Northwest Fishing Reports

I'm looking for a (miracle) river to fish where folks don't stand 10 feet away from you and cast over your line. I grew up fishing on the Rogue River, and this kind of behavior is seen as rude. 100 yards away is fine by me. I don't mind the drive as long as it's within the state, and I don't mind a short hike.

I'm just as happy fishing for trout as I am for salmon, so the species doesn't matter so much.

Perhaps I'll need to hit one of the rivers labeled Wild and Scenic?

The other option might be to see how crowded the rivers are mid week. Has anyone noticed much of a difference with so many folks unemployed these days?

Much thanks for any feedback!

Olypen

i second OlyPen

If you just wanna fish for sport and not for harvest, then check out the Cedar River in Renton and along highway 169. Its a short drive from Seattle. You will catch trout and other species. Check the Ballard locks fish count to see if sockeye are still running. The sockeye go to the Cedar River. It's strictly catch and release. There might be selective gear rules too. Read the old reports to see what works and for clues of where you can fish. And just to be safe, read the reg book before you go. Hire a lawyer to explain the regs if you have too

returnofthefish wrote:If you just wanna fish for sport and not for harvest, then check out the Cedar River in Renton and along highway 169. Its a short drive from Seattle. You will catch trout and other species. Check the Ballard locks fish count to see if sockeye are still running. The sockeye go to the Cedar River. It's strictly catch and release. There might be selective gear rules too. Read the old reports to see what works and for clues of where you can fish. And just to be safe, read the reg book before you go. Hire a lawyer to explain the regs if you have too

Cedar River closed on August 31

Check out the Olympic Peninsula rivers, the Queets, Hoh and Bogachiel are really fun. Near seattle, the upper skykomish is vacant now, everybody wants to catch the pinks. I'm often the only guy at the river that is fishing, and there are summer steelhead in every hole I go to. Of course it's gin clear and you have to be sneaky because the levels are so low, but you can get at dollys that are great fighters and really pretty. The forks of the sky are fun too, cutts and dollys and the occasional steelhead. Go to rivers that don't have salmon listed in the special regs, you'll find yourself alone. The tolt river has cutts in it, the upper snoqualmie has trout. If you want to target salmon alone, try out the smaller rivers that have small runs. The nemah rivers are a lot of fun, one of them has salmon, the others get steelhead and sea run cutts and I've fished them since I was a kid and never had that much company. The further from seattle you get, the better the fish to fishermen ratio is. The eastside has a lot of fun streams to check up on. Just look in the regs and pick a river and go! Or better yet look on google maps for a fun stream. I have found a million fun spots by just clicking at a cool map. And don't overlook alpine lakes, they are a fun bit of exercise and are full of feisty cutthroat.

Anywhere north of Snohomish county.

Wow! Thank you all for your help! If I didn't have to go to work I'd pick out a couple spots you all mentioned, pull out the reg book, and plan for the weekend!

I find it unusual folks will tell where they go any more specifically than naming a river. So, the info you've given has been quite generous! Thanks again!

Good luck on your next outing!

How's the accessibility on the Olypen rivers for bank fishing? Percentages work fine for me.

Thank you!