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.

Read more

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!

Read more

Chehalis River Winter Steelhead 2022-2023

Perfect steelhead drift

What’s really going on with the Chehalis River winter steelhead season of 2022-2023? Why are recreational anglers being denied access to consume hatchery steelhead and coho which have been raised for the purpose of consumption via the license fees we’ve spent?

Is this all to protect and conserve the vital wild stocks of steelhead whose numbers have dipped precipitously over the last decade and haven’t shown signs of recovery?

Some of the answers may surprise you…

Read more

2023 Washington Coast Steelhead Preview

Steelhead Runsize vs escapement and goals

I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but things are not looking good for our Washington Coastal Steelhead season in 2022-2023, in fact, my “too early prediction” is that we won’t have seasons on *most* of our favorite coastal rivers this year.

Read more

Don’t cancel your Sekiu trip – July 2022!

Infographic courtesy of NWSportsmanMag

WDFW Announced recently the closure of salmon fishing in Marine Area 5 on odd days in the month of July which has caused some anglers to consider canceling their trips to Sekiu.

Read more