As the sun began to set on Manzanita Beach one day last week, Islander Joey Pinczes, in sunglasses and shirtless in the early evening heat, cast his fishing line repeatedly into the mouth of Quartermaster Harbor, slowly reeling in the bright pink lure at the end. His younger brother Shane Hylton did the same, wading into the water in flip flops, while Pinczes’ two young children played on the beach.

Though neither had caught any fish yet, Pinczes noted the tide was still coming in and said it was only a matter of time before the pink salmon started to bite.

“There are a lot right now,” said Pincezs, who has been out fishing several times this summer. “I usually do as well as the people in the boats.”

It wasn’t long until Pinczes was joined by at least half a dozen other men who spaced themselves along the rocky shore like they were taking post, casting often and talking little.

It’s a biennial tradition on Vashon and all over Puget Sound, where on odd-numbered years pink salmon flood local waters by the millions in July, August and September, making their way to rivers and streams to spawn and die. 

But this year, experts say, the pinks should be even more abundant and easy to catch than normal. Following a record-breaking run in 2009, when nearly 10 million of the fish returned to the Sound, the state Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW) predicts that this summer the Sound will see around 6 million Pinks return. 

In years past, only 1 to 3 million have come through, said Steve Thiesfeld, WDFW’s Puget Sound Salmon Manager.

“2009 was a huge year,” he said. “This year 6 million is still a very good forecast, but it’s not quite up to the 2009 actual return. Although we had more come back in 2009 than we forecasted, which is always a good thing.”

The men fishing at Manzanita all turned their heads when Pinczes’ 7-year-old daughter began to run around, shouting that her father was reeling in a fish.

He quickly brought the salmon ashore, where she and Pinczes’ 5-year-old son examined it as it flopped around on the rocks.

Jeff Ammon, who had been fishing yards away and was thinking of trying his luck at Lisabeula, decided to stay. Casting his line back into the water he said, “If there’s one, then there are more. They come in schools.”

The strong run has been luring both serious and casual Vashon anglers into boats and to the shore, where they are almost guaranteed to catch a pink during this time of the summer. 

Norm Ockinga, who has worked at Island Lumber for nearly a decade, said the store is selling more fishing gear this season than in past years. 

“We’ve been selling quite a bit lately. There are a lot of people excited abut the pinks,” he said.

On a chart at the store where anglers can report large catches, one young boy reported bringing in a 12-pound pink. 

“That’s a pretty large pink,” Ockinga said. “I think the kid who caught it was about 6 years old.”

Will Gerrior, a retired pilot who has lived on Vashon for 40 years, said he catches his limit of  salmon every morning using a different method than most anglers: fly fishing. And though he has good luck with the pinks every time they come, he says this year’s large run has many talking.

“I’ve heard everything from 9 million to 30 million for this year’s run,” he said.

Jon Glasmann, who is 23 and works at Sawbones, remembers the historic salmon run of 2009. However, he and other local anglers say that despite a lower forecast for the pinks, this summer the fish seem to be even thicker than they were two years ago. 

“I’ve seen more fish boiling and being caught than two years ago,” Glasmann said. “It’s a good time any time you can go off the shore or on a boat and reel up fish until your arms hurt.”

The pinks even seem larger in size this year, Glasmann added, speculating that this year’s group somehow picked up more weight during their time in the ocean. 

“I think they definitely are bigger, probably by a couple pounds,” he said.

Dan Houston, minister at the Presbyterian Church and an avid fisherman, agreed. He said that although pinks are the smallest of the salmon species, many of the fish he has caught this summer weigh a pound more than normal pinks. He also said he’s never seen runs as large as that of this year and 2009.

“Something is producing high quality feed out there,” Houston said.

The men may be on to something. Thiesfeld, with WDFW, said in the past decade researchers have noticed a trend among salmon in which types that spend most of their lives in the ocean, such as pink and chum, have been thriving. On the contrary, species that spend more time in local rivers and streams before heading to the sea have seen their populations decline, some so significantly that they are now considered threatened under the Endangered Species Act.

“Those fish that spend little time in freshwater seem to be increasing in Puget Sound,” Thiesfeld said. 

Though scientists can’t pinpoint exactly what has caused the phenomena, he said, it could be an indication that ocean conditions have been favorable in recent years, with cooler temperatures caused by La Niña and an abundance of the krill and small fish that salmon feed on. The population changes could also signal the declining health of local rivers and streams, where salmon habitat and spawning grounds have suffered from pollution and nearshore development.

“There may be a component that the freshwater habitat is not in as good of shape anymore,” Thiesfeld said.

Doug Myers, director of science for People for Puget Sound, agreed. Researchers pay close attention to the returns, Myers said, as the numbers give them clues to the health of the species and their habitats.

“A big salmon run can be ‘woo hoo’ from a fisherman’s standpoint, and that’s where we usually hear about it. … But researchers get excited, too. They can begin back calculations and it gives us more information,” he said.

Myers said People for Puget Sound staff are pleased to see the large number of pink salmon returning this summer, and they hope it indicates that the habitat restoration efforts of private organizations such as People for Puget Sound and state and federal agencies are beginning to pay off.

“It suggests that the system is responding to restoration,” Myers said. “There are 24 active restoration sites right now, and many of them would be on the spawning or migration pathways of pink salmon. I’m not saying it’s a cause-and-effect relationship, but a lot of work that has been done in salmon restoration has been done in recent years.”

While pinks have long been the most abundant salmon species in the Sound and are returning in even greater numbers, anglers say pinks are also one of the smallest and least flavorful of the fish. 

Myers said conservationists hope that the handful of other salmon species will follow the trend set by the pinks and imagined fishermen would hope the same. 

“We’re celebrating the big returns,” he said. “We hope this is a sign of things to come, not just with the pinks, but other species. The imperative is for us to continue to do restoration work.”