Should we lie to WDFW about the fish we caught?

Box full of fresh chrome salmon

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.

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Puget Sound Salmon Seasons 2023

Neah Bay Chinook King Salmon June 2023

We made it, we’re finally here in the summer of 2023! And, I cannot believe I haven’t yet made a comprehensive post about the Puget Sound salmon seasons this year. Inside this blog post I will cover the “likely” seasons WDFW has published for Marine Area 5 – 13, the catch charts that give you some idea about timing the runs, and some of my thoughts on each area.

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Puget Sound Crab Season 2023

Hood Canal Crabbing can product some nice hauls of crab
Hood Canal Crabbing can product some nice hauls of crab

The details of our Puget Sound summer crabbing season have finally been announced! Most of it gets underway on July 1st, with some of the usual areas delaying their openers out of concern for soft shells continuing through July.

This blog post will share the season details and connect you to helpful resources for anyone just starting out, or if you need a refresher / new gear for this crabbing season.

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2023 Puget Sound Spot Shrimp Season

puget sound shrimp coming up

We are only a few weeks away from the 2023 Puget Sound Shrimping season! Now is the time to review season details, and take inventory of your pots, your riggings, and of course your bait.

Do you remember where you left off last year? Do you remember the valuable lessons you learned? Now is the time to review, head to the store if you need to, and come up with a plan to make your 2023 season a big success.

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Puget Sound Lingcod Fishing Season 2023

Lingcod teeth

Puget Sound Lingcod season marks that period in the fishing calendar where we can consistently plan to be on the water and know something will be open to angle for until things die down into the fall.

Inside this blog post you will get a reminder of the season information from WDFW, historical catch timing graphs that indicate the best times and places to fish for lingcod around Puget Sound, and of course date creel information that indicates how many lingcod are being caught in Marine Areas 5-13 in and around the Puget Sound.

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Puget Sound Halibut Fishing 2023

Nice shallow water halibut
Nice shallow water halibut

Halibut fishing opens up in April of 2023 for the waters considered “Puget Sound”, which includes the Strait. The Washington Coast will open in May for halibut fishing. This blog post is all about sharing the previous year’s catch data and the current year’s effort and catch data to help you hone in on “where and when to fish” for halibut in 2023 for Marine Areas 5-9.

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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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Puget Sound Crab Season 2022

Puget sound dungeness crab getting a good pinch in on my buddy who didn't hangle it correctly

The above photo still makes me laugh! How we captured this moment still astounds me. Proper crab handling is an important topic, but so are the details of the 2022 Puget Sound Crab season which has just been announced!

Here are some things you need to know to have a great crab season in Puget Sound in 2022.

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