The Pacific Northwest: An Angler's Dream Destination

When I think about dream fishing vacation spots, I think the likes of Alaska, Cabo San Lucas, and Mexico. However, if a person told me I had to spend the rest of my life fishing only one area, I would be hard-pressed to leave the Pacific Northwest. As a lifetime resident of Washington State, I am sure that I, like other local anglers, sometimes take the opportunities that surround me here for granted. For the most part, I think the Washington and Oregon coast fails to attract too much attention because it lacks a world-class fishery like the King Salmon on the Kenai River in Alaska, or the massive billfish and sailfish off the shores of Mexico. However, what the Northwest lacks in quality, it makes up in quantity- that is, it offers a wider array of fishing opportunities than perhaps any other locale.

If an angler made a well timed visit to the coast of Oregon or Washington, there would be enough different fishing choices to probably spend two to three weeks fishing, doing something considerably different every day. Although the two states offer productive fishing for some species year-round, it is hard to beat April through September when it comes to quality, and quantity of fish. If you narrow it down to say, late July there is literally a fishing experience available for a person of every preference.

Salmon, steelhead, and sturgeon are probably the three most targeted species of fish in the Pacific Northwest. July offers anglers a shot at the run of Summer Chinook that travel up the Columbia River starting in June and running through mid-summer. They are a strain of fish that run mostly between 15 and 40 pounds, the second largest strain of Chinook that enter the Columbia. They are so large and aggressive that they are called June Hogs by many, a term that was originally coined for an even larger strain of summer fish that was obliterated by the early installations of dams on the river system. Most people find a day on the boat in 80 degree weather with great possibilities of landing multiple salmon over 30 pounds a nice proposition.