For many Puget Sound anglers, this announcement of our winter chinook fishery beginning on March 1st, 2024 is absolutely exciting. March is often the beginning of the recreational fishing calendar for those with a boat. This announcement is also a reminder of the challenge and difficulty of fishing seasons in Puget Sound the last few years with the restriction of being only open for 4 days a week.
We cover all the details of this WDFW news and provide links to helpful resources in this blog post.
You all remember what happened last year right? Of course you do. We got to fish for basically one week in Marine Area 10 after the early February opener before things closed down due to the encounter quotas.
The encounter quota situation hasn’t changed…yet. I know many folks are working on how to expand opportunity while staying within our agreed-upon impacts, but none of that will bear fruit for this current winter chinook fishery.
One thing we did successfully change was the season timing and synchronizing between Marine Area 10 and Marine Area 11.
With both set to open at the same time and on the same schedule and opening later, we have the best chance for a season that will go the distance and give us every opportunity to take our quota of hatchery chinook.
I’m probably more optimistic than most about this season lasting, but for a few reasons:
- There’s more to do in March that will spread out effort: Southwest WA late returning hatchery steelhead and by the middle of March the ocean bottom fish gets going.
- There are fewer sub-legal chinook salmon around, as many move through and out of the middle of Puget Sound in January and February.
- Spreading effort between Marne Area 10 and 11.
- Opening 4 days a week (and only one weekend day).
- Weather usually takes out some of the effort as well
I’ve been on the water on a weekday in March in marginal weather conditions and there are not many folks around.
Hopefully, things work out in our favor and we can potentially go a full 7 days per week, but it’s smart to be cautious given our recent history with these fisheries.
Best way to be successful on blackmouth in 2024
Okay, enough about fishing season mechanics, what’s the best way to catch these winter chinook?
I will refer you to a few resources. Check out my comprehensive guide to fishing for winter chinook (blackmouth) here.
I’ve got maps, techniques, gear recommendations, etc.
Here’s the bottom line though and the one of main differences between the winter and summer fisheries: These fish are feeding actively and you need to be within 5 feet of the bottom MOST of the time.
The exceptions are when you find that suspended bait, but most often you are trolling or jigging right near the bottom.
If your boat can’t hold a contour line while trolling, you are going to have a really hard time getting your winter chinook.
If you want to avoid hooking a lot of sub-legal salmon, you need to use a larger offering such as plugs, hoochies, or perhaps larger profile bait with larger hooks. Also, speeding up and going faster will help as well.
The tides are also a big factor. I plan to jig around tide changes when the current is slower or when tide exchanges are smaller like the opener on Mar 1st in the morning.
And troll as the current picks up.
Where are blackmouth being caught?
Most of us have a pretty good network of friends who tell us where the action is hot and where it’s not. But if you don’t or you just want to see what the actual empirical story is on what’s being caught, you should head over to these two resources and check them every day during the season:
There’s a creel graph on each of those pages that’s updated every day with the information WDFW posts about what fish are being caught and how many anglers are participating.
The full WDFW news release is below:
Winter Chinook fishery opens four days per week starting March 1 in Marine Areas 10 and 11
OLYMPIA – Winter Chinook fishing in Marine Area 10 (Seattle/Bremerton Area)and Marine Area 11 (Tacoma-Vashon Island) opens four days per week – Wednesdays through Saturdays only – starting March 1, the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW) fishery managers announced today.
“Given the popularity of these fisheries in recent years, our goal was to plan the season to give us the best chance of fishing into April,” said Dr. Kirsten Simonsen, WDFW’s Puget Sound recreational salmon manager. “Based on the pre-season test fishing data and the available quota for the winter season, we believe that a four day per week fishery gives us the best opportunity for a consistent winter fishery.”
WDFW fishery managers decided to move ahead with the four day per week opener after consulting with the Puget Sound Sports Fishing Advisory Group and recreational anglers, who indicated a priority for preserving fishing opportunity as long as possible late into the winter fishing season. The fishery is scheduled to run Wednesdays through Saturdays only – from March 1 through mid-April, except at year-round piers.
In Marine Area 10, the winter Chinook fishery guidelines are 4,953 total encounters, 953 unmarked encounters, and 4,181 sublegal encounters. In Marine Area 11, the winter Chinook fishery guideline is 1,191 total encounters, 259 unmarked encounters and 816 sublegal encounters. WDFW will continuously analyze the fishery data collected via test fishing and creel sampling throughout the season. For weekly updates on the status of these fisheries, anglers can view the WDFW’s seasonal Puget Sound salmon fishery guidelines and quotas webpage.
The daily limit is two salmon including no more than one Chinook. Anglers must release chum and wild Chinook, and the Chinook minimum size is 22 inches. All other salmon species have no minimum size limit. Commencement Bay (east of a line from Cliff House Restaurant to Sperry Ocean Dock) in Marine Area 11 is closed to salmon fishing. The Agate Pass Area in Marine Area 10 remains open daily to catch and release fly fishing only through March 31.
Check the Washington Sport Fishing Rules pamphlet and WDFW’s emergency rules webpage and download the Fish Washington mobile app for up-to-date regulations.
Salmon seasons are a result of an annual collaborative state and tribal salmon season-setting process known as North of Falcon. The 2024-2025 statewide salmon forecast meeting is March 1 in Olympia. For the public meeting schedule with opportunities to participate and provide public feedback, visit WDFW’s North of Falcon webpage. Visit the WDFW North of Falcon FAQs and Glossary for key terms and suggested resources.
WDFW Email sent on 2/20/2024 at 2:24pm
