Why Pinks?

Why not?

Do you like catching fish until your arms fall off? Do you like betting your buddies to see who can reel their lure in WITHOUT HOOKING A FISH? Take a look at the action that's going on in this boat. I watched these guys hook pink after pink all afternoon long. Dad didn't even attempt to fish because at all times there were one, two, or three fish on. What a show they put on and what a great dad for taking the family out. So, why the bad rap? Well, it has to do with table fare. An ocean fresh pink grilled up after a day on the water is very good. However, when you freeze the fillets of a pink salmon the quality disappears. Based on the photo above do you think Will Robertson cares about that? It's all about the action, baby, all about the action.

As a fishing guide I can not fish with my clients so when my guiding day is over I like to go out in the evenings with my friends and chase a few pinks and silvers. Often this is a time when I try different lures, different techniques, and different areas to help me be a better guide during the day. It's a time that I often step out of my comfort zone and do things completely different. In my opinion, to experiment with my clients is unprofessional and when I'm hired for a fishing trip I want to be using proven techniques on proven spots. I feel this way because of an experience that my dad and I had many years ago. We hired a guide to show us how to catch walleyes in a lake we had never fished before. He tied on our lines a jig with a Bass Pro Shop salted plastic grub worm. It seemed a bit odd for walleyes but we trusted our guide because we felt he "knew what he was doing" and didn't question his choice. After a couple of hours and no fish he said that this was the first and the last time he'd try a jig and grub for walleyes on this lake. After that we switched over to more traditional live bait rigging and finally caught a few fish before the day ended. Much of this day was wasted because he wanted to try something new. Lesson learned: I will waste my own time but not yours.

So, back to the topic at hand. Here I am "wasting" time in the evening fishing for pink salmon in slough I rarely fish. Thanks Will for sending me this photo of Humposaurus Rex!