Preparing for the 2024 Columbia River Spring Chinook Fishing Season

Nice fat springer caught just above Warrior Rock

The first thing you should know about the 2024 Columbia River Spring Chinook fishing season is that it’s almost here! We’ve had a few chinook go over the Bonneville Dam, and a few reports of chinook caught in the lower river and now is the time to take stock of our gear and make plans to go fishing for the tastiest of all PNW Salmon.

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Going Smelt Fishing on the Cowlitz River in 2024

Limit of Smelt

Finally, we have a smelt fishery announcement! I know we’ve had a few in the past several years, but they haven’t been quite the same opportunity as what’s expected this Thursday.

If you’ve tried to plunk for steelhead below the Toutle River confluence with the Cowlitz River, you know that the smelt are in and plentiful.

Let’s review what you need to know to be successful on this smelt fishery opener.

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Columbia River Spring and Summer Chinook Salmon Forecast 2024

Columbia River Spring chinook 2023 1

Before the spring and summer salmon seasons get announced on the Columbia we get to review the final tally of the 2023 returns and the 2024 forecast.

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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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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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