Blog Posts – WDFW News

Will we get to fish for Washington Coast Steelhead in 2024-2025

November 2, 2024October 31, 2024 by Kyle

The short answer to this question is that it’s highly likely we WILL get to fish for winter steelhead on a majority of coastal rivers in Washington this 2024-2025 season.

The primary reason for that is the much better wild steelhead forecasts that WDFW unveiled earlier in October for rivers up and down the coast. Finally! Some good news on this front after several years of incredibly disappointing forecasts and perplexing fishing seasons that limited even the hatchery fishing opportunities in places with little to no impact on wild steelhead.

Puget Sound Crab Season 2024

June 14, 2024 by Kyle

limits of summer salmon and crab from Puget Sound

Now we know it’s summer right?! When WDFW Announces the summer crab regulations for Puget Sound, it’s like “Game on!”

Dropping crab pots and fishing for salmon in Puget Sound is an annual event, heritage and pastime that many of us have built fond memories participating in.

This blog post breaks down all the specifics, provides links to helpful resources and adds some additional insight and ideas for your crabby summer plans!

Puget Sound Salmon Seasons 2024

April 23, 2024 by Kyle

Holding a 17 lb westport chinook king salmon

Let’s take a deep dive look into all of the *proposed* and nearly finalized salmon seasons for Puget Sound in 2024.

2024 Puget Sound Spot Shrimp Season

April 22, 2024 by Kyle

Our favorite time of the year is at hand! The opportunity to harvest the delicious, the delectable, the delightful: Spot Shrimp of Puget Sound.

This blog post has all the basic information you need to know about the seasons in 2024 and a few helpful resources to refresh your shrimping knowledge since it has been about a year since we were last out there hauling up our pots.

When to go Ocean bottomfishing in 2024

March 3, 2024 by Kyle

For some, spring is marked by the beginning of baseball season, but for many fishy folks, it’s all about ocean bottomfishing opening up!

And that time is this coming weekend, Saturday, March 9th.

I’ve got so many resources for you to consider to get all caught up on ocean bottomfishing prep and ideas in this blog post that we have to get right to it.

More Smelt Fishing on the Cowlitz in 2024

March 3, 2024 by Kyle

Well, I’ve already had my limit of cleaning smelt for 2024, so I won’t be getting in on this next dip opportunity, but I’m excited to see there’s another opener for folks who may have already missed the first one.

Puget Sound Salmon Forecasts 2024

March 2, 2024 by Kyle

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.

Preparing for the 2024 Columbia River Spring Chinook Fishing Season

February 27, 2024 by Kyle

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.

2024 Winter Chinook Blackmouth Fishery to open 4 days a week

February 21, 2024 by Kyle

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.

Going Smelt Fishing on the Cowlitz River in 2024

February 13, 2024February 13, 2024 by Kyle

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.