Conditions described here were accurate only as of the date shown and may have changed. This is not a substitute for current official information from the agency with jurisdiction. See the full notice. Full notice.
Skagit Keeps Tight Coho Rules; Middle River Closes October 12 to 15
Bait stays banned and barbless hooks required as Chinook encounters pass 80 percent of the season's allowance.
Washington's latest Skagit River rule, in effect October 9 through 31, keeps the bait ban, the single-point barbless hook requirement for salmon, and a two-coho daily limit on the river from the mouth to the Marblemount Bridge. Coho must be at least 12 inches, and all other salmon must be released.
The stretch from Gilligan Creek, east of Sedro-Woolley, to the Baker River closes to all fishing October 12 through 15 for a scheduled tribal treaty fishery, a shorter closure than first planned. It reopens under the coho rules October 16. On the Cascade River from the mouth to the Rockport-Cascade Road bridge, the limit is four coho, with no bait, barbless hooks, and no fishing Sundays, Mondays or Tuesdays.
The reason is Chinook. Skagit summer-fall sport fisheries have used more than 80 percent of their allowed Chinook encounters, and this season has seen more Chinook caught in the coho fishery than any year since in-season monitoring began in 2021. The department asks anglers to avoid water where Chinook hold and to identify fish before keeping them; it says many Chinook and pinks have been misidentified as coho this year, and that size is not a reliable guide.
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