![Holding a 17 lb westport chinook king salmon](https://pnwbestlife.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/Holding-a-17-lb-westport-chinook-king-salmon-1024x991.jpg)
Let’s take a deep dive look into all of the *proposed* and nearly finalized salmon seasons for Puget Sound in 2024.
Let’s take a deep dive look into all of the *proposed* and nearly finalized salmon seasons for Puget Sound in 2024.
Fishing for springers on the Columbia River is best described as “grinding” since the bites are often so few and far between. Our season in 2024 was definitely defined by the word grind, however it also made us better spring chinook anglers and this blog post will outline why that is.
I endured 6 hours of North of Falcon zoom meetings to bring you these fresh-off-the-grill salmon forecasts for the year 2024!
Okay, it wasn’t that bad. This forecast “unveiling” was the beginning of the North of Falcon process, wherein the salmon seasons get set and eventually printed prior to the July 1st new regulations year.
If you’re already confused, you are in good company as the entire process of salmon forecast models and the resulting seasons leave a lot of recreational anglers who are only semi-familiar with the process scratching their heads.
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.
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.
I recently attended the Puget Sound Salmon Town Hall earlier this week where we reviewed the 2023 Puget Sound Salmon Seasons, examined the weather and environmental conditions, introduced the 2024 North of Falcon schedule and WDFW attempted to answer questions from a frustrated public.
In this blog post I highlight the parts I think you should be aware of.
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.
The summer salmon season in 2023 was one of the absolute best in quite some time!
The abundance of coho and chinook results in many wonderful fish-catching adventures throughout the Puget Sound, Strait, and Ocean.
However, many anglers will best remember 2023 for the two very confusing, confounding, and anger-inducing closures that occurred in Marine Area 10 and Marine Area 11.
This blog article attempts to explain the Marine Area 10 closure in much greater detail than how most of us have previously understood it.
Right now, every river salmon fisherman in the PNW with proximity to saltwater is trying to figure out how to get it done on the tidal push of chinook coming their way. I want to explore this topic of “timing the tides”, but also highlight what is now my new favorite lure!
“That’s why they call it fishing” a statement often issued after a difficult fishing trip, or maybe during chinook season when things don’t always line up to put fish in the box.
What’s going on right now in Puget Sound though is called catching!