18 replies to this topic

[modernflyfishing]

So I went out fishing some southern Georgian Bay tributary this past weekends, Lots of chinooks and even a few rainbows around, but the biggest supprise was when i landed this Pink salmon.
I havent seen pink's in probably 6 or 7 years, has anyone else come across them this year?

[ChaseChrome]

Awesome catch Modern!! I know the run of pinks in the north, and particularly Superior, used to be good (have no new information right now though). Strange that fish would have been migrating as they only do that every other year on odd years...
CC

[georgianbaydrifter]

SHHHHH......thats supposed to be a secret

[Raptizzle]

Lol ^^^

[CJR]

When I was up north last month we stopped at a few superior tribs trying for them, but I guess we were a bit too early also the fact that it's an even year didn't help lol. Congrats!.

[LICENSETOPIN]

SHHHHH......thats supposed to be a secret

[getin]

Any picture?

[modernflyfishing]

Any picture?

yep, sorry i thought i attached to my first post

Attached Images

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[modernflyfishing]

When I was up north last month we stopped at a few superior tribs trying for them, but I guess we were a bit too early also the fact that it's an even year didn't help lol. Congrats!.

Thanks, and thats always a dissipointing, did you stop in at the st. marys rapids?

[FISHCHRIS]

man nice fish, nice pic also thanks for posting and sharing

[salmotrutta]

Maybe all those jacks I'm seeing at Willy this year are pinks? Do they run at the Willy on even or odd years?

[Dugger]

.... the story goes that they tried introducing them to Lake Superior in 1955, it was deemed a failure and the fry still on hand were literally dumped and forgotten....

I have a cool little story... we lived in Mississauga right on the QEW in the late 60s, there is still a little stream just east of Hurontario... in that stream I use to catch minnows and in the fall of '67 or '68, I chased a school of medium size "reddish fish" thru several pools... I was in Grade One. An old guy living near by told me they were "salmon".

take both stories with a grain of salt but who knows. The 1955 story i have heard and read several times over the years.

I think it would take Pinks for than 15 years to get from Superior to Lake Ontario unless some were released down here... I also recall doing a story on a species of "west coast salmon" commercial anglers were catching in Lake Erie in the 1930s and no one at the time could figure out how they got there or exactly what kind of salmon they were.. I must dig that up.

Gorgeous fish, friend!

[getin]

This season I noticed several salmon with a pink stripe from head to tail and I thought they were coho. Pretty much the same size as salmon. In one case, the fish had a noticeable hump at the back (more like Sockeye) - So I wonder if they were pink salmon too?

[CJR]

Thanks, and thats always a dissipointing, did you stop in at the st. marys rapids?

Yup, we tried for a few hours, didn't catch anything, but saw some chinook running.

[modernflyfishing]

.... the story goes that they tried introducing them to Lake Superior in 1955, it was deemed a failure and the fry still on hand were literally dumped and forgotten....

I have a cool little story... we lived in Mississauga right on the QEW in the late 60s, there is still a little stream just east of Hurontario... in that stream I use to catch minnows and in the fall of '67 or '68, I chased a school of medium size "reddish fish" thru several pools... I was in Grade One. An old guy living near by told me they were "salmon".

take both stories with a grain of salt but who knows. The 1955 story i have heard and read several times over the years.

I think it would take Pinks for than 15 years to get from Superior to Lake Ontario unless some were released down here... I also recall doing a story on a species of "west coast salmon" commercial anglers were catching in Lake Erie in the 1930s and no one at the time could figure out how they got there or exactly what kind of salmon they were.. I must dig that up.

Gorgeous fish, friend!

The release of pink salmon into to superior was actually an accident, the fish were intended for hudson bay, but during transportation of the fish, something went wrong, so instead of letting the fish die, they dumped them in to superior. They dumped 21000 fish. They expected this fish to survive but not to reproduce however a few years later pink salmon were found spawning in a minnesota stream. this was unheard of due to pink salmon being anadromous and requring salt water to complete there life cycle.
These pink salmon became the only self-perpetuating freshwater population in the world.
The most interesting part of these pink salmon is that they were an odd year stock of fish, however these fish gentically change and break the strict 2 year life cycle and live up to 3 years. This produced an even year stock in the great lakes aswell, even though it isnt as prolific.

Sorry i kinda rambled on there, but i find this extremly interesting, i even wrote a report on it last year at flemming college.

Thats a pretty funny story, i did the same thing when i was probably in grade 1 or 2, except I tripped and fell face first in to the river.

Thats very interesting about the west coast salmon being caught by commercial anglers, if you find that story i would really enjoy reading it. It really makes you question when west coast salmon really got here.

and thanks, i hope i can get some more

[modernflyfishing]

This season I noticed several salmon with a pink stripe from head to tail and I thought they were coho. Pretty much the same size as salmon. In one case, the fish had a noticeable hump at the back (more like Sockeye) - So I wonder if they were pink salmon too?

Could be pinks, they are normally a little bit smaller then coho's but its always hard to tell untill you get one out of the water.

[SmackUm]

Thanks for posting modernflyfishing...Pinks were planted in Lake Superior by the Port Arthur Hatchery @ Thunder Bay and the first caught were in the Nipigon River and Pigeon River in 1961...
A good river to catch them in is the Mackenzie River just to the east of Thunder Bay there is a cool 5-6 meter falls just up stream from the Trans Canada highway...Mackenzie Falls is located 500m off the end of Mackenzie Heights Road @ the end of the pavement and it's popular with kids that jump the falls in summer....I'll try to get out there soon I hear they are running now!

[Dugger]

very interesting, Modern and SmackUm.... what a great story, the Story of the Pinks

... i have all the articles I have written bound and shall try to find that Lake Erie salmon piece

[LICENSETOPIN]

There has already been one confirmed report of a pink caught on the humber, I have access to the picture but do not know the guy so I wont post the pic. Their around...