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Back in 2022, I was surprised when the pink salmon record for Illinois fell repeatedly in mid-summer. After the first report I thought the catch was a rare incident. The next report a week or so later gave me pause. I was no longer sceptical when I went on a road trip with my brother to Northpoint Marina in late July of 2022.Pinks weren’t on our mind, but after launching the boat, I moved the truck and trailer to the parking lot our first afternoon. As I was walking back, I passed another pair of fishermen just finishing their morning excursion.I gave the normal angler to angler greeting, “How’d you do?” One of the guys gave me a thumbs up and said, “We limited out.”  Then he opened his cooler so I could take a look. It wasn’t what I expected, for sure. Reports were that most successful anglers were bringing in mixed catches of kings, cohos and lakers.The fish in this guy’s cooler were all small salmon – about 17 or 18-inches long. At a glance, they looked like “spring cohos,” the ones we catch in March and April here in the South End. I'm pretty good at IDing kings, cohos and the other salmonids normally found in the Great Lakes. These weren’t cohos, for sure, and with the recent reports of pinks in the area, I took a closer look. When I did, I was confident these two guys had limited out on pink salmon.This many “incidental strays” in an area is more than happenstance. So I checked with an Illinois fisheries biologist for his input. According to him, it was an unexplained occurrence. I’ve mentioned it to Indiana and Michigan biologists since. They couldn’t explain it either, nor would they risk a prediction for 2024.I mention 2024 because pink salmon have a two-year life cycle. Most places where they occur (even in the St. Marys River in Michigan where they do have pinks) one year will be a boom year with a large population, the next year will be an off-year.I’ve not heard of any state record pinks being caught this year in any of the Lake Michigan states, but in Michigan and Wisconsin this summer I’ve seen dozens of reports of pinks being caught by Lake Michigan anglers. No doubt there are many others being caught and not reported or simply mis-IDed by anglers thinking they have caught a small king or coho.I certainly don’t know what is happening. Perhaps the pinks from the established population in the Soo are now taking a left when they migrate out of the St. Marys River and head for Lake Michigan instead of Lake Huron to grow and mature. Perhaps one or more tributary streams of Lake Michigan have developed or are developing a breeding population of pinks.Time will tell, but for the rest of this season and in 2026, Lake Michigan anglers should learn the subtle differences between kings and pink salmon. They could be a new “phase” in the relatively short history of salmon in the Great Lakes.

Their tale tells the tail. Like kings, the top and bottom have distinct spots, but the spots are fewer and elongated on pinks. The king spots are round or more likely slightly oval. Here's a great photo of some pink tails.  THE END  

  I've heard of them occasionally; we caught the first one I have ever seen in May this year in MC.  Small slender, silver fish with a forked tail with elongated spots. I knew right away it wasn't a coho.