nickle/green,with no weight and catch a lot of Pinks.Been making my own lures,by putting a green prismatic stripe on a spoon blank,ordered online.
That’s a great idea! Yeah, spoons are another great way to do it.