Pink Humpers.?

I have heard that every couple of years we(Erie) get a run of pink salmon and that they only make 1 run and then its over again for a couple more years. Is this true? I have heard that they will run this year. I guess time will tell.

If we get a "run" of Pinks I must be color blind. I've never seen one, and definetly never caught one. I know there is a couple caught every year, but you have as good as a chance of catching a coho in PA. It does happen, but not enough to target them!

Caught 3 or 1 fish 3 times???????  

I have heard of only a few being caught and it's very rare but I'd imagine it'd be a special moment to run into a few and actually catch one.

I believe they only run every other year.  What we see in the PA tribs are from NY stockings I believe.

We tend to get a few pinks mostly on even numbered years. The best run( can not even realy call it that) was in 1996 when a god number were found in most creeks in pa with 20 mile having a decent number of them. That year I landed my fist pink ever a decent 23in 3lb 15oz just below the chutes in Walnut creek. State record is 21in 4lb 8oz as of present with ny state recond 4lb 12oz.They are very rare in almost 30 years fishing the Erie tribs I have landed a whooping 3( 2 in Walnut 1 in chataqua creek ny) of them and only seen a handfull more in the streams. The pinks we get are not from any stocks they are basicaly very adventurus fish that made thier way down from lake huron by way of lake st clair. Lake huron and Lake michigan has a very big number of them all wild from a single stock in the mid 50's that have some how taken hold. The st marys and garden rivers in Canada have a massive run of them every year. On even numbered years you get more but smaller ones on odd years you still get a good run but they average a bit larger. I have personal fished the st mary and garden river on even and odd years for them and see it first hand. If we had nice pea gravel streams all we would need would be one good run to astablish a yearly run. Unlike kings, coho, steelhead the pinks do not need to smoltify. As soon as they hatch form thier egg they will start thier journey to the big water be it ocean or lake.
I do belive we have been missing the boat on this one. I personaly feel if we were able to stocked ready to be hatched eggs in all the streams expecialy crooked , racoon and trout run( best chance to acualy spawn successfull) we could get a return year after year. they do not grown real big and should not upset any balance in the eco system because of it. And they sure would be a nice extra bonus fish in the fall. All it would take is one good stock in trout run and the fish commision could just keep collecting eggs each year from trout run fertilize them then place them in the streams so when hatched they would remmmeber the same stream they hatched in and hopefull all come back. It my just be a pipe dream on my part but variety is the spice of life , so yes I feel we should experimenet some with them in the erie tribs.


here is a pic of the one I got in 1996.

lets go for it i say we get the pafbc to stock chums/dogs lol chums look cool and i hear they fight like hell.

I got this one 3 years ago in the shutes at walnut just above the manchester hole, this is the year they should come back.

I caught one (about 20 inches) in 20 mile creek back in Oct. of 1994. Was cool looking but I could care less to catch anymore. Didn't fight much compared to a Steelhead. The guy that was fishing with me ate it and said it was very good eating. Once the Brownies start coming we will be in fishing heaven, if there is one.

I have caught 2 pinks and again I believe it was 96 or 98 caught them in the lake at the mouth of Elk.  IMHO they are way better eating than kings, steelhead or even browns.  Caught my first trib brown last year, after over twenty years of fishing for them.

The NY tribs also get a few Pinooks, Pink/Chinook(King) hybrids, Egg Sac got a monster a few years back. Eggie wheres that pic ?

ORIGINAL: egg sac

We tend to get a few pinks mostly on even numbered years. The best run( can not even realy call it that) was in 1996 when a god number were found in most creeks in pa with 20 mile having a decent number of them.

 
Thanks Tom, I couldn't remember exactly when. I knew it was mid 90's.
 I happened to be on 20-Mile near the mouth when a decent run came through in early October or late September. Quite a few were caught that day. I think I got 3 or 4.
I had assumed the state stocked them a few years earlier. 
 I've never seen a run of Pinks like that in Erie since then.

 Smallhook, YUMMY !!!!!!!

Last year about this time maybe closer to the end of Oct. I was able to land a 5 Lb Brownie. I was fishing the shore at 20 mile right after dusk. They seemed to be more interested in large shiners that evening. I gave it to a friend, his Phillapino wife was jumping for joy when she saw it on the kitchen stove top.

I've been told that when they run its a 1 day event, so if you miss it your s.o.l.