Pink Salmon
Pink Salmon (Oncorhynchus gorbuscha) is a freshwater and saltwater species. The first thing to check: very large oval black spots on both lobes of the tail, many of them bigger than the eye. The look-alike to rule out is Chum Salmon: chum have no large tail spots at all, showing calico bars instead when spawning.
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| Scientific name | Oncorhynchus gorbuscha |
|---|---|
| Also called | humpy, humpback salmon |
| Water | Freshwater and saltwater |
| Group | Salmon |
| Temperature | Runs and holds between 46 and 58 °F. |
How to identify a Pink Salmon
- Very large oval black spots on both lobes of the tail, many of them bigger than the eye.
- The smallest Pacific salmon, with fine scales and a slender build at sea.
- Spawning males grow an extreme humped back and hooked jaw, which is where humpy comes from.
If you would rather not work through a key on a wet deck, photograph the fish and let the app name it — you get the common and the scientific name back, and the record is filed before you release.
Fish it is mistaken for
| Species | How to tell them apart |
|---|---|
| Chum Salmon | Chum have no large tail spots at all, showing calico bars instead when spawning. |
| Coho Salmon | Coho spots are small and confined to the upper tail lobe; a pink's are large and on both lobes. |
Read the full entry for Chum Salmon and Coho Salmon.
Where it lives
Pacific coast from Puget Sound to Alaska, running the lower reaches of coastal rivers, often in enormous numbers.
Temperature
Runs and holds between 46 and 58 °F.
The conditions that matter
Pinks live a fixed two-year cycle, so most rivers get a huge run in odd years and almost nothing in even ones — the single most useful thing to know before planning a trip. Within the run, tide at the river mouth and river level drive when fish push through.
Global Fishing League records 18 weather and water readings against every catch automatically — tide stage, barometric pressure, water temperature, salinity, dissolved oxygen, chlorophyll, swell, current, moon phase and more, taken at your GPS position at the moment you log the fish. Over a season that turns a hunch about pink salmon into a pattern you can read.
See every reading recorded with a catch, or the guides to what each reading means.
Size limits, bag limits and seasons
Size limits, bag limits, slot limits and seasons are set by your state wildlife agency — and for many offshore and migratory species by federal regulators — and on many waters they differ from the statewide rule. They also change between seasons. Check the current regulations for the exact water you are fishing before you keep a fish — we do not republish limits here, because a number that is a season out of date is worse than no number.
What the app does do is make your side of it accurate: every catch carries a length measured from the photograph, a GPS position and a timestamp, exportable if you ever need to show your work for a tournament or a record claim. It is also what a Global Fishing League entry is built from — a record that verifies itself, without publishing where you caught the fish.