• Puget Sound Salmon Fishing: Westport, Sekiu & Neah Bay Guide

    Puget Sound and the surrounding marine waters of Washington State support some of the most diverse salmon fishing in the Pacific Northwest. Year-round resident Chinook (blackmouth), summer ocean returns, fall Coho, and the iconic odd-year pink salmon runs all contribute to a fishery that produces salmon every month of the year. The geography is unique:…

  • Plunking for Salmon: PNW Bank Fishing Complete Guide

    Plunking is the PNW shore-based salmon technique that delivers without a boat. The angler casts a heavy weight far enough offshore to reach holding water, sets the rod in a sand spike (vertical rod holder), and waits for the rod tip to telegraph a strike. The technique is patient — sometimes hours between bites —…

  • Pacific Salmon Fishing Safety: Bars, Cold Water & Hazards

    Pacific salmon fishing has a different risk profile than most freshwater fishing. The Columbia and Tillamook bars produce wave conditions that capsize boats. The Pacific Ocean stays at 48-58°F year-round, which means hypothermia begins minutes after immersion. PNW rivers run through canyons and rainforests with their own hazards — slippery rocks, fast cold water, and…

  • Pacific Salmon Fishing: Complete Guide for the Pacific North West

    Pacific salmon fishing is one of the iconic fishing experiences in North America. The five species of Pacific salmon — Chinook, Coho, Pink, Sockeye, and Chum — return from the ocean to spawn in the rivers of Oregon, Washington, and beyond, supporting a sport fishery that draws anglers from across the country. The Columbia River’s…

  • Pacific Pink Salmon Fishing: Odd-Year PNW Guide

    Pink salmon are the smallest, most accessible, and most beginner-friendly of the Pacific salmon species. Adults run 3-5 pounds — light tackle fish that strike eagerly at small spoons, pink jigs, and bare hooks dressed with yarn. Runs are massive, with millions of fish pushing into Puget Sound and other Pacific waters during peak years.…

  • Pacific Coho (Silver) Salmon Fishing: PNW Guide

    Coho is the silver of Pacific salmon — bright chrome bodies, aggressive strikes, and the most accessible of the major Pacific salmon species. Adult Coho run 6-15 pounds typically (with trophy fish reaching 20+ pounds), smaller than Chinook but compensating with attitude. Where Chinook nose bait deliberately, Coho commit aggressively to lures and bait. Where…

  • Pacific Chinook (King) Salmon Fishing: Complete PNW Guide

    Chinook is the largest and most prestigious of the Pacific salmon species — the king, the tyee, the spring. Adult fish typically run 15-40 pounds; the Columbia River produces fish over 50 pounds with regularity, and the rare 70+ pound monster makes headlines each summer. The fight is powerful: a hooked king on a mooching…

  • Mooching for Salmon: PNW Chinook Technique Complete Guide

    Mooching is the technique that defines Pacific Northwest Chinook fishing for serious anglers. The boat sits in neutral or drifts slowly. A whole herring or cut-plug herring sits on a long sliding-sinker rig, drifting through the water column at the depth where Chinook are holding. The mooching rod telegraphs every nudge from the rod tip…

  • Columbia River Salmon Fishing: Buoy 10, Hanford Reach & More

    The Columbia River is the most iconic Pacific salmon fishery in the Lower 48 — the river that produces more sport salmon angler-days than any other in the contiguous United States. From the river’s mouth at Astoria and Ilwaco upstream to the Hanford Reach in eastern Washington, the Columbia supports five distinct salmon sub-fisheries plus…

  • Bobber-Doggin’ for Salmon: PNW River Float Fishing Guide

    Bobber-doggin’ is the PNW river float-fishing technique that produces salmon and steelhead in nearly every fishable river from northern California to British Columbia. The technique adapts to fish behavior in river current — bait floats at the depth where fish hold, the float telegraphs every nudge, and the angler can cover multiple sections of holding…