Anglers optimistic for Washington salmon season

Published 6:56 pm Tuesday, September 1, 2020

WILLAPA BAY — The Willapa Bay salmon fishery has been hot for the past week, and the streak is expected to continue through Labor Day and September. For most anglers, this is the most optimistic salmon fishing season in three years.

Over the weekend, Washington State Department of Fish and Wildlife officials estimate that 997 anglers caught approximately 120 salmon. From Aug. 24 through Aug. 27, around 835 anglers caught roughly 130 salmon.

“We are estimating (from Aug. 1) up through Aug. 30 around 4,938 anglers, and they have harvested an estimated 506 Chinook and 83 cohos, but coho is just starting to pick up just now, so it’s a little too early,” state Fisheries Analyst Chad Herring said. “I expect there will be some good coho fishing over the week and Labor Day weekend.”

“The season started off somewhat slow as it usually does, but we have definitely seen an uptick over the last ten days in catch efficiency and effort,” Herring said. “The fishery has been good for the last ten days or so, and people have been catching fish.”

The 2020 season will be the first time in several years that state Fish and Wildlife will see a four-year return from the Naselle Hatchery after a decline in production at the South Fork Hatchery in Raymond.

“In 2016, we began production of 2.5 million Chinook out of the Naselle Hatchery as opposed to 800,000 that it was previously,” Herring said. “While we lost some fish out of the Forks Creek Hatchery, we increased fish out of the Naselle, and I think that maybe has helped, but I don’t know the origin composition of the harvest yet, and I won’t know that until the postseason.”

State Fish and Wildlife projects that just under 40,000 hatchery coho will return, just over 28,000 hatchery Chinook and slightly over 2,800 natural Chinook will also make the journey back.

“The hatchery production for coho hasn’t really changed, but the ocean hasn’t been really favorable for coho over these last five years or so,” Herring said. “I think (the numbers) are just reflective of reduced growth and survival in the ocean that gives us a little bit lower forecast for hatchery coho.”

“In terms of natural coho, it’s one of the worst forecasts we’ve ever had at 16,074,” Herring added. “In terms of freshwater fisheries, we planned for them to be marked selective with coho this year. So there is some hatchery coho out there to harvest, but we are focusing that harvest on the Willapa and Naselle rivers, and it’s going to be marked selective for coho and unmarked coho and Chinook which we have traditionally done.”

The salmon season for Willapa Bay and its tributaries were shut down early in 2018 and 2019 due to low return numbers and the risk of angler interactions with the sensitive fishery. According to Herring, 2020 might luck out.

“It is way too early to tell, but in terms of Chinook, the season will most likely run as predicted,” Herring said. “We are doing pretty good with impacts on unmarked Chinook. So I think that room will be available. The last few years, we have had closures, and they have all been around natural coho.”

“This year we had a preseason forecast that was already pretty low, so we implemented marked selective fisheries,” Herring said. “So it’s our hope that by implementing those marked selective fisheries, we will be able to fish the whole season and still be able to have a good harvest of hatchery coho.”

State Fish and Wildlife expects to have a better indication of the fishery in late September or early October and determine then whether or not any closure will be necessary.