Reports
This page is a living record of fishing reports and updates. Whenever we visit a river or marine area I will try to post a brief recounting of the state that river was in when I visited, fish activity, clarity, crowds and so forth. The intent is not to hot hole rivers or spots, but instead to provide helpful reports on my favorite systems and maintain an organized accounting of my days spent fishing with friends and family.
July 17, 2025
Area 10 - Jeff Head and Shilshole
Today was the beginning of the 4 day hatchery chinook opening in Area 10. We woke at 3:50am, got to the launch and saw the longest line I have ever seen at the Eddie Vine launch. We waited about 45 min to launch.
Once in, we motored out to Jeff Head in pretty gnarly conditions, especially for so early in the morning. The area was littered with boats. Some nets were moving, but nothing crazy, and soon enough seaweed was thick and we chose to motor back to Shilshole in search of fewer boats and calmer waters….but before doing so we landed a nice fat hatchery resi Coho. What they say is true about the resi Coho getting bigger and bigger through the season.
Once near green buoy at Shilshole, we trolled north towards Carkeek and Edmonds for a while until we hooked into another beautiful Coho, this time a wild buck. All in all, awesome day on the Coho considering the crowds and conditions.
Caught on:
YBC Spinfish (Touchdown) - Size 3.0
Brads Cut Plug (Seahawk) - Size 3.0
July 14, 2025
Area 10 - Jeff Head
Fishing by 6:15am, went out with Tim and Nathan. One 26+ in chinook, two small resi coho and one very nice keeper Coho, with another lost by the boat. Keeper caught around 60 ft on herring SpinNFish with sardine and Krill oil. Scented the flashers today and seemed to work very nicely. Only one other fish had been counted by the fish counter.
July 10, 2025
Area 10 - Jeff Head
Fishing by 6am. Overcast, few boats, one small chinook and one nice keeper resi Coho. Pretty efficient trip, saw only one other boat net a fish.
July 5, 2025
Area 10 - Jeff Head
Out early (for us) around 6am with Toby and Gareth. Fished for a 15 min around Shilshole and then motored out to Jeff Head where we came across a flotilla of salmon anglers. Right away we knew the fishing would be good. Overcast skies, calm water, and tons of fish and bait on the finder. Landed two wild resident coho and three wild chinook, with a couple more lost at the boat. Overall awesome day!
July 4, 2025
Area 10
Went out with Toby and hooked into two beautiful chinook. Lost both at the boat though…Landed a fish with a new buddy is tough, but we had great fun and it was good practice. Conditions were great, very calm waters. Fished about 5 hours starting around 7am. Fished right around Shilshole.
June 29, 2025
Marine Area 10
Off Shilshole, wind picked up early around 10. Fished 7am to 10 during slack tide. Conditions were tough, but we landed a small wild resident Coho that we released. Caught on a size 3 Spin N Fish. Looks like other boats that started earlier limited or caught more than us.
June 23, 2025
Marine Area 10
Solo day, lost two resident coho and landed this beautiful hatchery chinook. This guy put up a crazy fight and jumped a foot out of the water a couple times. Boat next to me started cheering when I finally landed him alone, super memorable! Hard to tell from this picture, but he was likely around 12 lbs. Ran a green and white Brad’s SuperBait behind a flasher. Image of fish finder shot around 9am.
June 19, 2025
Marine Area 10
Off Shilshole for Resident Coho. Ran two downriggers using Brads SuperBaits and Tomic Plugs. Had a few bites, landed one keeper in a few hours of fishing. Caught at 80 ft.
May 17, 2025
Sol Duc River - Dimmel to Rayoneir
River low, water temp 51, recent flush of water added a bit of color. Took my mom and sister out on the Sol Duc. First time for Nat seeing this spectacular river. Plugged, threw spinners, spoons and jigs. No bites, saw only one fish rolling. Fishing for these ghosts has been really difficult…which makes it all the more fascinating. Checked in with Jeff, reassured me of a few things:
- Plugging on anchor is a good tactic for these fish
- Fishing the fast water is a good bet to entice a bite, low water? Fish the fast
- Jigging is one of the few ways to trick the fish in the deeper holes
May 4, 2025
Sol Duc River - Dimmel to Rayoneir
Low, clear, sunny and free of crowds. Awesome day, but no action. Saw a few steelhead sitting on their redds and saw a couple springers rolling. Need a flush of water to see more action that high up.
May 3 2025
Sol Duc River
Back in the holy water. Water low. Water temp at 52. Bank fished at dusk and saw no action from any springers.
April 10, 2025
Area 11
In search of Blackmouth off Point Defiance and landed one hatchery fish! Caught around 160ft with a Tomic plug. Awesome fish and love to see the purple shine. Released, next one won’t be as lucky…
March 31, 2025
Sol Duc River - Hatchery to Dimmel
Last day of the steelhead season for us. River at 45 deg. Sunny and ~60 outside. Fifth boat in at the hatchery, with around 4 or 5 more to follow behind us throughout the day. Two beautiful hens in the first third of the section. Both hammered the plugs in slow, deep water. Sad to think the season is over, but what a season it was. It changed Teagan and I’s lives altogether, and I believe we will spend the rest of our days learning and exploring this fishery. Fish I am holding measured 35in and the one Teagan is holding came in at 34in. Both had battle wounds from seal encounters.
March 22, 2025
Sol Duc River - Hatchery to Dimmel
River at 14 boards with more water on the way. River crowded since the others in the area are not fishable. Saw a couple small fish landed throughout the day, all on beads. Had one ~30in steelie hammer the plug near the end of the float, but it ran straight to the boat, jumped and spat the hook. First time floating this stretch and at these levels it has glorious water. My buddy Greg caught a beautiful little trout on the spinner. I also proposed to my partner Teagan at the end of the day, she said “Sure!”… River at 43F.
March 16, 2025
Sol Duc River - Maxfield to Rayoneir
River higher than the day before with rain overnight. Visibility also lower. Mostly sunny with less crowds. Plugged most of the section and had one bite a ways below Double Rapid. Landed with the help of my buddy Ryan who nailed the net job (first time net job done to perfection!). Love this river and really addicted to learning it. Only a couple more weekends left to fish it for steelies! River at 42F (first time using my river thermometer!).
March 15, 2025
Sol Duc River - Dimmel to Rayoneir
Crowded day on the river. Maxfield at about 9 boards and visibility was on the low side. 40F and raining most of the day. We were on the river late at about 10am and saw two boats pass while we were putting in, one of which hooked a beautiful chrome hen right at the launch. Creel reports showed a successful day for many, but we struggled all day on the plugs. No fish. Just me and my buddy Ryan on the boat today.
March 2, 2025
Sol Duc River - Maxfield to Dimmel
River at 7 boards. Scattered showers and warmer weather around 55F. This weekend was crazy busy, perhaps because of the recent bump in the water levels, nice waether or closures down south, who knows. We plugged almost the entire stretch, and managed to separate ourselves from the other boats. Hooked a decent trout at the beginning of the day and a beautiful 30in steelie at the end. Awesome day, with the plugs proving their worth again. Float setups are beginning to feel like a marketing ploy.
March 1, 2025
Bogachiel River - 101 to Wilsons
1270 CFS. We covered some new water today, rowing the stretch of the Bogachiel between the put-in at Kallman road and the hatchery. The sun was shining and it was the first relatively warm day on the water in a long time. Fishing from a boat is prohibited above the hatchery so that stretch was essentially a scouting run. When we got below Mill Creek, we deployed the plugs from there to Wilson’s, but had no action except for one take. Teag missed the hookset. Many boats and bank anglers, with no one reporting any success.
February 17, 2025
Bogachiel River - Hatchery to Wilson’s
River up around 1000 CFS, air temp around 40 with sun shining. Plug fished all the plug water in this section and came up with three wild fish, two of which were trophies. One around 40 inches (and a fat belly!) and another around 35 inches. These two fish were fish of a lifetime that we will never forget, still can’t believe we managed to land them. Plugs SLUG. The steelie in the background was slightly out of the water for about 0.5 seconds, this picture is a screenshot of a video…
February 16, 2025
Hoh River
River up to around 1150 CFS, with temperatures relatively warm, outside temp at around 40F. Holiday weekend led to a very crowded Hoh. Bank was the most crowded I have seen, and the section below Minnie’s up near the road was lined with 5 boats when we drove by around 10am. Fished for 7 hours above Morgan’s with no bites.
February 15, 2025
Hoh River
River very low still, decided to wade the upper river in the afternoon- flow is still around 650 cfs. Slight rain during the day stirred up quite a few bites! Landed a nice little guy but didn’t get a great photo. Luke hooked a monster who gave us a show, shook off the spinner and went on his way.
Bogechiel River
Waded the same section this morning where we had a bit last night. Walked up river a few miles but didn’t see any action.
February 14, 2025
Hoh River
River very low still. Walked about 5 miles of bank below Spruce Creek. No action. That high up the river we are targeting very few fish, and the fish that are there have ben for a while given this dry spell.
Bogechiel River
Late afternoon session targeting two tailouts and Teagan hooked up twice! First hookup shook off after a five foot jump! Awesome action. All hookups this trip have been on the trusty spinner in fast water. Hooked around 4:30, which has been the money time for us.
February 13, 2025
Hoh River
Low conditions persist, around 700 cfs. Chose to take a break from the raft and bank fish instead. Today was the day, we went to our favorite hole on the Hoh, covered a lot of water on foot from 9:30 to dusk and found our trophy beauty wild winter steelie just before sundown. Words cannot express our gratitude to encounter such a beautiful creature. Will try to write up a story for how the day as a whole went, but we are still in shock. This is a reminder that the many cold and fruitless days are always worth it for days like this.
February 12, 2025
Sol Duc River - Rayoneir to Leyendecker
River just around 1 board, very, VERY low and clear. Like the two other boats we talked to, we had no action. 28 degrees outside and sunny. Section was very bony and ended up dragging the boat more than a few times…Keen on banking tomorrow until we get some rain.
February 2, 2025
Sol Duc River - Dimmel to Rayoneir
River lower than the day before and very clear. Snowing all day. Tried pulling plugs, but we left our 2.5 and 3 inch plugs at home so we were stuck with wigglers and they did not get deep enough. Drift fished a bead for a while and floated a bead too. No bites. Learning new tactics thanks to our close friend Jeff Woodward. These steelies are hard to coax out in such cold and low conditions.
February 1, 2025
Sol Duc River - Rayoneir to Leyendecker
Very cold day, river low, around 4 boards at Maxfield launch. There was a little bit of color to the water though still fairly clear. This was a new section for us so we were focused on learning the river and trying to scout where the fish might be holding. No fish hooked, potentially a bobber down or two. Saw a few other boats throughout the day, many folks running similar setups with floats and beads. Bobber dogged, float fished, threw spinners.
January 20, 2025
Sol Duc River - Whitcomb Dimmel to Rayonier
River very low and clear. Beautiful, very cold day. Anchor line frozen, eyelets frozen. Saw a big steelie darting around beneath our raft, but no takers. Wonderful time on my favorite river. The “Double Rapid” section went fine, but we didn’t stay left as advised by our friend Jeff, and had to drag a bit. Would advise ultra “quiet”, small gear in these conditions.
January 19, 2025
Hoh River - Morgan’s to Allen’s
River at 1200 CFS. Cold conditions, air temp at around 28F. Conditions low and clear, threw beads, worms, and spinners but with little result. Two whitefish, no steelie takes. The five other boats we talked to all got skunked as well. Teagan and I both had one big steelie bite just before sunset at a secret spot above Morgan’s, we BOTH lost them though! :(
January 5, 2025
Sol Duc River - Hatchery to Whitcomb Dimmel
Hired Keith Allison for a day steelheading on the Duc. Keith is excellent and well worth the money. River was in excellent condition. Float was about 15 miles. Morning was slow with little to no action running worms and beads under floats. Switched to Bobber Dogging and the day picked up with two misses and one landed wild hen!
January 4, 2025
Salmon River, Hoh River, and Bogachiel River
Spent much of the day scouting the conditions of these three rivers in search of both hatchery and wild fish. Had never fished the Salmon River before. Salmon has no gauage, but Queets was about 5600 CFS and rising. Other anglers had success, though we spent much of our time exploring the structure and banks of the river.
Visited a couple of holes on the Upper Hoh and had no action, river was relatively low but rising, at around 3000 CFS.
Bogey was in excellent shape and we fished just above the hatchery with no luck.
December 14-15, 2024
NF Stilly and Sauk Rivers
Sauk 3000 CFS ~ 3 ft vis, Stilly 4000 CFS ~2 ft vis. Much brighter water than last weekend. Still some coho around. Bank anglers trying their luck for steelhead at popular spots on the Stilly. Hooked into a beautiful Coho buck and a nice whitefish on the Sauk and promptly released both. Caught on a twitching jig.
December 7, 2024
NF Stilly and Sauk Rivers
Stilly
Unfishable chocolate milk. Water levels rose fast starting early, 2000 CFS to 12,000 in a matter of hours.
Sauk
Same as Stilly, rose super fast and was quickly unfishable. 2000 to 14,000 in a matter of hours.
November 29, 2024
Bogachiel River - Hatchery to Wilson’s
River dropping, gauge at ~26.4 ft. Water very clear. Lots of anglers at the hatchery, on the bank and in drift boats. No fish caught.
November 28, 2024
Hoh River - Cottonwood & above Morgan’s
River dropping, at 2000 CFS. Visibility about 3 ft, quite clear not much debris. Not much happening at Cottonwood. Some fish in upper river, caught a nice coho hen.
November 17, 2024
Skykomish River
River at 5000 CFS. Visibility about 1-2 feet. Lots of debris in the water with stormy conditions and high flows. Tough fishing conditions even up just below the forks. Used big and bright steelhead worms, but low chance of strike in those conditions. Would wait for flows to go down.
November 16, 2024
Snoqualmie River
River was high but pretty clear, probably around 3 or 4 feet of visibility. 40 degrees outside and rain. Water conditions definitely fishable. Threw jigs, spinners and floated some steelhead worms. No bites, no action, no signs of life. No remains either. Fished late afternoon to early evening. Fished only for an hour or so.
November 9, 2024
Skykomish River - Sultan to Ben Howard Launch
Floated from around 9 am to 3 pm. Were surprised by the slow speed of most of the float, discharge was around 2950 cfs. Fish were rolling on river right at the deep wall at the start of the float. Noticed bank anglers having success at the tail outs of gravel banks. Caught trout on our jig float set up using the center pin. Had some bites on beads/eggs. Lots of zombie chum out and about, one even had the energy to bite a spinner!
November 3, 2024
Satsop River - West Fork to Highway 12
River at 3160 CFS. Visibility about 1 foot. Floated West Fork to Highway 12. Coho rolling mostly on river right, along the stretch across from Juel’s Nursery. Fished that bank with bait, beads, spinners and jigs for 2 hours with maybe 1 or 2 hits. Encountered 2/3 jet boats and about 6 drift boats throughout the day. No fish caught. Visibility seemed a bit too low, WDFW officer said it had been a slow day at the take out. Afternoon to early evening.
November 2, 2024
Skykomish River - Reiter Ponds
River at 3880 CFS. Visibility decent, about 4-5 feet. Bank fished above and below Reiter ponds. Crowds were thick, several hooking up to fish, but we had no bites fishing eggs, beads jigs, and spinners. All hook ups that we saw were just below the hatchery intake. No fish rolling or rising, but action was solid. Most people were float fishing, drifting bait, jigs, and beads. Afternoon to early evening.
October 27, 2024
Sol Duc River - 101 Bridge Closest to Forks
River high, after solid rains. Bank fished under the bridge closest to Forks. Struggle continued, no bites on eggs, spinners or jigs. Saw one other person hook up out of a drift boat on the far side basically sitting on the rising fish. Oh yeah…tons of rising fish on the far side. Visibility was solid. Early morning to afternoon. No pictures taken, this is a photo from the same spot a few months earlier. No crowds.
October 26, 2024
Hoh River - Morgan’s to Allen’s
River at 4000 CFS. Visibility < 1 foot, barely fishable. Floated quickly to preserve daylight and fish elsewhere. River was moving fast and was chocolate milk. Hit a coho traveling upstream with my paddle. Oxbow was doable, but a bit intense. Canyon section beautiful as always. One or two other boats.
October 26, 2024
Sol Duc River - Secret Hole
River was highest I have seen it, much more fishable than Hoh. Shockingly no rolling or jumping fish. Teagan caught a resident steelhead / rainbow on a black and green Steelhead Slammer, maybe 17 in or so? Caught in a pool before a riffle. Afternoon to evening. No crowds.
October 18, 2024
Hoh River - Secret hole
River at 880 CFS, hours before spiking to 18,000. Visibility solid. No bites, but saw a large chinook that put on a show for us. It jumped on the far side of the hole once, then jumped about 12 more times all throughout the hole for the next minute or so. It had a gold spinner lodged in it’s jaw. This hole always has fish holding in it. Afternoon to evening. No crowds.
October 12, 2024
Stillaguamish River - Somewhere near Blue Stilly Park
Visibility good, maybe too good. Water was very low. Coho rolling consistently on far bank. Took my parents out, mom was the only one to get a fish, a nice 10 in rainbow on an orange and silver Steelhead Slammer. Salmon were stubborn today. No crowds.
October 6, 2024
Satsop River - Highway 12
River around 300 CFS. Visibility good. Coho rolling consistently on far bank. Several anglers out on the bank with us. Teagan hooked into a large spawny coho. Flares of red and black on the beast and had good fight in him. Teagan fought him to the bank, and he made several runs and jumps. He spat the hook out and it rehooked in its Dorsal fin. He came off before we could get a picture. First freshwater salmon of the season for us. Caught early evening.