Ocean Salmon

With salmon seasons being ever-changing, from season to season, month to month, and even minute to minute depending on where you fish, the recent announcement of summer salmon seasons was met with some excitement and hesitation. Fisheries managers met over several weeks during the North of Falcon process where everyone with an interest in salmon planned out the quotas and seasons. Washington’s governor added a new apprehension at the table with concern over making sure there is enough food for south Sound Orcas well as fish sport anglers, commercial harvesters, and tribal fisheries, while still allowing for escapement. 

The escapement is the main focus, with ESA-listed stocks and wild fish returns dictating how and when anglers can pursue salmon. Once the run estimates are established then the managers need to figure out how many fish can be caught in the ocean and still allows for fishing, and escapement in each of the predicted runs. This is where the marine area gets its seasons and regulations. This year the allotment for ocean salmon off of the coast of Washington was set at 39,000 chinook and 159,600 coho. Each marine area will get its own seasons and a share of the fish. 

Starting with Marine Area 4, Neah Bay, the northernmost ocean section which borders Canadian waters, will get first dibs on the salmon, along with Marine Area, 3 La Push, which will have the same start date of June 17th. This is just like last year, when the areas opened up on Father’s Day weekend, but this year anglers can still keep two salmon per day. However, only one can be a chinook and all coho must be clipped. It is open 7 days per week, but later this summer, chinook will be closed east of the Bonilla-Tatoosh line starting on August 1st. 

Marine Area 3 will have similar regulations as Area 4 but will also have a late “bubble” fishery from October 3rd to the 7th with a one chinook per day limit. La Push is not nearly as popular as Neah Bay, mostly because it is an open water fishery where the area to the north in Neah Bay has some protected fishing. Since the Covid restrictions have lifted, both reservations are now open. Neah Bay offers a bit more in amenities, but nearby Forks is a great town to stay in when fishing out of either port and has accommodations, restaurants, and gas stations, along with a sporting goods store in case you forgot anything. 

Westport in Marine Area 2 is probably the most popular of all offshore ocean fishing locations. The famed Grays Harbor bar is not fun to cross, but on good days the fishing makes it all worth it. This tiny fishing town has everything you need, and if the bar is not cooperating or you are looking for some bottom fish to take home, then fishing along the jetty or the many rock piles off the coast makes for a fun fishery. The season here opens June 24th and will be open 7 days per week with a two salmon daily limit. Only one can be a chinook, and all coho must be clipped. 

The coast of Ocean Shores is a popular area to fish in Marine Area 2. You can use the hotels as a marker on where to fish. The casino is a well-known landmark where anglers will fish in 60 feet of water and make their way out deeper from there. Another good spot is south of the jetty, where you can intercept fish making their way to Willapa Bay and the Columbia River. One of the reasons why Marine Area 2 is such a good fishery is because anglers are targeting fish heading to Grays Harbor, and as they near the entrance they tend to hang out in the saltwater just offshore. Add in the fish migrating further south to Willapa Bay, the Columbia River, and even Oregon rivers, and it makes for a highway of salmon to intercept. 

Marine Area 1 out of Ilwaco is for the serious salmon angler. The season is set to open June 24th with a two salmon per day limit, but only one can be a chinook and all coho must be clipped. Ilwaco is a protected port with a long jetty that protrudes out into the Columbia, and it can mislead the novice angler into thinking everything is good to go. Be sure to know how and when to cross the Columbia River bar safely. This is the deadliest bar in the world and there is a reason why the U.S. Coast Guard trains their rescue swimmers here. But if you can make it out to the ocean then you will get your first chance at the 554,000 fall chinook or the 595,300 coho making their way back to the Columbia River. 

When it comes to salmon fishing in the ocean, nothing beats fishing fresh bait. I use brined herring that has sat overnight in Pro-Cure’s Brine-n-Brite and been toughened with some Bait Spice, an infused rock salt with bluing agents and scents. Learning to plug cut herring can be tricky but once you get the perfect cut down, it is one of the most productive ways to fish. But if you find yourself in a school of crazed coho where most will not be clipped and before you know it bait is running low, then there are a few things you can do to increase your catch rate when the bait runs out. There are many spinning plugs on the market now, including the SpinFish by Yakima Bait Company, the Cut Plug by Brad’s, and now the Simon Spin Dawg and Simon Cut Plug.

The first two have a hollow cavity to place scents, herring strips or canned tuna, but the products by Simon are solid and have a scent cavity. One benefit of the solid bait is that it won’t come apart when a chinook grabs hold. The other lures, though, offer more scent-holding capabilities. All of them work on the same wounded baitfish principle and work great when the real bait runs low or you don’t want to mess with brining and plug cutting. Old Goat Lures also makes a hollow one-piece wounded baitfish lure and they make it out of plastics that glow for those low-light days or early morning fisheries. With each of these lures, it is best to use a super sticky scent such as those by Pro-Cure in their Bait Sauce line. 

To rig up the spinning plug lures, there are two primary ways to fish them when trolling in the ocean. The first is behind a 360-flasher such as a Mack’s Lure UV Paddle ScentFlash, which can be filled with even more scent. Use a long leader from 42 to 56 inches to the lure, and then use the downrigger to get it to the depth of choice. The other way to rig it is just like how one would mooch using a mooching weight from 2 to 5 ounces, depending on how deep you want to run it, and then a long leader, again 42 to 56 inches. Simply let this rod out of the back of the boat about 50 feet, and put it in the rod holders. This makes for a great top water rod when targeting coho. Once you find a school of chinook you can then use this same set-up to mooch for them, and even drop it down over a rock pile and catch rockfish and lingcod. It is a simple and very versatile set-up and one I always have rigged and ready in the boat when heading to fish the ocean. 

It is time to do a little homework and figure out where you want to catch some salmon. With the marine areas now open, it is a matter of checking the tides and winds and making sure all of the safety equipment is up to date. This is also a good time to update any software for the sonar unit and make sure the life jackets are serviceable. Motor maintenance should have been done months ago, but if you haven’t done so then be sure to get them running right before heading out to the open ocean. The saltwater is one of the best places to catch salmon as long as you are prepared and know how to navigate the bar crossings safely. Head out to the open sea and catch some salmon.