Olympic Peninsula Salmon Fishing October 2020

Every year a group of friends and I head to the Olympic Peninsula to experience some of the most epic salmon fishing in the entire Pacific Northwest. Every year gives you a different curve ball, but we always find the fish and have an incredible experience and 2020 was no exception.

Many people who live in the PNW don’t realize that the rivers around Forks and the rivers south of Forks on the Olympic Peninsula are like mini-Alaska when it comes to salmon fishing.

I’ve been to Alaska and had epic non-stop king fishing on the river, but I still think the best day of salmon fishing I’ve ever had was on the Hoh River on the Olympic Peninsula.

You might argue that the fish are bigger up north…and you might be right. However, if you think these Olympic Peninsula kings are anything like the typical 12-15 lb fish that come out of the Puget Sound area…

These Olympic Peninsula salmon tend to be between 15 and 25 lbs with some salmon that are far far bigger.

I’ve hooked into a 50 lb king, and my buddy landed a 40, and every year one of these big kings gets caught. Wild salmon of that size are rare in the lower 48 (and getting rarer anywhere), and it’s best to release them unharmed to go spawn and keep their genes going.

But enough about why you should fish the Olympic Peninsula, let’s get to the trip details!

Olympic Peninsula Fishing Trip 2020

This year 2020 we had a few changes with our annual Olympic Peninsula trip. My family didn’t make it on the trip, and a few additional hardcore fisherman did make it.

One of my best friends (Robert), was able to convince his brothers (Marc and David) to come all the way from New Jersey to fish with us on the Olympic Peninsula.

His brothers were fantastic fishermen and great people to hang with, however, this was their first time doing this kind of salmon fishing in the river and their first time on the Olympic Peninsula. We also had another good friend (Luke) from Utah come out and join us for the first time on this salmon fishing trip.

Overall, there was a much more focused salmon fishing effort and vibe to the group. Don’t get me wrong, we usually put our time in while here, but for me, that’s usually like 4-6 hours, and then I go hang with the fam (and usually have my fish by then as well).

This year, we were fishing from sun up until dinner, and sometimes later. Additionally, as the defacto trip guide, I felt responsible for making sure we had some fish to cast at each day.

Of course, this year would throw us some curveballs and it wasn’t as simple as going to our usual hole on the river, casting float and eggs for a few hours until we got our salmon.

Nope, this year, we had an extremely high water event about 4-5 days before the trip. Early in the season, a surge in water can be good.

A spike of freshwater brings the salmon in. However, too much water brings in ALL the salmon that are milling around in the salt near the river mouth. This provides a few days of unreal fishing (if you are there for the right water level on the drop), but after that period, salmon fishing almost always slows down as things need to rebuild again.

I’ve seen this pattern repeat itself again and again on every river and it’s certainly true on the Olympic Peninsula.

Of course, it’s also a different pattern later in the season vs at the start. Near the peak of a run, there’s many more salmon getting ready to come up and constant water will provide constant fishing, though there will still be a brief lull after the high water comes down.

Day 1 Fishing for Salmon on the Olympic Peninsula

The first day we arrived on the Olympic Peninsula, Luke and good friends Ash and Norma got up to the house we were renting earlier in the day and immediately began fishing the river. They were able to put a few jacks and a nice 15 lb king on the bank within a few hours.

Myself, Robert, David and Marc arrived and we added a jack to the total, but overall pretty slow.

Day 2 Fishing for Salmon on the Olympic Peninsula

We all got up and hit the incredible drift behind the house. The water looked perfect, and based on my historical notes, it was at the perfect level to provide epic fishing.

Ash hooked a coho within the first few hours on a spinner and Kevin (another friend who showed up late the previous night), hooked into a coho on float and eggs before he had to leave and go teach a class (gotta love remote Zoom teaching, right?).

Yours truly? I like to switch my gear around pretty constantly if things aren’t working, so after working through the drift with eggs and a bead, I broke out the twitching jig. Last year, it took me all of 20 minutes to hook a 20 lb king salmon on this exact color pattern, so why not give it another go?

Within a few minutes, I hook another NICE salmon in almost the same spot! However….and yes the rest of this story is sad…I’ve got this issue with some of my Daiwa reels where when the drag goes, it like completely slips.

As in the spool releases line without spinning. It’s weird. My Shimano spinning reels got sticky drag syndrome (I hate nonsmooth drags!), and now my Daiwa’s lose their drag entirely! Maybe I catch too many big fish for these budget spinning reels?!

So, now I’m jamming the spool with my thumb to try to get it to stop releasing line so I can get a proper hook set. If you don’t bury these bigger hooks in a fresh king salmon (You can read more about fishing hooks for salmon here) have any pressure (usually applied by a functional drag system!).

As I applied pressure, I felt the weight of the fish and I also felt the violent head shakes. Within a few seconds, the fish was off. Arghhh!!!

The rest of the day? Super slow. David and Robert were on a guided drift boat trip on the upper portion of the same river we were fishing and hooked into more fish but didn’t come back with any keepers.

Another drift boat that came by about midday had 3 kings, but they were caught much higher up in the river system.

The guides who came by later in the day mostly reported getting blanked. The “falling high water early in the season” effect was setting in. The only shots of fish we would get to cast at in our favorite drift were going to be timed with the tides.

Historically though, this has been a great spot, you just have to put the time in. Not this year on the Olympic Peninsula.

After we gave up and ate dinner, Marc continued to pound the water, and was finally rewarded with this bright 7 lb king (jack?). 100% this fish came in on the afternoon high tide.

Day 3 Fishing for King Salmon on the Olympic Peninsula

So now it’s Friday, and after spending another early morning behind the house, with not even a single bite this time, we concluded it was time to branch out and look for another spot, and another river. Luckily on the Olympic Peninsula, you have options.

Look, if you are still reading this post and you are annoyed that I haven’t named some of these rivers yet, I’m not going to.

People get pissed when their favorite river shows up on an internet fishing report. There’s a ton of useful info in this article, but it’s on you to mine it and apply it.

I’m not going to draw a map of people’s river fishing spots, but if you put in a little effort, it’s not hard to figure it out.

Here’s a big tip for your success in finding obscure river fishing spots: In the hunting world, there’s a lot of need to know exactly who owns the land you are considering hunting on.

Apps like OnX maps can tell you exactly who owns what and whether an area is public land or not. These apps are super useful for fishing as well. Look at the river and look at where the public land is. Go to those public access spots and explore the water.

So on Friday, we did exactly that. We found a new river and a new spot. There were already a few people fishing the spot that looked like it had good holding water, and they had several fish already on the bank. We went downstream and fished another nice-looking spot and pulled a few bright jacks (small but mature king salmon) out.

As we were heading back to check on that previously occupied spot, there was only one dude there and he was super friendly.

He invited us to join him. We left Luke to fish that spot and hold it down for us while we went back to eat lunch and bring the rest of the gang.

You might be wondering “What about Luke and him eating lunch?”. Well…Luke doesn’t eat when there’s fishing to be done. Luke and Marc get the Ironman Fisherman Award. And here I thought I loved to fish….

As we returned, fed and ready to put in a few more hours, nobody had landed another king and our new friend was heading home with his 1 adult king salmon he had landed earlier. So now 5 of us were pounding this water the float and eggs.

Fishing seemed to slow down quite a bit. I mentioned, “Hey, somebody should throw a bead out there”.

I have several helpful Amazon links in this article to tackle or gear that I’ve used on this trip. As an Amazon Affiliate, I earn from qualifying purchases through these links, but the price you pay is the same regardless, so please support my blog by using these links. Thanks!

My battle with a big king salmon

I use the BnRTackle red soft beads (12mm+) for king or coho salmon and they work great. I like to describe them as the changeup to a good fastball though.

I think eggs under a float put more salmon on the scorecard consistently, but sometimes these beads can kill it just as well. At the very least, there’s always at least one salmon that won’t bite eggs but will grab a bead.

After watching my friends ignore my sage advice about the bead, I said “to heck with it, I will do it myself”

First cast, fish on! It’s a crazy hot coho salmon that I promptly lose after about a 20-second battle. Gotta love the soft bead changeup! I make a few more casts. It was maybe the 3rd or 4th cast when my float got pulled under more middle drift this time vs the lower drift where the coho bit.

I reeled down (reel till you feel baby!) and set the hook and immediately it felt different. It was like setting the hook on a log.

But the log moved. Quickly. The fish dashed around the hole for a few seconds and then returned to the spot where I hooked it. The obviously nice king salmon sat in the drift shaking its head while not budging despite all the pressure I could apply with my Shimano Curado casting reel on my 10’6″ St Croix float rod.

This is what big salmon do. They don’t move when hooked. They are used to being the biggest badest critters in the water, so why should they move? Ash mentions the king salmon might be mid-teens…I’m like “Dude, this is a nice fish!”.

After 2-3 minutes of this non-moving stuff, the big king salmon decides to run around the drift. I keep constant side pressure on him. I want to keep his head down so he doesn’t jump or come to the surface and thrash about violently, causing my barbless hook to come free and fly back at me.

After about 5 minutes, the big king salmon comes closer to where I’m standing and goes head down such that his tail is visible above the water. At this point, there’s a gasp as the audience on the shore can see how big his tail is.

“This is a nice fish! Don’t lose him, Kyle!”

Now I’m really feeling it. I need to land this king salmon as it’s a seriously nice fish. My longtime fishing partner and best friend Ash grabs the net and heads into the water.

I’m applying side pressure and adding a little bit of thumb pressure to my reel to coax him closer. He complies…for a second. It only takes a flick of his tail to send him back into the deep water of the drift.

This back-and-forth tug-of-war plays out for at least 10 minutes which feels like an eternity. Ash is so close with the net several times, but not close enough and I have almost no control over this king salmon.

He can go any direction he wants, so a premature net stab is a major risk. At this point, the only way I’m going to lose him is by me or Ash making the mistake of forcing him in too quickly / being too aggressive with a net stab.

Finally, I’m able to coax him in upstream of Ash’s position in the river and he slides in behind the fish. In this split second, the fish turns and runs at Ash, who expertly drops the net into the water and scoops the fish up with a quick motion.

YESSSS!!!! We erupt with excitement, joy, and relief. This toad is ours! He’s even bigger than we thought! I immediately guessed mid 20’s which would make it my biggest fish of the year.

We bonk it to calm it down and then get it on the digital scale. Right at 22 lbs (my biggest king by 1 lb!).

We bleed the beautiful chrome king salmon the river provided us and everyone else gets back to fishing. I love salmon fishing on the Olympic Peninsula!

Of course everyone is now switching to beads, but do we hook another fish on beads? Of course not!

Here’s a few more tips for gear you will need while fishing Forks before getting on with the rest of the trip details:

Always bring your wader with you to Forks, don’t be this guy!

That was all she wrote for Friday. I was so grateful to Ash. As many of you know, handling the net with a nice king salmon is supercritical and so many people screw it up.

I used to just tail my own fish as I didn’t trust the random person down on the river to get it right. Ash was super patient though and handled the situation beautifully.

If I had to tail that fish it was going to take another 10-15 minutes to subdue it. I couldn’t even make ground on it with my reel drag tightened all the way unless I used thumb pressure. So much fun!

Day 4 of Fishing the Olympic Peninsula for Salmon

Saturday would be our last full day fishing and we had a quandary to consider. We all knew the river behind the house would pick back up any day, but had been slow. We also knew that the spot where I caught that big king would be loaded with people…We could also just fish the Quilliyute and get a first shot at the fish coming through from the salt.

We headed to the spot where I caught the big king at 5am to see if we could get in there…Already 4 rigs parked down there!

We hit the Quill, but it was super slow and there were lots of people. So we headed back to the spot behind the house. Also, slow….crap!

I got back on my OnX maps and grabbed Robert and said “Hey man, let’s see if we can find a new spot while these guys keep pounding this water”.

Historically, there’s been a lot more of this explore thing as part of these trips. It’s not always as good as it’s been the last few years where the spot behind the house just produces good fishing. When fishing the Olympic Peninsula, you MUST adjust based on what the water/rivers are giving you.

Robert and I stopped at a few spots and just looked at them. I had a hunch though…As we drove a little further in, I saw a fisherman’s path on an area of public land and no rigs parked there. We walked in a bit until we got to a steep bank.

Luckily someone had installed a rope to repel down said cliff / steep bank. Yes…we had to repel to this fishing spot!

As we got to the bottom, the spot didn’t look like much, but downstream I saw a fast riffle that disappeared around the corner. There was no path along the river, just slippery rocks and grass. I suggested we go check it out. After a few minutes of feet jarring hike, we made it around the corner.

Now this water looked a little better. You could almost see the bottom in the crystal clear water, but on the far side of the river, it was deeper and slower. I stared at it for a few minutes and said to myself…if there’s any fish in this stretch they are right over there. As if summoned by fishy magic, a nice king broke the surface and rolled just as I finished this sentence. Game on.

Robert only fishes for salmon on the river with me once a year. I fish all year every year. Even before I retired from my day job I was putting 50-70 trips a year on the books. One of the benefits of lots of time on the water is you learn to read water. Reading water is 100% the most important thing to increase your success fishing for king salmon on any river anywhere. For more on reading water head over to my comprehensive guide to river fishing for salmon.

I tried to describe the cast I wanted Robert to make with his float and eggs, but we were having trouble. I had a rod with a spinner and he had the only float rod we had with us, so we took turns with his float rod. On my 2nd cast, I hooked a feisty coho and handed it to Robert. After about 15 seconds it got off.

On my 4th cast, I hooked a nice king. These fish, both the king and coho were soooo fresh. Like that white belly, silver-sided, full of piss and vinegar, violent shaking fresh. After about 1-2 minutes Robert lost that king too. I said, “That’s it, I gotta go get the gang!”

I ran back to the cliff as safely and skillfully as I could. Literally 5 minutes after I disappeared around the corner, Robert hooked a fish of his own. By his reckoning, it was easily the size of the 22 lb king from yesterday. An epic battle ensued. Robert vs the big king salmon. No net, no help.

All of our gear is rigged with at least 30 lb braided mainline and 20 lb fluorocarbon leaders beneath our floats. Landing big kings on this gear requires patience and skill.

A good netter can make a huge difference. Without the help of a netter, it is a master’s level requirement to land a big king on a rocky bank. Sadly, things weren’t meant to be with this king. After at least a 10-minute battle, Robert tried to force him into the bank, but the big king wasn’t having it. The 20 lb leader broke in the process and goodbye fish.

I can guarantee you Robert is still thinking about this fish. If you ever find yourself in this situation, your best move is to tail a big king salmon. Yes, you can try to drag it on the bank, but with bigger fish, as soon as they get into shallow water, the force exerted on the leader and hook will typically either bend out the hook or break the leader.

Tailing a big king requires that you get into the water next to the fish and grab the wrist of the tail while keeping pressure on the head with your other hand that’s on the rod. In one motion you can throw the fish onto the bank without breaking the line or bending out a hook.

I’ve tailed a king salmon in water up to my waist on a steep bank. Any fish can be tailed, but you have to fight it to exhaustion and be patient. My biggest king of 30 lbs was a fish I tailed. I fought that fish with a small light hook and 20 lb braided mainline. More on tailing later!

I practically run back up the cliff while climbing the rope. Jump in my truck and race back to the house. I get down to where people are fishing and yell “Do you guys want to catch some salmon?!”. Marc and David look at me like…what? “Let’s go!” I excitedly yell. It’s during this interaction that I also learn that Luke and Ash went to a different spot and Norma decides to stay behind once I describe the nasty hike to the fishing spot.

I drove Marc and David down to the spot and as we headed to the cliff with the rope, I slipped and fell catching myself with my arm before I slid down the cliff. I need to calm down and SLOW down! I tell them to be super careful and take it slow. As I tell them this, I trip on a stick and slam full force into a rock with my knee…OUCH!

As I move much more tenderly down to the fishing spot, I can tell it’s going to leave a nice bruise on my knee. As we rejoin Robert, he tells us about the big salmon he lost. Everyone starts casting at the pool where we had hooked fish minutes before. Robert hooks and lands a bright chinook jack. Ash and Luke eventually join us.

Now there are 6 of us working this pool of super clear water loaded with salmon. Nobody is hooking up. Sigh. I have a takedown that I miss. A few other missed takedowns. We decided to rest the spot a bit. Ash, Luke, and David decide they would rather fish back at the house.

I know this drift is still loaded with salmon, but sometimes when the water is really clear and low, it makes a huge difference what gear you are using.

Robert’s setup had a clear float, inline weight, and a 3.5 ft leader with nothing on it but a hook baited with eggs. Everyone else was using black bottom floats. In most places I fish, I like to use bait weights or a little bit of split shot, but this river and other rivers like it with ultra-clear water, tend to fish better with a more stealthy setup.

After resting hole, we went back at it. Robert hooks up and hands off to Marc, who expertly fights a nice 12 lb king to the net. Marc finally gets a nice adult king after really pounding the water the past few days. Robert quickly follows with about a 9 lb king.

Now the real story here…is what was happening back at the house. Ash, Luke, and David went back to the house. Ash and Luke headed back to the spot they thought would be good. David fished with Norma. Kevin also joined in after messing around with elk hunting in the morning. The stage was set for Norma to hook the biggest king salmon of her life.

The video of this battle is absolutely amazing (you can find it on facebook.com/pnwbestlife). The best part though is when they try to drag the 17 lb king up on the rocky bank, the line breaks. David and Kevin basically dive into the river to keep Norma’s king salmon from sliding back into the river. Norma finally gets ahold of her fish and her expression is priceless.

Seeing Norma’s face after hooking, battling, and landing a quality king salmon, reminds me of what river fishing for salmon is all about. The pursuit, the battle, and the moment of triumph. We probably brought back at least 4x more salmon meat last year, but if it was all about the meat, you would just go to the grocery store.

This trip was all about the pursuit, the experience, and some epic moments among friends, brothers, and family.

Olympic Peninsula, I will see you again soon.