Lower Skagit River To Open For Spring Chinook

Lower Skagit River opens May 1 to fishing for hatchery spring chinook

OLYMPIA – For the first time in nearly 30 years, anglers will get the chance to fish for spring chinook salmon in the lower Skagit River next month.

State and tribal co-managers recently agreed to move forward with this year's fishery, based on the number of wild and hatchery fish projected to return to the river, said Edward Eleazer, regional fish manager for the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW).

"We've seen a sufficient number of spring chinook returning to the Skagit River in the last several years to allow us to open this section of the river," Eleazer said. "This is essentially a new opportunity for most anglers. We hope it provides some great fishing this spring." 

The fishery will be open for hatchery spring chinook from May 1 through May 31. Anglers fishing this section will have a daily limit of two hatchery chinook, which are marked with a clipped adipose fin, but must release all other species.

The lower Skagit fishery includes the area from the Highway 536 Bridge (Memorial Highway Bridge) in Mount Vernon to Gilligan Creek.

Eleazer noted that the upper Skagit River, from the Highway 530 Bridge at Rockport to the Cascade River Road, will open June 1 to fishing for spring hatchery chinook, as will the Cascade River, from the mouth to the Rockport-Cascade Road Bridge. More details on those fisheries can be found in the 2018-19 Sport Fishing Rules Pamphlet, available online at https://wdfw.wa.gov/fishing/regulations.