I took my Dad out fishing for chinook and coho in Marine Area 9 on the final set of openings in the limited season for chinook in 2023 and wanted to share our trip experience, and lessons learned and write a little bit about what’s next for Puget Sound chinook anglers.
With a 2023 salmon season management approach favoring the ocean and a robust forecast of chinook and coho headed for the Columbia River, the almost perfect set of conditions have been created to produce one of the most epic salmon fishing opportunities out of Westport, WA in recent memory.
This post is all about getting you prepped to head out there and give it a go. You South Sound chinook fisherman who’s already had their season closed. You know who you are and you know you’ve been thinking about it!
If you’ve been a follower of our YouTube channel (you should be!), you know that we ran out to Neah Bay not long after the June salmon opener for a single-day incredible turn-and-burn trip. And on that trip, we hooked into 8 quality chinook but lost 6 of those, and only landed 2.
I’ve recently made some changes and have gone 11 for 11 on quality chinook since those changes. This blog post is to highlight what exactly I changed.
FISHING RULE CHANGE
Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife
July 13, 2023
Salmon fishing suspended in Marine Area 11 (Tacoma-Vashon Island)
You might be thinking this is a ridiculous blog post just from the title, but it’s actually a really important question to think through with a full understanding of how our fishing and catching data is used by WDFW. By attempting to apply logic and reason to this question we will hopefully illuminate some things we may not fully understand.