Giant pink lands 9-year-old angler in record books

While Seattle Mariners right fielder Ichiro is busting baseball records left and right, 9-year-old Alex Minerich of Kirkland has broken some fishing records that many anglers can only dream about, all involving a 14.86-pound pink salmon.

On Sept. 30, Alex and his father Steve went fishing on the Skykomish River at Hansen's Bar. It was an overcast day, but pleasant and ideal weather for fishing.

"We planned on fishing for coho, but they wouldn't bite, so we started fishing for pinks instead," Steve said. "At around 3:30 p.m., Alex caught this huge fish and at first I thought it was a large king (chinook salmon). After he reeled it closer, I saw it was a big pink."

The pink headed downstream about 70 yards with Alex in hot pursuit. It took Alex about 10 minutes to land the fish, "but probably felt like an eternity to him," his father said.

"It fought really hard as I chased it down the river," Alex said. "Once we had it on the bank, I looked at it and thought it was a pretty ugly fish."

Pinks are also known as "humpies" because of the distinct hump they develop on their back near spawning time.

The gnarly pink had also bent the small hook on his Dick Nite Silver Red Head spoon.

At first, the fourth-grader from Juanita Elementary didn't think much about his big pink, and both continued to fish, catching or releasing about 29 pinks.

"At first it wasn't that big of a deal, and I just wanted to keep on fishing," Alex said. A short time later, two anglers passed by in their drift boats and asked to view the giant fish lying on the shoreline.

As they got a closer look, and exclaimed that it looked bigger than the 14.49-pound, all-tackle world-record pink caught by Avis Pearson on Sept. 22.

More than two hours had passed since Alex caught his fish, and at that point they decided to weigh the fish on two certified scales at Sky Valley Traders and Safeway in Monroe.

"We weighed it at both places to make absolutely sure it was as heavy as it was," Steve said. The pink weighed 14.86 pounds.

Steve recently called the International Game Fishing Association in Dania Beach, Fla. to submit the pending world-record pink.

Much to his surprise, he also found out the fish is eligible for a junior world record, a small-fry world record and a fishing-line-class world record. Alex used Maxima 10-pound test line.

What does Alex intend to do with his pending record pink?

"Right now, it's in the freezer and I haven't really decided if I'm going to have it mounted," Alex said.

Fishing-hunting spots

Razor clam digging on the coast — "Fairly light crowd, but limits for everyone," said Dan Ayres, head state Fish and Wildlife shellfish biologist.

Twin Harbors, Copalis, Long Beach and Mocrocks are open today (low tide minus-1.2 feet at 8:33 p.m.) from noon to midnight. Those four beaches along with Kalaloch will reopen Saturday (minus-0.1 at 10:05 p.m.). Bring a lantern to see in the dark.

Deer hunting — Deer hunters during last weekend's opener were aided by snow in some upper-elevation areas. Wetter conditions overall helped hunters be more quiet in the woods.

Harvest was good on whitetails in the northeast counties of Ferry, Stevens, Pend Oreille, Lincoln and Spokane.

Early reports show very light effort for blacktail deer in the Snoqualmie Game Management Unit, Vail Tree Farm, Mason County, Pysht Tree Farm, Grays Harbor County and Snohomish County. Better success was found at the Chehalis and Coal Creek sampling stations, and Klickitat County.

Waterfowl hunting — "In general, duck hunting has been fairly slow since the opener," said Don Kraege, a state Fish and Wildlife waterfowl manager. "The clear weather and lack of rainfall are the main problem. However, there are quite a few ducks in saltwater estuaries, which is typical at this time of the year."

In Eastern Washington, duck hunting is somewhat better, especially in the Columbia Basin.

Squid off Seattle waterfront piers — Good night-jigging off Piers 66 and 86.

Trout in statewide lakes — Fair for recently planted trout at Wilderness, Meridian, Spanaway, Wapato and Harts lakes in Pierce County.

Northern Lake Washington — Only chance of seeing a coho (not catching one) is probably at the Issaquah Hatchery. All areas north of the Evergreen Point Floating Bridge are open through this month.

San Juan Islands — Spotty for coho.

Hood Canal — Fair to good for coho. State Fish and Wildlife reports early chum have arrived near the Hoodsports terminal fishery area.

Northern Puget Sound — On the slow side for coho at Point No Point, Possession Bar, Mukilteo, Saratoga Passage and off Edmonds Marina. Best bet for coho is the West Whidbey Island shoreline.

Central Puget Sound — "Decent for cutthroat casting flies along the shoreline," said Keith Robbins, skipper of A Spot Tail Salmon Guide in Ballard.

Slow for coho at Meadow Point, West Point, Skiff Point, Jefferson Head and Kingston, but a few chum appearing in catches.

South-central Puget Sound — Slow to fair for chinook in the Tacoma area.

Oakland Bay near Johns Creek — Fair to good for chum, 5 to 12 pounds.

Elliott Bay — Slowed for coho.

Snohomish River system — Fair to good for coho.

Chehalis River — "We checked about one fish per boat at Montesano, where the water is clearer," said Wendy Beeghly, a state Fish and Wildlife biologist. "Muddy water from the extreme tides slowed fishing from Chehalis to Cosmopolis."

Skagit River — Good for coho throughout the river system and decent cutthroat fishing in the lower river.

Green River — Good for coho.

Coastal rivers — Recent rainfall has improved fishing conditions. Try for chinook and coho in the Hoh, Bogachiel and Soleduck.

Wynoochee River — Slow to fair for chinook.

Humptulips River — Fair for hatchery coho.

Cowlitz River — Fair for coho near the Toutle River mouth.

North Toutle River — Fair for chinook and coho.

Kalama River — Fair for coho.

Lewis River — Fair to good for coho, but most are being released. North Fork from Colvin Creek to Merwin Dam is closed.

Mark Yuasa can be reached at 206-464-8780 or myuasa@seattletimes.com.