As you have no doubt figured out, salt water fishing for salmon around here is a highly specialized endeavor. The forecasts are pretty good however. Pinks will be your most likely catch. Pinks aren't real good to eat, but they can be OK on the Barbee. When you catch one, cut the gills and bleed it right away, then put it on ice and fillet it when you are ready. Pinks spoil faster than other salmon. This is the forecast.



Puget Sound: Another strong run of coho salmon will boost fisheries in Puget Sound, where millions of pink salmon also are expected to return this year.

About 880,000 coho are forecast to return to Puget Sound streams, about 150,000 more fish than last year’s forecast. “Fishing for coho was really good last season, and we expect much of the same this summer,” said Ryan Lothrop, Puget Sound recreational salmon fishery manager for WDFW.

In addition, more than 6 million pink salmon are expected back to the Sound this year. Most pink salmon return to Washington’s waters only in odd-numbered years.

“It’s a pink year, which is a great time to introduce a friend or family member – especially children – to salmon fishing,” said Lothrop. “Fishing this summer should be similar to 2011, when anglers were catching limits of pink salmon throughout the Sound and its rivers.”

Summer/fall chinook salmon returns to Puget Sound are expected to total about 264,000 fish, similar to the last few years. Most chinook fisheries in Puget Sound, where the bulk of the return is hatchery chinook, will be similar to last year, Lothrop said.