It’s river chinook time and that means bobber downs!

River chinook august 2023 caught on float and eggs

Maybe you’ve already got a full freezer from a successful season of saltwater salmon fishing, or maybe this is your first opportunity to wet a line for chinook. Regardless, angling for chinook in our local or coastal river is my FAVORITE PNW harvest recreation activity and you don’t want to miss out on the fun!

I went out this morning and got my limit in a few hours, so I feel inspired to write about river fishing for Chinook and tell you my story.

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What happened to our 2023 Skykomish Summer Chinook Fishery?

snoqualmie_river-fall_chinook-wild_forecast_2023

As many of you are now aware, we’ve lost most of the fishing opportunities in 2023 to pursue Skykomish summer chinook and summer steelhead returning in the same timeframe.

The Skykomish summer chinook fishery is an incredible opportunity close to home for many folks in the north Puget Sound region represents a massive amount of business for local guides and the surrounding businesses and fills a hole in the fishing calendar.

How did this happen? And what does it mean for the future of this fishery? Let’s explore together using the data available from the North of Falcon Process and the Management Plan for Puget Sound Chinook agreed upon between the Tribes and WDFW.

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Pink Salmon Run 2023

Duwamish waterway fishing for Pinks
Duwamish waterway fishing for Pinks

Like the first gleam of dawn on the Duwamish industrial waterway is the glimpse of summertime fun we just received from WDFW via the North of Falcon Salmon season setting process.

That’s right folks, it’s time to board the hype train to humpy town! Pink Salmon season 2023 is upon us!

Let’s get the full rundown of the pink salmon um…run, in 2023.

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Puget Sound Salmon Forecasts 2023

Nice chinook salmon caught around Sekiu

This is the big forecast news dump we’ve been waiting for! There’s so much information on what we can expect with regards to salmon fishing in Puget Sound revealed at the beginning of North of Falcon with these forecasts now released.

There was also some framing of the kind of salmon seasons we can expect. I will unpack all of it for you in this blog post, including details about the nearly 4 million pinks (humpies) expected to return to Puget Sound in 2023!

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Washington State Steelhead update January, 2023

steelhead 15 lb buck
Steelhead 15 lb buck

We are about halfway through the month of January, and for many folks, the steelhead season in the state of Washington has been predictably frustrating. However, there are some bright spots you should certainly be aware of and some updates to the content here that I want to highlight.

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Understanding Puyallup River Fishing Regulations 2022

Puyallup River can draw quite a crowd during pink salmon season

Historically, the Puyallup and Carbon Rivers are places you can fish 7 days a week for several months of the summer/fall, and thousands of people each year look forward to this wonderful part of the calendar.

However, in 2022 the fishing regulations have changed significantly, limiting how many days a week these rivers can be fished and the months they are open. This blog article gets to the bottom of why things changed.

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Washington Winter Steelhead Update January 2021

Nice coastal steelhead January 2021
Nice steelhead from a coastal Washington river in January 2021

We are only a couple of weeks into 2021 and the early winter steelhead season is winding down already. I like to think of the winter steelhead season as broken down into thirds: Early, middle, and late.

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Orting Foothills Trail Biking

The Foothills Trail runs parallel to the Carbon River
The Foothills Trail runs parallel to the Carbon River for a stretch near the town of Orting

Okay, so maybe you can’t quite convince your family to join you on an epic quest for winter steelhead or blackmouth, but recreating outside together is an essential part of experiencing the PNW Best Life.

Last week, we were finally rewarded with a nice stretch of sun, and that pattern looks to repeat for most of this week as well. All bets are off after that! So why not dust off the ole bike and get the family out riding (or walking) on the awesome Foothills Trail near Orting, WA?

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