Trolling for pinks

[Pineapple Express]

So I've done a few searches but haven't come up with much.

What sort of tackle is used to target pink salmon when trolling in the ocean? Similar gear to sockeye? Small pink hootchies? Do the pinks like spoons?

Thanks!

 

[Old Blue]

Pink jigs with the twister tails, a little sparkle helps too.....sley's them.

 

[JuandeOne]

Any trolling set up proven for the other salmon species will work for pink...red gear, baitfish imitations...it doesnt matter.

 

[Pineapple Express]

Pink jigs with the twister tails, a little sparkle helps too.....sley's them.

Thanks. Do you mean something like this?

Do you troll these behind a flasher? Or just anchor above a school and jig them up?

 

[gungadin]

Pinks seem to hit anything pink, small spoons, pink hootchies with a bit of uv or glow. Where l fish, they like to head south on a flooding tide and seem to seek the shelter of bays during an ebb. They travel in schools, so if you see them finning they are there, often quite shallow, but l have caught them as far down as 150ft.

 

[Pineapple Express]

Sounds good. I remember anchoring at Furry Creek a few years ago and casting spoons. That was fun, but it was a bit of a zoo anchored close to shore with people casting from shore out towards the boat. I didn't have downriggers then so that was the only choice.

I'd like to help my 3 year old nephew catch his first salmon this year! Pinks seem like a good place to start.

 

[Old Blue]

They'd work but Bent Rods are better: http://www.bentrods.ca/specials/pink-salmon-jig-kit
The hooks are awesome.
No need to troll. You could anchor along some beeches if you're on a school but they can be spooky.
I'll send you a PM.

 

[Rockfish]

For trolling anything that imitates shrimp or plankton works well for Pinks and Sockeye for that matter. A flasher and small pink or dark purple squirts etc but Pinks will hit almost anything. When there is millions of them coming through in a big run you don’t really need to target them. When we are fishing increasingly expensive Anchovies for big summer Chinook, the Pinks can be real pests hitting them as soon as you drop your gear. Sometimes we drop the rigger balls fast to try and get closer to the bottom for Chinook and hopefully under the Pinks.

For kids old enough to cast, fishing for Pinks in the Campbell River can provide lots of action and fun.

 

[captain_no_fun]

I would recommend buying some red mini-flashers for the pinks or fishing no flasher at all. Cabela's has them for 3$.

 

[cohochinook]

Pineapple Express as others said Pinks will hit anything, but targeting them with pink flashers and pink hoochies is definitely the best method for trolling. It's a lot more fun to target them on light spinning gear or a fly rod. My kids love to do this! Great way to get them hooked on fishing.

Look for the schools on your sounder or sometimes you'll see them jumping on the surface. Off the South Arm of Fraser you get massive schools coming in on the flooding tide and Howe Sound can be good too. I use small pink shrimp patterns on the fly rod and Gibbs minnows on the spin gear. I have had it when your over a school of 1000's of pinks, you hook one and loose it and before you can even bring your line in to cast again, you'll hook another.

I found the last pink cycle that most of the schools were staying 20 to 30 foot depth, where in previous years more just below the surface. Might have had do with water temps.

 

[Sangstercraft]

What length leader, from flasher to hootchie, is normally used?

 

[cohochinook]

What length leader, from flasher to hootchie, is normally used?

I would go with 24 to 26 inches.

 

[Califbill]

Fun story. A few years ago I was fishing Campbell River. Guy with his grandson in next campsite. Invited them on the boat. Kid was maybe 9 y.o. He picked a lure out of grandpa's tackle box and wanted to fish it. Grandpa kept trying to tell him was not a good lure for salmon fishing. I have mine and grandpa's hoochies down deep on the DRs. I finally convince grandpa that does not matter as the kid is having fun. No flasher, on the surface. Kid catches only fish of the day. Pink. Who needs flasher. And I do not remember what the lure was.

 

[barrie]

When my boy was little, I use to tie orange flat fish to the Stern cleats 25-30' behind the boat. Kids would pull them in by hand, way more fun for them than a rod. Those Pinks never had a chance! He and his buddies still laugh about it 25 years later. Don't forget to volunteer your boat and time for this years under- privileged kids pink fishing event.

 

[Rockfish]

What length leader, from flasher to hootchie, is normally used?

It never hurts to read the instructions. Most Flasher manufactures publish a recommended leader length for the different salmon species right on the package which is based on a lot of research, particularly by the commercial sector. Keep in mind it is only an average and things like your speed and current speed and direction relative to current direction can play a factor. If you are going very fast and the current is also going fast against the flasher making the flasher turn faster and thus more action on lure such as a squirt or hootchie with no action of its own, you can go with a little longer leader to slow the lure down. If you are going very slow in flat current you can go with a shorter leader to try and get a little more action on the lure by being closer to the flasher and thus being whipped around more.

For targeting Pinks and fishing Hoochies/small squirts according to the package :

O’Ki recommends 27 inch leader

Hot Spot recommends 27 inch leader

Gibbs Highliner recommends an 18 to 25 inch leader, probably dependent on speed.

Leader length is measured from lure end of flasher (widest end) to the lure knot or front of the lure.

If you are fishing bait with an action of its own you are looking at longer leaders and for targeting Pinks, Hot Spot recommends 42 inches. However very few would fish/waste expensive Anchovies at 42 inches targeting Pinks and would go longer for Summer Chinook and still pick up lots of incidental Pinks if a Pink run is around.

 

[Pineapple Express]

Thanks for the info and stories. Looking forward to some fun times this year!

 

[fishbadger]

Also, if you gotta troll for them, troll SLOW. Like 1.5-2.0mph. That might increase your odds of catching a few.

If you want to catch more than a few, it's better to cruise the shorelines looking for a school of them, then sneak into them, and do the cast and jig gig, and catch a hundred.

fb

 

[Tips Up]

Better question is how do you keep from catching pinks! Lol
They will be everywhere when they show up and hit everything.

The advice here is good for catching them.
Anything pink. Hootchies are easiest. Use the short ones. Not full size. Thick hooks help to keep them on. Mouths are soft.

Tips

 

[halimark]

I LOVE when the pinks are around. Nothing like a boat full of kids, the mayhem, smiles, laughs and lets not forget the blood all over the boat. To kids its what fishing is and should be all about, who cares if you loose one there is ussually another. No young person or parent I ever took pink fishing has anything but good things to say about fishing pinks. Pink flasher, hootchie/squirt shallow slow troll and get ready for the fun, also not always first light and still good eating when freshly BBQ'd.

HM

 

[Kildonan]

I'll tell you one thing, they are damn good sport and a lot of fun on a fly rod.