Pink Fishing in the Freshwater

Pinks are one of the five species of Pacific Salmon here in Washington. They spawn in freshwater, migrate to saltwater, spend two years there gaining maturity, and then return to the freshwater to repeat the cycle. Here in Washington Pinks run in the odd years. As soon as Pinks enter freshwater to spawn they begin changing color. Part of the change that the males undergo is acquiring a significant hump on there backs; hence the name Humpies.

The past couple weeks, I had been to the freshwater 5 times. I had well over 100 pictures on the memory card in my camera. There were plenty of fish who posed for pictures. More important to me, I had taken about 15 pictures of fish underwater along with pictures of a deer, and some other scenery. Of those days, I had two good days of fishing where I reached a point where I was tired of catching fish. I was catching virtually all of my fish on my very simple Salmon Slammer.

Pausing after taking some underwater shots of a male with a major hump, I sat down on a log to eat my Clif Bar and savor a good day. Casually, I set the camera on the log next to me to dry the lens. I had caught enough fish that I was content to go home, or, to maybe fish for awhile more. Again, casually, I picked up my rod, put the chest pack back on, and walked over to the water and fished for another hour. I got a few more fish, paused, and gave thanks for such a good day. I headed for home.

After dinner, I wanted to show Katy some of the pictures I had taken. Looking in the chest pack I was so disappointed to find only an empty camera case. I looked in my truck, I looked in my jacket pockets, I looked again in the chest pack. I did it all again, knowing that may damn camera was still sitting on that log. Well, at least I hoped it was still on the log.

I got up very early the next morning to go “fish” for my camera. Somehow, I knew I was going to get skunked on this quest, but I still hoped. Pink fishing is not exactly a wilderness experience. When the Humpies run almost everyone is a fisherman. When the weather is nice then anyone who was still home comes out to fish. I was pretty sure someone else took my camera home but I had to go look. Sadly the log was empty. My camera being gone was a disappointment but so was the memory card. I lost all the pictures from 5 days of fishing, plus some pictures from a hike. Damn it.