Fish Of The U.P. > Salmon :
- The most numerous of salmon a pink is usually about 18-24 inches long reaching an average weight of 3-5 pounds with a conical head and small eyes. In breeding males the snout is greatly extended and turned down at the tip; the lower jaw is enlarged and unable to close with sharp teeth on both jaws. Also he has a large hump before the dorsal fin whereas the female changes little except in color. A steel-blue to blue-green with large black dots and silver sides characterize the coloring. A less brilliant yet similar color is in permanent freshwater pinks.
Pink salmon are found in the UP mostly east of the Laughing Whitefish River in Alger County, which has a very good run of the Pink's.
In 1956, about 21,000 pink salmon were introduced -- some say inadvertantly -- to a Thunder Bay tributary in northwestern Lake Superior. Over the course of a few generations of stunted adults, the number of "pinks" that have descended from the originals imported from the Pacific Coast has grown larger. Populations of pink salmon are now thinly dispersed throughout all Great Lakes.
For several years, pink salmon spawned every other year in Superior's streams.
This is because pink salmon almost always spawn and die in the fall of their
second year of life. However, because Lake Superior's nutrient-lean waters
have slowed their growth, some pink salmon have taken three years to mature.
As a result, there are now spawning runs every year in some Lake Superior
tributaries.
Prior to spawning, the males develop a pronounced hump in front of their
dorsal fin. For this reason the species is often called the humpback. Though
spawning pink salmon seldom feed, some will strike at live bait in the early
stages of this transformation.
In their native Pacific Ocean, pink salmon have grown in commercial value
and are now canned and sold widely. The discovery in recent years that they
will also take bait from a trolled hook and line has also made them a desirable
sport fish in British Columbia waters and in Great Lakes waters as well.
Care must be taken, however, to ice down the fish after capture because
its flesh deteriorates rapidly.