The smallest and most numerous of the pacific salmon are pink salmon. They’re a lot of fun to catch because “humpies” will bite most anything in front of them. It’s a wonderful fish to introduce someone new to fishing because the action can be non stop.
Unlike the king and red salmon runs, the Alaska Department of Fish and Game does not have an optimum escapement goal and forecast for pink salmon. In fact, they do not monitor the run. The only way to know how well, or poor, a run is is what anglers are experiencing on the river.
Overall, my experience was the 2024 pink salmon run was below average.
When we actually targeted pink salmon the fishing was very good. However, the constant flow of fish wasn’t there. And, the duration of the run wasn’t there either.
I will say I was disappointed that the run wasn’t large enough to catch pink off of the dock. It’s always a fun bonus for our guests.
But, I’m not concerned just yet about the future of the pink salmon runs. You can always have an off year, but a trend would consist of at least 4 down cycles in a row (think the king salmon runs). Time will tell if this is the start of a decline.
A couple fun facts about pink salmon on the Kenai River.
- They’re the only salmon fry that doesn’t overwinter in the river before migrating out to sea.
- They’re the only salmon that has a single run, and not a double run.
- The run happens every other year on the even years. 2026 will be the next opportunity to tangle with a pink salmon.
Next week will be my final fishing recap of 2024. The spotlight will be on silver salmon.
See you then.