Northwest Fishing Reports

WDFW FISHING RULE CHANGE
Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife
600 Capitol Way North, Olympia, WA 98501-1091
http://wdfw.wa.gov" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

October 20, 2015

Salmon fishing closes on Snohomish, Skykomish, Snoqualmie, and Wallace rivers

Action: Closes the following areas to salmon fishing:

(1) Snohomish River (Snohomish County): From the mouth (Burlington Northern Railroad bridges) of the Snohomish River upstream to the confluence of the Skykomish and Snoqualmie rivers.
(2) Skykomish River: From the mouth upstream to the confluence of the North and South Forks.
(3) Snoqualmie River: From the mouth upstream to Snoqualmie Falls.
(4) Wallace River: From the mouth upstream to 200 feet above the water intake for the salmon hatchery.

Effective Date: Oct. 21, 2015, until further notice.

Species affected: Salmon.

Reason for action: The rule is necessary to protect returning coho runs to the Snohomish Watershed (permanent regulations are already in place requiring release of chinook and chum salmon, and the pink salmon returns have nearly concluded). In-season run size assessments conducted by state and tribal co-managers indicate that coho run sizes are significantly below pre-season forecasts in these rivers.

Other information: Non-retention of chum and chinook salmon is already in place per permanent rules. Game fish rules are unchanged and remain as specified in the 2015-16 Washington Sport Fishing Rules pamphlet.

Information contact: Mill Creek Regional Office: (425) 775-1311

Fishers must have a current Washington fishing license, appropriate to the fishery. Check the WDFW "Fishing in Washington" rules pamphlet for details on fishing seasons and regulations. Fishing rules are subject to change. Check the WDFW Fishing hotline for the latest rule information at (360) 902-2500, press 2 for recreational rules. For the Shellfish Rule Change hotline call (360)796-3215 or toll free 1-866-880-5431.



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great...

North sound fisheries suck. Time to move I guess!

well crap.. It sure seemed like the snohomish system had a bunch of fish in it... maybe I caught them all...lol

Carpet pulled out from under my feet....

If they do this too often they won't sell fishing licenses. However, it did seem like the pink run was smaller than normal. Must be the warm water offshore.

Goldrigger1 wrote:If they do this too often they won't sell fishing licenses. However, it did seem like the pink run was smaller than normal. Must be the warm water offshore.

Totally agree that pink run this year was small. Usually go to a creek off the Stilly and it's loaded with spent pinks and have only seen ONE this year! Damn sad as 3-4 cycles ago that river was plugged with pinks... Skagit and Stilly closed too and fishing the Skagit I saw fewer and smaller pinks than previous years and Coho were late(?) or almost non existent so far this year! Guess you gotta' take the good with the bad but IMHO this does not bode well for future years!

Salmon fishing closed on these rivers. Steelhead remain open.

Still good reports coming from the salt. Think they jumped the gun with all these river closing, just my arm chair quarterbacking. Don't think these runs are really in the river yet en mass.

jonb wrote:well crap.. It sure seemed like the snohomish system had a bunch of fish in it... maybe I caught them all...lol

you did, if it wasn't for you these rivers would still be open, good job Jon

KING KONG COHO wrote:

Goldrigger1 wrote:If they do this too often they won't sell fishing licenses. However, it did seem like the pink run was smaller than normal. Must be the warm water offshore.

Totally agree that pink run this year was small. Usually go to a creek off the Stilly and it's loaded with spent pinks and have only seen ONE this year! Damn sad as 3-4 cycles ago that river was plugged with pinks... Skagit and Stilly closed too and fishing the Skagit I saw fewer and smaller pinks than previous years and Coho were late(?) or almost non existent so far this year! Guess you gotta' take the good with the bad but IMHO this does not bode well for future years!

this years run of pink was very small compared to the last three runs and there were a lot of very small fish. I saw one pink hen in the Wallace that was less than 10"

Darn! I was going to hit the Sky today. Guess I'll be switchin to saltwater chums & coho.

Took my boat out yesterday with my bud. Still seems to be lots of Silvers out there. Didn't go far, fished around Mulk, caught 7, released three 4-5 pounders and kept 4 around 7 pounds. Done by 10:30. I was a little surprised at the number of fish and the 4 we kept we a little bigger than they have been. Going again tomorrow. Only one day but seems like they may have jumped the gun.

jonb wrote:well crap.. It sure seemed like the snohomish system had a bunch of fish in it... maybe I caught them all...lol

All, but two were mine