Salmon fishing season is a few days away in the marine waters near Seattle, Washington. Puget Sound’s Marine Area 10 will open for fishing on June 1, 2023 and remain open for the entire summer. We should have some great fishing this year, starting with Coho Salmon that are resident to Puget Sound. Then in mid-July we will see an opening for Hatchery Chinook season.
Mid-July is typically the time we start to catch our first couple Pink Salmon as well! Pink Salmon only return on odd-numbered years (2023, 2025, 2027) and this year we are expected to see just under 4 million Pinks migrate home to Puget Sound. Marine Area 10 Pink Salmon catches will peak in August.
The Seattle Salmon fishing season wraps up with a return of Ocean Coho Salmon, that start to make an appearance in Marine Area 10 in mid-August and will be swarming our favorite fishing spots by early September.
Marine Area 10 Resident Coho Salmon
The first part of the Marine Area 10 salmon fishing season is June 1 to July 12, 2023. The daily limit is 2 Salmon, release Chinook and Chum. The primary catch this time of year is Resident Coho Salmon, and we get to keep clipped-hatchery and unclipped-wild Coho. Even though you can technically keep Pink Salmon during this time they will be few and far between.
The best places to catch Resident Coho Salmon in Marine Area 10 is going to be Jeff Head, the shipping lanes between Kingston and Richmond Beach, and the deep water south of Jeff Head and the nearby shipping lanes. I find Resident Coho don’t really mind swimming through water that is 100′ or 800′, but they do prefer to stay near the surface.
Before dawn, we often catch these Resident Coho on the surface lines, or trolling at depths of 25′, 40′ or 50′ down. After dawn, it’s a true mixed bag of the favored depth. We can see surface trolling action somedays and other days we get all of our bites at 110′.
Stay updated on the Marine Area 10 Salmon Season:
Fishing Gear for Marine Area 10 Resident Coho Salmon
The best and most practiced method for catching Seattle Coho Salmon is to troll with downriggers. This affords you the option of fishing as deep as you want. But even when we are dropping our gear down only 20′ or so, it is nice to be able to fight these smaller salmon with no other weight once they are on the line. When I have two people on my boat, I like to run two rods off downriggers and stagger the depths that the gear is fishing. When I have more than two, I like to add a surface line with a brined plug cut herring. (For the herring, here is a brine recipe and here are a few tips)
Flasher & Hoochie Setup
I mainly use 11″ Pro-Troll Flashers, but occasionally will choose an 8″. For the 11″ Flasher setup, I like to run a 28″ to 34″ leader consisting of 30 lb to 40 lb Fluorocarbon for Coho and will lengthen to 32″ to 40″ when it opens for Chinook Salmon, I like 3/0 and 4/0 tandem Octopus Hooks. The Plastic Hoochie is one of the most simple and yet most effective lures for salmon fishing. As I gain more and more experience, I’ve started to widen the variety of Hoocie colors that I use, until I find what is the biggest producer of the day. And believe me it can change from day to day so do yourself a favor and don’t stick with one for long if it isn’t working. The shop has Gold Star Hoochies that are pre-tied as well as in 5-pack.
Flasher & Ace Hi Fly Setup
Ace Hi Flies are a very attractive lure to Resident Coho Salmon, Chinook and Pink Salmon. I rig these the same way as Hoochies and fish them behind an 11″ Flasher as well.
Flasher & Spoon Setup
The Flasher and Spoon setup is my third choice for Coho but close to my first choice for Chinook. Early in the season when I’m targeting Resident Coho, I prefer a small 2-5/8″ McComie Glow Spoon or a 3″ Silver Horde Kingfisher Spoon. When Chinook opens in mid-July I will still run that size, but might switch it up to a larger spoon size if I feel the need. For Coho I run 30 lb Fluorocarbon leader at 30″ to 36″ and when Chinook opens I will run 30 lb to 40 lb at 33″ to 42″.
Surface Trolling Setup
Running a surface line out the back of the boat is a great option if you are already fishing with downriggers but have a third person or more. I rarely run more than two downrigger lines and one surface line, as you will be checking the bait and removing seagrass often. This is the same as a mooching setup. I like to run a 3 ounce or 4 ounce coated mooching sinker and a 4′ Herring Leader. You can decide to run out 20′ to 30′ so that your cut plug herring is spinning in the propwash of your kicker motor, or way far back 50′ to 80′. Keep in mind that when it gets crowded at places like Jeff Head, having your surface rod back a ways can be problematic with other boats. When a surface herring gets a bite, I like to let that rod completely fold over before I have anyone start reeling… let em eat! It converts more bite to fish in the box.
Cheers to a Seattle Summer of Salmon Fishing
Resident Coho Salmon will start off our fishing season here in Seattle, followed by Chinook, Pinks and finally Ocean-range Coho. We have several months of really productive fishing ahead of us!
- Your Guide to the Washington 2023 Salmon Fishing Seasons
- WDFW 2023 Marine Area 10 Salmon Fishing Opener News Release
Your Guide to the Washington 2023 Salmon Fishing Seasons – Marine Areas
