Best Months to Fish by Area

Coastal Rivers

Columbia River and Tributaries

Marine Areas

Puget Sound Rivers

Strait of Juan de Fuca and Hood Canal Rivers

Lower and Middle Yakima River

Puget Sound Rivers  

Salmon fisheries in Puget Sound rivers are limited by the amount of allowable mortality on Endangered Species Act listed chinook salmon. Chinook salmon opportunities are limited to those rivers with heavy hatchery production. There are no directed fisheries on wild stocks of chinook salmon. Nonetheless, many Puget Sound rivers provide excellent opportunities for coho, chum, and in odd-numbered years, pink salmon. Rivers like the Skagit, Snohomish, and Puyallup, kick out thousands of salmon each year in the heart of metropolitan Washington. When the population is healthy enough to allow a fishery, the Lake Washington sockeye fishery is probably the most popular urban salmon fishery in the world.

A printable version of the table below is available here.