Might as well just call it the Sno-hump-ish River system.

That's because over the next month and a half a massive wave of humpies is gonna boot the "ho" out of the Snohomish — and probably kick your butt to the shore — as they return to upstream spawning grounds.

How many jumpin' humpies we talking about?

Of the 1.3 million forecasted to return to the Snohomish and Stillaguamish rivers, Curt Kraemer, WDFW biologist for both systems, expects as many as 700,000 to 750,000 to roll up the Snohomish after commercial and saltwater anglers get their share, with the remainder headed to the Stilly.

Champ bloodline

These fish will be biting up and down the Snohomish-Skykomish system for the next month and a half.

These fish are the progeny of 2001's monster run, a notoriously bite-happy lot that set new state and world saltwater and freshwater weight records and made kajillionaires out of local Dick Nite traffickers.

The slippery little Sultan River alone saw 151,000 return, according to Snohomish County PUD, a record in 30 years of data collection.

This go-around, there's again a four-humpy limit.

Season opened Aug. 16 on the Snoho, Sept. 1 on the Stilly and Skykomish.

Biters

The best thing about Snohomish pinks is that year in and year out they're good fighters and willing to whack just about anything you throw at 'em.

In fact, during 2001's run, it was more difficult to find lures they wouldn't bite than what they would.

Let's see here: They bit bait, they bit plastics, they bit hardware. They bit jigs, they bit tiny flickering spoons, they bit tubes.

They bit bass gear, they bit crappie gear, they bit steelhead gear.

Heck, they even bit my old dog Blue once, but that's a different story.

I thought I found the only bait a humpy wouldn't bite … and then I was proven wrong — twice. Floating eggs under a bobber for silvers, I got a take.

And then there was the fish which bit a 4-inch green tube better suited for the bass up at Roseiger. Crazy pinkos.

That ensured there were always fish moving through, which riled up the older, moodier fish, which kept the whole lot of them snapping at anything drifted in front of their face.

Made some of us feel like old humpy pros.

Figure on stoking your smoker from now to about mid-September in the Snohomish, and then get your kicks catching and releasing humpies from mid-September into early October on the lower Skykomish. Let all boots go.

Lower river lures

From the town of Snohomish down, troll or cast spoons and jigs.

On the flood tide, fish bigger pink Bombs, smaller ones on the outgo.

If tackle shops are out of pink, buy another color and get yourself some nice nail polish and repaint 'em.

I mojoed some fluorescent 2˝ -inch BBs with Revlon's passion punch shimmer, and they look absolutely breathtaking!

Also trys trolling Dick Nites, jigging leadheads with pink hoochies, fishing smaller pink FatFish, Wiggle Warts and Hot Shots and plunking sand shrimp.

"A pink Wicked Willy is one of the better lures" for trolling on the lower Snohomish, adds John Martinis of John's Sporting Goods (425-259-3056) in Everett.

And there's always the venerable Humpy Special spoon, Kastmasters and, well, anything pink with a hook.

Upstream setups

From Snohomish upriver, try a Dick Nite rigged steelhead drift-fishing style or a jig or bait under a bobber.

For the former, run a snap swivel and tubing with lead up your mainline, add a bead, then tie on a barrel swivel, 4 or 5 feet of 8-pound leader and a No. 1 half-and-half (50/50) Nite.

Cast out, let it drop a bit and then retrieve if there's little or no current. Don't worry too much about keeping your lure near bottom; pinks seem to be spread throughout the water column at this stage of their journey upstream.

If ebb tide's sucking water out, cast out and let it drop until it's quarter downstream, then retrieve slowly.

As for jigs and a bobber, rig up with a bobber stop, bead and a float with a ˝-ounce weight just above a swivel.

Give yourself 2 to 3 feet of leader and then a bait or jig of some kind — sand shrimp and other shrimp baits will fly as will your steelhead jigs and small pink crappie tubes.

For whatever reason steelhead and crappie jigs worked better in relatively faster-flowing pools while bait did best in the slower-moving pools.

Toss to the head of the pool and drift through.

Where and when

Basically you want to target pools and inside turns rather than riffles. Here are the better spots and shore access points from Monroe down:

Anchor up near the rock jetties at the end of the hole and toss your bobber towards them.

You can also fish this pool from shore by paying the $2 trespass fee the farm at the end of 177th Ave. (the road past the Monroe prison) charges.

It's where Alex Minerich caught his state freshwater record 14.86-pounder.

At 300 cfs a friend and I could wade the river and fish from the aforementioned rocks.

Anchor about 25 feet or so off the jetty and drift bait or jigs under a bobber. Fish will keg up in this hole. Also back-troll bait or spoons.

The channel on the right is narrow and fast with a 90-degree left-hand turn, but has several deeper spots where you can toss a bobber and jig.

At the corner, anchor and back-troll spoons.

Remember Humpzilla, Avis Pearson's 14.49-pound Oncorhynchus gorbuscha giganticus?

He was caught in this general area.

Toss all manner of spoons. If you're running a boat, the river splays out into shallow channels with lots of woody debris.

Also, there's shore access off of Shorts School Road.

There's a massive amount of public access in Snohomish, off Lowell-Snohomish River Road and Rivershore Drive, and at Rotary, Riverfront and Langus parks in Everett for tossing spoons, jigs and even floating a bobber and jig.

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