2013 Improved Over 2012

The start of a new year is full of hope that the upcoming year will be better than the one that just ended.  When it comes to the saltwater salmon fisheries for Summer 2013 I think we actually might be in luck.

We will have to wait until mid to late February for the official salmon forecasts as part of the season setting process known as North of Falcon, but there has been some very preliminary talk of what is to come.

As a fly fisherman I am mostly interested in one number when it comes to the coho fishery at Neah Bay and that is the Columbia River coho forecast.  A small forecast is not a guarantee of poor fishing but a large forecast almost certainly means great fishing.

The preliminary talk is that the Columbia River coho salmon run will be "Improved over 2012."  This is good news and I am looking forward to seeing the hard numbers.

With 2013 also being a pink salmon year it looks like the summer salmon season should be a full one.  I will be taking full advantage of it.

"Coho Are Just Ugly This Year"

With the start of the saltwater salmon season setting process (North of Falcon) beginning over the next month we are starting to learn what the preseason forecasts will be.  The Columbia River coho forecast has just been released.

Columbia River Coho Forecast Not Encouraging

My saltwater season goals usually begin with thinking about at least a trip or two out to Neah Bay.  This forecast does not make me optimistic for this summer out at the NW tip of the Olympic Peninsula.  It seems like a Columbia coho return over 500K is a guarantee of incredible fishing and below that results in spotty fishing, especially closer to the entrance and just inside the Strait.

I will not let this keep me from my plans to fish out there this summer, but it will minimize the number of trips out there.  Hopefully, the Puget Sound forecasts will make me smile about the fishing closer to home.

Fingers crossed for that Puget Sound forecast.