Unlike many times when I get inspired to write, I have a few things to say about many different topics as opposed to much to say about one topic. There are things you absolutely need to know as we head into March, which is typically an extremely active month of harvest recreation activity in the PNW.
Read on for more details.
Let’s start with steelhead.
Steelhead update February 2025
I had a week in February where I got out multiple times and each time came away with a nice keeper steelhead, including one of my personal best fish below:
There are a lot of folks out fishing for Steelhead right now, and I’ve been given a ton of information about what’s popping where, by a few friends swearing me to secrecy, so I don’t want to blow any rivers up here, but I will say the run on the Skookumchuck has been disappointing so far.
There was a decent week of fishing in January, but with the low water, cold and clear conditions slowing things down, followed by not many fish coming in on that last high water event, has left many of the bank-bound steelhead anglers somewhat disappointed.
As the calendar turns over to March, most of the coastal rivers are closing, which means it’s either time to move on to a new fishery or focus on the SW Washington Rivers, not subject to the closure.
Either way, it was great to be able to fish a few rivers we haven’t been able to fish in a few years, even if they were a bit crowded and fishing wasn’t as good as it could have been with the long stretch of cold we got. My heating bill showed up with a few extra $ on it and a reminder that it was 7 degrees colder on average compared to the same period in 2024. Wow!
I’ve also created a new page focussed on answering the question, “Where is the best place to catch steelhead in Washington?” using escapement numbers and the average CFS of several rivers. I will be adding it to the menu soon.
Before more fishing topics, we have to talk about the political stuff going on as it’s truly a massive year in the politics of fish and wildlife management.
Political Updates so far in 2025
I created the above video in late January in response to a truly scary development in Washington wildlife management, whereby the commission (the nine-member panel that sets policy for WDFW) was potentially going to be replaced by a single cabinet position via the State Governor.
While the commission itself had been dysfunctional, largely due to activist organizations injecting it with political agendas taking precedence over science, most of the hunting/angling community desired that the commission be reformed not replaced.
The PNWBestLife community and many others took urgent action in notifying our legislators via the Howl for Wildlife website both on the topics of opposing this idea and opposing the last-hour appointment of two more activist commissioners by outgoing governor Inslee.
For all of you who responded, thank you! We made a difference. Howl noticed a spike in activity on their website as the above video spread, and you all responded to it. The House Bill was killed in committee, and both commission appointments were not confirmed.
Since then, there have been additional reform bills and activity in this area. Most people don’t realize it, but our hunting and angling consumptive rights are literally being debated and being lobbied for/against in an unprecedented way right now. Washington is the battleground state for trying to upend a century of wildlife management practices by activists.
And of course as all this goes on, we have North of Falcon starting this week with the forecast kickoff!
North of Falcon
I have a new role in the process as well. I’m still serving on the Puget Sound Recreational Fishing Enhancement group, but now I’ve also been added to the Puget Sound Sport Fishing Advisory group that works with WDFW on season setting. I’m looking forward to bringing our voices to a more significant advisory group with my data/technology background to help everyone understand the salmon forecast complexity a bit better.
I’m also adding a new way to interact and share information via a discord server specific to PNWBestLife. If you follow this link and either use the Discord app or a browser window, you can gain access to the server as an additional place to collaborate.
I will have much more to say about salmon forecasts and seasons, as I usually do over the next month.
What are the fishing opportunities as we head into March, 2025?
We await, of course, our primary winter blackmouth opportunity in the winter/spring of 2025. This opportunity has been moved to April 2nd for Marine Areas 10 and 11 to hopefully have a chance to catch larger fish and have a longer season with better weather. You can fish Marine Area 13, but that can be very hit or miss, depending on the presence of salmon chasing bait.
So what’s actually happening in March?
Here are a few very obvious activities we can keep count on:
- Razor Clam digging on coastal beaches
- Steelhead fishing in SW Washington
- Springer fishing in the Columbia River (especially later in the month)
Additionally, I’m looking at a few beaches that open up for Oysters, clams, and mussels during that nice afternoon low tide we have early in March this year.
Smelt fishing may open up soon as well on the Cowlitz River, check this WDFW page on Smelt fishing for updates on the season.
And lastly, what I’m getting most excited about is the opportunity to chase rockfish and lingcod if we get a few nice ocean days in March.
As busy as February and March can be, this is usually my offseason, and I try to get a few more things done on the website, YT channel, and social media during this period, so we will round out this blog post with what’s new and what you can expect.
What’s new with PNWBestLife?
I’ve already mentioned my discord server for PNWBestLife collaboration. It’s going to focus on North of Falcon, but I will be active all year long on it, and it has already yielded positive outcomes by aiding collaboration between groups that don’t usually work together on political topics, which has been great.
Additionally, I’ve started a members-only section on my YouTube channel to provide the best and most detailed how-to’s that I won’t worry about whether they hook everyone’s attention and do well with the algorithm. They will be completely focused on what I’m most passionate about, which is helping you have more success on the water.
Lastly, I’ve started to build some solutions for fishing trip journaling. I have an extremely detailed Excel SS, where I record every trip with critical information such as tides, river flows, and other factors that correlate with fishing methods and success. I’m tired of not being able to access my journal from my phone, and so I’m going to build the capability on my website here and open it for everyone. I will also be encrypting the data so nobody who isn’t the owner of the information can view it (not even me!). More on this soon!