Best Bead Size & Colour for Pink in High & Coloured Water

There's no single "best" bead for Pink — only the right one for today's conditions. The odd-year multitude — smallest salmon, biggest numbers. When the river is running high & coloured, the usual rules about matching a natural egg shift, because visibility itself has changed. Brighter and larger for visibility; pinks stay keyed to pink. For pink specifically, that means leaning on hot pink, orange-roe in the 12–16mm range rather than a one-size-fits-all pick. Quick ID if you're new to the species: white mouth, black gums; large oval spots; thin tail wrist; males hump; odd years only. The recommendation below (built around a 14mm bead) is the starting point — every Pink trip still rewards experimenting once you're on fish. Water conditions shift day to day and even hour to hour, so treat this as a confident starting point, not a fixed rule. This page covers pink specifically in this water condition — use the interactive Bead Match tool linked below to compare all four conditions side by side, or to switch species entirely.