ESPN Saltwater

Editor's note: Based in North Puget Sound and operating from Alaska to Baja, Joel Shangle has been a news junkie on the West Coast saltwater scene since the 1990s, first as editor of California Fishing & Hunting News' and now as editor of California Sportsman, which hits newsstands in October. He's the host of Northwest Wild Country, a popular fishing and hunting radio show airing throughout western Washington, and has the deepest source list this side of the Library of Congress. In other words: if you're catching fish on the West Coast, just try to get away from him.

I don't care what species you're talking about, 22 million is a lot of fish. When it's wild salmon, it qualifies as a tidal wave.

That's the number of pink salmon expected back to Puget Sound and lower-mainland British Columbia in late August and September, a staggering number of fish that will provide some of the fastest, easiest, downright-embarrassingly-ridiculous fishing the West Coast will see the entire year.

The smallest of the five species of salmon that migrate throughout the north Pacific, pink salmon — or "humpies" as they're affectionately nicknamed because of the pronounced hump that develops on their backs — return en masse every two years to the northern reaches of the Pacific Northwest, from south Puget Sound to Alaska. Their odd-year migration stimulates a major increase in fishing participation in metropolitan Seattle, but the 2009 run — which includes just under 5 million pinks into Puget Sound fisheries that lie within easy reach of a metro population of 3.6 million Seattleites — might propel the area's humpy madness to a whole 'nother level.

"You need a DC-5 Cat to get through all the humpy boats fishing out at Deception Pass," joked Tony Floor of the Northwest Marine Trade Association in late August, referring to a popular fishing area in North Puget Sound. "This fishery is an outstanding shot in the arm, both for putting boats and anglers on the water to go fishing, but also to catch fish. Humpies? We love 'em."

All 22 million of the 2009 run will stampede through the Strait of Juan de Fuca (the waterway that separates mainland Washington and Vancouver Island, B.C.), and then break off into two north- and southbound components: a Puget Sound run, which includes six genetically different stocks bound for six different river systems between Olympia and Mount Vernon, and the massive Fraser River run, which will filter through Haro Strait and the Strait of Georgia before plugging B.C.'s biggest river system from Vancouver upstream.

Hitting full stride now: Pinks, which typically run 4 to 10 pounds, have been a near-nuisance in coho fisheries from southern Alaska to Sekiu, Washington for the past month, but with the forecasted peak entry of the biggest run since the 1960s hitting Puget Sound the last week of August, the fishery will shift into fifth gear for metro anglers specifically targeting the hoards of humpies bound for the Green, Puyallup, Snohomish, Stillaguamish and Skagit river systems.

"Even though there are a half-dozen stocks of genetically different pink salmon in the Sound right now, they tend to enter into the freshwater of their destination within days of one another," Floor says. "Next week, it'll look like a Trident submarine coming down the Strait of Juan de Fuca. If you plan on fishing them in the saltwater, you better get on Expedia right this minute and get your plane ticket booked."

Get geared: Humpies are extremely willing biters, they're easy to locate, they're accessible from any number of public beaches, and the gear requirements are about as minimal as you can expect for a wild salmon fishery. Finding them in the open water of the Sound is a matter of motoring out virtually anywhere in Marine Area 8-2 through 11 and looking for jumpers, and it's even easier from the beach because they travel in shallow water, near the surface.

Trolling is always an effective option — run a 3-inch pink mini squid behind a small dodger or flasher — and once you've found a school, it'll resemble a full-on albacore bite.

Beach bummin': Casting from the beach (or toward the beach from a boat) with light tackle is, for my money, the best way to enjoy this fishery.

Fish any rod (7 ½ to 9 ½-foot, whatever you have) rated for 4- to 8-pound test. Small pink Buzz Bombs have been the standby in this fishery for years, but a ¼-ounce hot pink squid jig with a hot-pink head is the shizzle — cast it, let it sink and hop/twitch a few times and it's a guaranteed fish on.

Fly fishing is maybe even better: run a 9-foot 5- or 6-weight rod, intermediate clear Rio Outbound line, 4- to 6-foot leader and a size 4 to 6 pink Clauser or basic baitfish pattern. Whatever it is, make it pink, pink, and more pink.

Cast ahead of fish you see on the surface, let the fly sink for a couple of counts, and then strip-strip-strip pause s-l-o-w-l-y.

"Best fishing is on a moving tide," advises Clark Jennings of Puget Sound Fly Company (www.pugetsoundflyco.com) in Kent, Wash. "Pinks are everywhere. Uh, and so are the people. Wherever you go, don't expect to be alone."