Northwest Fishing Reports

I am just looking for some insight to salmon fishing for kings at Sekiu during July time frame. I am hauling my boat from Eastern Washington to fish Sekiu for a few days. I have fished for the big silvers in late September there and have done quite well. I basically just trolled north and south in 400-500 feet of water. I have never fished for chinook at Sekiu, and was hoping maybe somebody might point me in the right direction. Any help would be much appreciated. Thanks.

For the big Kings I think you're going to have to hang closer to the kelp lines..... drag something that smells like herring deep along the kelp beds.. not an expert by any means but that's what I've heard from the locals I talked to when scoping out the fishery.... I'm going to get in a few days near Sekui this July also....

Will be working for both Pinks and Chinooks... should be interesting....


I've heard the the Pinks are in closer to the kelp beds also but much shallower... this will be a new experience for me though and my expectations are not high...

Thanks for the info. When they refer to the caves, is that directly west of the harbor out of sekiu? Can u actually see caves as a landmark? I hope the pinks are showing up by mid-July. I am looking forward to September after the 15th when its possible to keep a hooknose silver and not have to let it swim away with one to many fins.

I'm definitely not an expert on that area but I went out to sekui and Neah Bay a couple of
times last summer to scope out the scene... talk to some of the regulars.. talk to some of the resort salespeople..


Here's a quick summary of what I learned...


Not too much activity, other than tribal commercial fishing, from Neah Bay. There is activity (e.g. lots of sport fishers) just east of Neah Bay from a couple of little resorts with ramps that look like they are in the middle of nowhere. But, by far, the majority of sportfishing activity here is out of Sekui... I mean they just drop out docks and ramps anywhere they will fit in June or July and then roll everything up in October/November. I went out last November to see what the off season is like and the difference is incredible.. it's like the whole bay just gets rolled up when the salmon have passed by...


If you have a good sized boat it looks to me like the best bet is to get set up with one of the many resorts and drop the boat in once and moor it at one of the many moorage spaces and just stay at the resort... get up every morning, walk down the boat and go fishing....


Got lots of different stories about timing but I finally found a good place to go to get my references.... The WDFW fishin web site (if you scroll down to the reports part) has a link to "Puget Sound Reports".. it's the first link on their reports listings.....

click on that and you will see one link labeled "P".. p stands for peninsula...

If you go to that link you will see links, by week, to reports filed by the fish checkers at the docks for every week for the last 5 years or so....... just work your way down the the week you are interested in and check it for the last few years... you'll get an idea of what the action was like..... Looks like the best time to be there for humpies is going to be the last week in July and the first week in august. Tides become very favorable 'bout 7/20 and stay that way for a week or so and that's probably when I'll run up, weather permitting, to try my luck. Just a second... luck is for rabbits... it will be to try some very sophisticated and highly technical terminal rigs that I tied last winter in anticipation of these outings.

The straits are pretty much a "passing through" kind of fishery. The schools just pass through on their way to other destinations. When the schools are there fishing is crazy, but if you get there a few days to early or a few days to late you miss out on the action..... of course when the salmon fishing is lean there always seems to be some black rockfish to entertain.. best fishing and most interesting limits for these is anywhere west of slip point.

and, weather permitting, I will be running up once or twice the last couple of weeks in September to see if I can tangle with one of those wild coho we'll be allowed to keep this year. Really looking forward to that...



oh yeah... the caves.... I think these features are out west of Neah Bay... along the shoreline just this side of the tatoosh island gap...

You should just go to ilwaco in august or september! dont fish bouy 10 though, fish in the ocean.

At sekiu do you plan on getting some bottom fish?

We went out to Sekui last summer in mid july,right around the corner to the left out from the launch we fished for chinook. We caught alot of salmon but alot of wild kings. It seemed as if you have to hit it right during the slack tide or youre not going to catch ish. That's the only time i think we ended up catching fish when we were trolling. It was fun though, caught a bunch of 15-20lbs kings. And i think the area that im thinking of is the caves tpgnascar is talking about. We fished probably a 100 yards from the shore trolling.

And i dont think those pinks will be in there probably until the first week or so of august,but you never know with how the salmon have been weird with how late or early they come in

If you want Kings, I'd go right past Sekiu and out to Neah Bay. King fishing is bigger and better on the outside. Ask in town where they're hitting. Big guy's are going to be between 120 - 250 feet deep. Any less and your going to be doing a lot of reeling for shakers and little sivers.