Late Summer Salmon - Pinks, Silvers and Kings!

Another week, another fishing story at BMO. I was in a bit of a rut this week, I just could not get anything done, so I called my good buddy Kenny "G" and asked him where the best place would be to catch a "humped" up humpy this week for my Gyataku fish art collection - without hesitation, he fired back: "Meet me on the Puyallup tomorrow morning, we'll chase a few silvers and pinks, then head up to the Carbon to see if we can find a spawning humpy - we should be done by noon." It was the perfect plan to get me out of my midweek rut!

The next morning, we met up at the Puyallup River to try to get a Silver Salmon ( Coho) fresh out of the salt water. I was suing a Okuma Guide Select Pro 9'9" ML spinning rod, with a Diawa Ballistic 2500 XH spooled with 30 pound Pro Braid No Fade 8 in Radiant Red.

I was using a 12 pound mono leader and for a rig I was using a silver chartreuse spin-n-glow, yarn and a 1/0 barbless lazer sharp octopus hook. I let my Spin-N-Glow yarn rig drift through the silty currents of the Puyallup River and I was greeted with a few fresh pink salmon still pouring into the river this late in the season. Pink Salmon return every two years and this has been an exceptional return year.

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We each caught a few fresh Pink salmon before I hooked nice silver salmon that made a good run before making a cartwheel of a jump and throwing my barbless hook back into the river. The very next drift... Boom, another Silver, this one sliding right into the net after another acrobatic fight. Puyallup River Silver in the bag on a crisp late-summer morning. Mission accomplished!

A nice Silver Salmon to start the day!

We packed up our gear and headed up to the Carbon... a tributary to the Puyallup where many pink salmon return back to the hatchery. This little glacial ribbon was churning extra thick that warm afternoon—blame the warm late summer sun for causing more ice melt from Mount Rainier above. It was super silty but that's how these fish seem to like it.

We set up along the riverbank with several other anglers and started drifting a nice-looking stretch. I was looking to catch a "humped" up pink salmon that would make an interesting fish print, and this should be the perfect place to get one.

It did not take long to hook a nice big pink, but it was foul hooked, and I had to return it. I had several other bites and lost a nice one at the bank before Ken finally landed one with a nice look to it! It was still fresh enough for the smoker, but had a definite hump that would make a nice Gyotaku fish print.

A Carbon River "Humpy"!

The day was a huge success already, I had a Silver Salmon on ice and a perfect Pink Salmon on the bank! Ken and I agreed to fish for another 15 minutes and then we would head out. Ken was having success fishing the upper part of the run, so I moved up towards him to see if I could hook one more pink before we left. As my spin & glow bounced through the hole, I felt it stop, and I set the hook. I knew I had hooked a fish, but it felt way more solid than the pinks we had been catching. Suddenly my rod began to bend in rhythm, and I felt the bulldog head shake of a king salmon. I looked at Ken and said, "This is no pink...I think I have a king."

Ken fishing on the Carbon River

Ken took one look and came down the bank to help me land it. What followed was pure river rodeo in that small silty river. The king ran up through the shallow riffle and then shot back downriver to fight it out in a deeper hole. The back-and-forth struggle lasted for what seemed like an eternity before I finally managed to get him up onto a sandy shoal where Ken was able to grab it by the tail and place it on the bank. A beautiful 12-pound fin-clipped king - the absolute last thing I thought we would catch out of this small river!

Carbon river King Salmon

Ken and I had several high fives and smiles about our amazing luck on this fine day - we had pulled off the freshwater trifecta, a PNW unicorn: Silver, Pink, and King Salmon, all in the freshwater and all before lunch!

Here is a picture of my "Humpy" fish print.

Another amazing day in the Great Pacific Northwest!

Thanks for reading,

Bill