Washington is the state where the honest answer to “when does the season open” is that nobody knows yet. Puget Sound crab dates do not exist until WDFW announces them, area by area, and the coast plays by entirely different rules.
Every season we have verified in Washington
One block per rule, because a single species can be on two calendars in the same state depending on the water. The band under each heading is the legal season; the row under it is what our own data says the fish are doing.
Crab — Puget Sound (Marine Areas 4 east through 13)
No date to look up. Summer dates are announced around June and winter dates around September.
Two short seasons, not one: a summer opening in July and August and a winter opening roughly October to December where quota is left. Several areas have been closed outright to let Dungeness recover, and some open only a few days a week. Every crabber needs a Puget Sound crab endorsement on their licence and a catch record card, whatever their age.
- Size
- Male Dungeness only, 6¼" across the back; red rock crab of either sex at 5".
- Limit
- Set with the season each year, by marine area.
Crab Season in Washington State: the full rules, the sizes and why this state is different →
Crab — Coastal waters (Marine Areas 1 to 3, and 4 west of the Bonilla-Tatoosh line)
Open all year, with pot gear closed from September to November to keep soft-shelled crabs from dying in the pots. The contrast with Puget Sound is the single most useful thing to know about crabbing this state.
- Size
- Male Dungeness 6¼" across the back.
- Limit
- Standard coastal recreational limits; no catch record card required.
Salmon — Statewide
No date to look up. Set each spring through the North of Falcon process against that year’s run forecasts.
Salmon seasons here are negotiated, not scheduled. Dates for a given river or marine area can differ from last year by weeks, and in-season closures happen when a run comes in under forecast. Any page that gives you a fixed Washington salmon date is copying an old one.
Salmon Season in Washington: the full rules, the sizes and why this state is different →
Read on 2026-09-14 from Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife. Legal dates were read on the agency’s own page on the date shown beside each entry. Seasons change: the agency link is always the last word.
What the water is doing while the season is open
This is the part an agency page will not tell you. The temperature row above is the seasonal curve we use for the 11 of 24 Washington waters we track on a steelhead river profile, and it is why an opening date and a fishable date are not the same thing. A season that opens while the water is still in the forties is a legal invitation, not a biological one: the fish are there, they are just not eating on your schedule yet. Cross the legal band against the activity row before you book the day off.
Where to fish it
We publish a daily report for 24 Washington waters, each with live flow or tide and today's conditions.
- Banks Lake — Grant County
- Cowlitz River — Cowlitz County
- Yakima River — Benton County
- Westport — Grays Harbor County
- Drano Lake — Skamania County
- Grande Ronde River — Asotin County
- Skagit River — Skagit County
- Rufus Woods Lake — Douglas County
- Potholes Reservoir — Grant County
- Kalama River — Cowlitz County
The licence is a separate question
An open season is not permission to fish. Washington requires a licence from age 16, and residents pay from $39.95 against $115.85 for visitors. What a Washington licence costs and where to buy it →
Questions
When does fishing season open in Washington?
It depends on the species: crab set each year by the agency; crab open all year; salmon set each year by the agency. Every date on this page was read off WDFW on 2026-09-14.
Do I need a licence to fish in Washington?
Yes. Washington requires a fishing licence from age 16, from $39.95 for residents. A season being open is not permission to fish: the licence is separate and so are the size and bag limits.
Are these Washington dates going to change?
Some of them, and the page says which. Dates written as a rule in the regulations are calculated here for 2026, so they follow the rule rather than going stale. Dates the agency sets each year are shown as exactly that, with no calendar band, because inventing one would be worse than leaving it empty.