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If I could rate this trip a 10 I would! I had the pleasure of taking my brother in-law Dan from upstate NY fishing for pink salmon in the Snohomish River. This was my first time taking my boat on any river without someone with river experience with me and man what an amazing trip we had.

We intended on fishing the Shipwreck this morning but when we woke at 4:00 am there was quite a bit of wind and I didn’t want my brother in-law Dan’s first salmon fishing trip to happen on a windy day on the salt. So after cooking everyone breakfast and contemplating the wind and what we wanted to do, I decided to take Dan to the Snohomish River hoping he might have the opportunity to catch a fish or two. Dan had limited fishing experience and had never caught or fished for salmon.

We arrived at Langus Park at about 11:45 am and headed up stream. Before leaving the launch we spoke with 4 fishermen on two separate boats who all limited and they told me they fished up past the float plane. We passed the float plane and saw fish jumping and a gentleman playing a fish alone in a 14’ aluminum lake boat. We anchored up downstream from him about 100 yards and began casting pink jigs towards the shoreline where these fish were fining and jumping and within minutes I hooked a fish which was boated a few minutes later. Cleaned and on ice within minutes and we were back casting and for the next hour Dan and I hooked fish after fish and I’ve never experienced anything like it! We had 7 in the cooler within about 45 minutes and began catching and releasing fish one right after the next literally hooking a fish nearly every cast, playing each fish for five or more minutes before being able to reach to the tired fish boat side, grab the jig, and remove it from for a clean release never touching the fish. After about 40 minutes of catch and release, the bite slowed so we moved up stream about 200 yards and re-anchored right in the middle of jumping and fining fish and continued catching then releasing fish one right after another. It was simply phenomenal fishing!!! I’ve never had the opportunity to catch and release so many salmon one right after another and after 3 hours of literally nonstop action, we kept one final fish to make up our two limits and headed to the launch.

We did our best to count the fish we physically unhooked at the boat and our tally was 20 fish. Nearly all of them were bucks in the 6 to 8 pound rage and because the bite was so fantastic we were able to take some amazing video of several of the fish we played and released. I’m blown away by how good fishing was. They were all but jumping in the boat. Back out there tomorrow. I hope we can find them again and have a repeat performance.

Geno the Viking

8/30/2011 9:19:00 PM

I was out there at the same time but caught all mine right at Lowell. Fantastic fishing. They are sure running bigger than usual l this year. I caught one that was 8.25 pounds and it took forever to land him with my light gear. Fun fun fun.

fetchitup7

8/30/2011 10:21:00 PM

Way to go Dave. Good luck tomorrow.

Dave

8/30/2011 10:25:00 PM

We caught the first 7 fish in under an hour which includes, cleaning each fish after landing and marking our catch record cards, then we caught and release fish after fish for about 2 hours until we decided to call it quits and harvest our final fish. It was absolutely amazing fishing. It was so fun to play these fish not feeling that pressure to have to land them or limit and that made playin each one of them on my trout rod a blast. Back tomorrow morning hopefully for a repeat.

I also agree there seems to be far more big bucks now than there were in 2009 although I caught all of my 2009 fish in the salt. Many of the 20+ fish we released today were near or at the 8 pound mark. I'm still blown away with how great it was out there today. I read many reports where guys say they caught over 20 fish and was skeptical about the numbers. Now I believe it because we easily caught and physically released 20+ fish before taking our 8.

kedarmoh

8/30/2011 11:19:00 PM

hi Dave,
Is it possible to fish from the shore in this park? I have chest waders, so I can go in a little deep. Is it crowded here?

zodiacman

8/31/2011 12:00:00 AM

there is tons of shore access at Langus Park. You can go way upstream from where the parking area is. I went there last weekend and it wasnt crowded at all.

Mike Carey

8/31/2011 6:41:00 AM

way to go Dave! That type of fishing makes up for the skunk days. :-)

Gringo Pescador

8/31/2011 6:49:00 AM

Watch out - your brother in law will be back next year expecting the same kind of fishing!

FishingThePacNW

8/31/2011 4:08:00 PM

Would u suggest going on a boat or just from the shore? IS it fast moving? Like my dad and i (im 12) want to take our 12' aluminum boat up there because we took it up the river right there in snohomish so i was wondering if it was fast enough to push a 3 hp motor down? also what would u suggest to use? Thx Sry i have so many Qs. only caught one pink this year:(

Dave

9/1/2011 12:26:00 AM

Sorry for my late reply. Zodiacman is correct, there is lots of shore access not only at Langus Park but also along the river in the Lowel River Road area. You might have a look at a map and go have a look. You're right Grongo, a buddy of mine from work said the exact same thing. LOL.

Dave

9/1/2011 12:27:00 AM

fishinthePNW, I'd say from boat only because you can locate the fish much easier. If you take the boat out, look for fish fining and jumping and cast to them. Finding the fish was the key and that can be hard to do sometimes from shore.

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