Green River Fishing

The Green River winds its way through the greatest population density of any river in Western Washington.

This popular fishing river originates in the Cascade Mountains east of Tacoma, WA, and flows into the Howard A Hansen Dam, which was created for flood control and water supply.

Despite passing through heavily populated areas of Pugetropolis, the Green River remains one of the best salmon rivers in the state, with a high number of returning salmon. As the river nears the saltwater of Elliot Bay and the city of Seattle, it forms the Duwamish Waterway, providing ample opportunities for anglers to enjoy the fishery.

This page attempts to concentrate in one place the angling opportunity, fishing regulations, and hatchery data to make your research and trip planning to the Green River as simple as possible.

Green River Salmon Fishing 2024

Every year chinook, coho, and chum salmon return to the Green River / Duwamish in good numbers. On odd years the Green gets a massive return of pink salmon as well. I love taking people to the Green to hook their first salmon during chum season in particular!

Updated status on hatchery fall chinook returning to the Green River

The above graph will be updated every Thursday typically.

When to fish for Fall Chinook on the Green River?

One of the things about these graphs of escapement numbers is that they represent when the salmon are counted at the hatchery. Some runs of salmon spend a longer period of time in the river in which case these graphs aren’t as helpful in predicting when you should actually fish.

The Green River fall chinook run is definitely one of those runs. As soon as the river opens in August there will be ample opportunity to catch fall chinook, especially in the areas influenced by tidal factors.

To understand how to time the tides, you should check out my article on learning how to river fishing for salmon.

Forecast for 2024 Green River Fall Chinook

Returns have been quite steady for most of the past 10 years, and 2024 is expected to be on par with recent years.

Updated status on hatchery coho returning to the Green River

The above graph will be updated every Thursday typically.

When to fish for Coho on the Green River?

Coho will absolutely be present in the Green River in September, but the real determining factor will be rain. Rain both increases river flow, triggering these salmon to head upriver, but also lowers the river temperature which will make them far more snappy and willing to aggressively take your offering.

The run as counted at the hatchery will peak in early November typically.

Forecast for 2024 Green River Coho

Coho returns on the Green River have been boom or bust in recent years. Coho expectations for the Green River are expected to be on par with the 10-year average of around 12,000 salmon.

Forecast for 2024 Green River Chum

The Central Puget Sound has a neutral to 10-year forecast for chum salmon in 2024. This will likely translate to a similar chum fishery in 2024 as compared to 2023 which was decent and provided lots of fun and easy salmon fishing throughout November.

How to fish for salmon on the Green River?

The best techniques to fish the Green River changes based on the stretch of river being fished but also the species of salmon being targeted.

In the lower stretches, especially in the summer and early fall periods of fishing the Green River, water temperatures outside of saltwater pushing in with the tides can be quite warm.

Warm water can really throw the bite off for most salmon or at least make them quite finicky. The Green River is known for very light-biting fish on eggs, especially when the water temperatures are up.

The above video on my channel gives you a taste of fishing the Duwamish Waterway for pink salmon with jigs and spinners.

You can also troll this stretch for coho with dick nites, spinners, wicked lures, or cut plug herring.

As you move upriver, you still have massive tidal influence, but much less cold saltwater from Puget Sound and much more warm river water to make the bite more challenging.

Float fishing eggs is the primary go-to in this stretch until a bit later in the season when you can throw more spinners and jigs for coho as well. The above video should help you with any tips you need on float fishing.

You can also read my page on float fishing for salmon here for more tips.

The higher up in the river system you go, the more traditional methods for targeting each species become the best way to attack things. Jigs and spinners for coho and pink salmon.

One of my favorite fishing techniques is fishing for chum salmon with floats and jigs.

As always, you should check out my page on river fishing for salmon for all the tips you might need.

Fishing Regulations on the Green River for 2024-2025

Species	Date	Additional Rules
from an East-West line extending though the southernmost tip of Harbor Island to Tukwila International Blvd./Old Hwy. 99 CRC (746)
All species	Aug. 20-Dec. 31	Anti-snagging rule. Night closure.
Trout	Sat. before Memorial Day-Dec. 31	Statewide min. size/daily limit. Except: Cutthroat trout and wild rainbow trout min. size 14”.
Other game fish	Sat. before Memorial Day-Dec. 31	Statewide min. size/daily limit.
Salmon	Aug. 20-Dec. 31	Min. size 12”. Daily limit 6 including no more than 3 of any combination of adult coho and chum. Release Chinook.
from Tukwila International Blvd./Old Hwy. 99 to South 212th St. Bridge CRC (746)
All species	Aug. 20-Dec. 31	Anti-snagging rule. Night closure.
Trout	Sat. before Memorial Day-Dec. 31	Statewide min. size/daily limit. Except: Cutthroat trout and wild rainbow trout min. size 14”.
Other game fish	Sat. before Memorial Day-Dec. 31	Statewide min. size/daily limit.
Salmon	Aug. 20-Dec. 31	Min. size 12”. Daily limit 6. Up to 2 Chinook total may be retained; up to 3 chum may be retained; up to 3 adult coho may be retained. A combination of no more than 3 total of adult coho, chum and Chinook may be retained. Anglers must retain the first 2 Chinook caught.
from 212th St. Bridge to the Hwy. 18 Eastbound bridge CRC (746)
All species	Sept. 16-Dec. 31	Night closure. Anti-snagging rule.
Trout	Sat. before Memorial Day-Dec. 31	Statewide min. size/daily limit. Except: Cutthroat trout and wild rainbow trout min. size 14”.
Other game fish	Sat. before Memorial Day-Dec. 31	Statewide min. size/daily limit.
Salmon	Sept. 16-Dec. 31	Min. size 12”. Daily limit 6 including no more than 3 of any combination of adult coho and chum. Release Chinook.
from the Hwy. 18 Eastbound bridge to the Auburn Black Diamond Rd. bridge CRC (746)
All species		CLOSED WATERS.
from the Auburn-Black Diamond Rd. bridge to 150’ downstream of Keta (Crisp) Creek CRC (746)
All species	Nov. 1-Dec. 31	Night closure. Anti-snagging rule.
Trout	Sat. before Memorial Day-Dec. 31	Statewide min. size/daily limit. Except: Cutthroat trout and wild rainbow trout min. size 14”.
Other game fish	Sat. before Memorial Day-Dec. 31	Statewide min. size/daily limit.
Salmon	Nov. 1-Dec. 31	Min. size 12”. Daily limit 6 including no more than 3 adults. Release Chinook.
from 150’ downstream of the mouth of Keta (Crisp) Creek to 150’ upstream
All species		CLOSED WATERS.
from 150’ upstream of Keta (Crisp) Creek to the Tacoma Municipal boundary marker (1.3 miles downstream of Tacoma Headworks Dam) CRC (746)
All species	Nov. 1-Dec. 31	Night closure. Anti-snagging rule.
Trout	Sat. before Memorial Day-Dec. 31	Statewide min. size/daily limit. Except: Cutthroat trout and wild rainbow trout min. size 14”.
Other game fish	Sat. before Memorial Day-Dec. 31	Statewide min. size/daily limit.
Salmon	Nov. 1-Dec. 31	Min. size 12”. Daily limit 6 including no more than 3 adults. Release Chinook.
from the Tacoma Municipal Watershed Boundary Marker (1.3 miles downstream of Tacoma Headworks Dam) to Friday Creek CRC (746)
All species		CLOSED WATERS.

Please refer to WDFW’s emergency rules page for a full list of rules that are in effect.

It’s your responsibility as the recreational angler to know ALL of these rules, not just what is discussed here on the blog.

Where to fish on the Green River

Finding a spot to fish on a river like the Green is a combination of complying with fishing regulations, understanding tidal implications of where to fish, and public access. I suggest you start by looking at the above fishing regulations and the maps below I’ve included for your convenience in figuring out where to fish the Green River.

The first section of the fishing regulations describes the Duwamish Waterway portion where chinook cannot be retained, but a good portion of the river here is navigable by a boat with a prop. I’ve even fished a fair amount of it with my 23′ North River.

I’m primarily focused on pink salmon in this stretch, but coho fishing can be good here as well. There are a few bank fishing spots in this stretch, but I’ve not bothered to figure them out.

Fort Dent Park is typically the section of the river I start to focus on for fishing the lower river, especially when targeting Chinook. There are many places to fish in the above stretch between Fort Dent Park and the 212th Street Bridge.

The Green River trail system allows you to park and walk to a number of different spots with established fisherman paths right into wherever you want to be.

The challenge in this stretch is that fish typically do not hold here, meaning if you don’t time the push of fish with the tides, you will not have any fish to cast at. Typically, these fish give away their presence by readily rolling and jumping as the fish push up.

In general, fish follow the incoming tide into the river. But just because it’s outgoing tide doesn’t mean you won’t find fish either as they may not swim the entire stretch in 6 hours.

Ideally, you could target this stretch a few hours after low slack and take great notes on where the fish are or when they show up based on the tide tables for the entrance to Duwamish Waterway / Elliot Bay.

Fishing above the 212th Street Bridge

Targeting salmon above the 212th Street Bridge may preclude retaining chinook, but always check the regulations to be sure.

There are a number of places to fish all the way until Highway 18 bridge, where there’s a closure right around the Big Soos Creek, where salmon will stack up before heading to the hatchery.

Lots of people fish right below Highway 18 as a place to target coho holding before the creek.

I really enjoy fishing in places like Metzler Park even further above that for both late coho and chum salmon throughout November.