Washington salmon seasons are negotiated, not scheduled. They are set each spring through the North of Falcon process against that year’s run forecasts, and they change in-season when a run comes in under forecast.
The dates
There is no published date to give you, and the calendar below says so rather than filling itself in. That is the honest state of this fishery, not a gap in our research.
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.
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.
Why Washington is different
That makes Washington salmon the clearest example on this site of a season with no date to look up in advance. Dates for a given river or marine area can differ from last year by weeks. Emergency closures happen mid-season, sometimes with a few days’ notice, because the management target is escapement — the number of fish that make it back to spawn — not a calendar.
What to actually do
The practical habit is to check the rule change notices for the specific water before every trip, not once a season. Any page, including this one, that shows you a fixed Washington salmon date is showing you an old one. We leave the calendar band on this page empty for that reason: there is nothing verified to put in it, and a green band would be a lie told in a nice colour.
The activity row in the calendar above is our own monthly curve for this species, and it is there to answer the question the dates cannot: whether the fish will be feeding when the season lets you fish. How chinook salmon behave through the year is a separate page, about the fish rather than the paperwork.
Where to fish it
We publish a daily report for 24 Washington waters, each with live flow or tide.
- 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
An open season is not permission to fish: Washington requires a licence from age 16, from $39.95 for residents. What it costs and where to buy it →
Questions
When does salmon season open in Washington?
There is no fixed date. Seasons are set each spring through the North of Falcon process against that year’s run forecasts, and they vary by river and marine area.
Why do Washington salmon seasons close early?
Because they are managed to an escapement target rather than a calendar. If a run comes in below forecast, WDFW closes the fishery in-season to protect the fish that are left.
Checked by Pablo Ruiz Quintero. Dates move: tell us if this one has and the correction goes in the verification log with the date.