Washington Fishing Guides
Washington is a Pacific fishery. The Olympic Peninsula rivers — Hoh, Bogachiel, Sol Duc, Queets — get winter and spring steelhead runs that date back to before any stocking happened. Puget Sound has resident coho and chinook. The Yakima is the state's only designated Blue Ribbon trout stream. And the Columbia River drainage holds salmon and steelhead runs that built the Pacific Northwest. This is wild-fish country.
Top waters in Washington
Hoh River
Winter steelhead, silver salmon, cutthroat trout
Olympic Peninsula. Wild steelhead fishery with rain-forest scenery unlike anywhere else in the Lower 48. Winter run (December-April) is the marquee event. Catch-and-release only on wild fish.
Sol Duc / Bogachiel / Calawah
Winter steelhead, silver salmon
Peninsula cluster of rivers draining into the Quillayute. Strong wild steelhead returns. Short drift floats, walk-wade access, small-town guide infrastructure out of Forks. December through March.
Yakima River
Rainbow trout, cutthroat trout
Blue Ribbon trout water east of the Cascades. Wild westslope cutthroat and rainbow hybrids. Hopper and terrestrial fishing is world-class in August and September. Drift-boat and walk-wade.
Puget Sound (inshore)
Sea-run cutthroat trout, resident coho salmon, chinook salmon
Underrated saltwater fly fishery. Sea-run cutthroat take dry flies on the beaches. Resident coho in winter off rocky points. Year-round fishery from a small boat or by wading.
Washington fishing by season
Spring
Peak winter steelhead on the Olympic Peninsula. Skagit/Sauk catch-and-release wild steelhead season runs Feb 1 through April 15 when WDFW opens it — a historic fishery. Yakima skwala hatch starts in March. Shad run on the Columbia.
Summer
Yakima dry-fly fishing peaks. Sea-run cutthroat in Puget Sound. Upper Columbia redband trout. Summer steelhead on the Methow and Klickitat. Best month overall is August.
Fall
Silver salmon runs on the Peninsula rivers and Puget Sound. Summer steelhead continue in the Columbia tribs. Yakima hopper fishing runs through September. Cool and productive.
Winter
Winter steelhead on the Olympic Peninsula is the signature Washington fishery. Chrome wild fish just arrived from the Pacific. Cold, rainy, technical, rewarding. Book the Peninsula in advance.
The Olympic Peninsula rivers hold the largest wild winter-steelhead runs remaining in the Lower 48. These are fish that have never seen a hatchery truck, migrating back to the rivers their ancestors spawned in for ten thousand years. The rain-forest scenery is unique in temperate North America. And the Yakima east of the Cascades provides a classic Western freestone trout experience only two hours from Seattle — an unusual combination.
The Sol Duc opens up earlier and fishes longer than the other Peninsula rivers for wild steelhead. If you're flying into Seattle for a steelhead trip, book Sol Duc-based guides for the front or back of the winter season when the Hoh and Bogachiel can be blown out. Small-town accommodations in Forks are the norm.
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