The Salmon Fishing Current blog: North of Falcon 2025 edition
Washington salmon season setting is complex fishery management, and the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW) fishery managers work to inform the public during the annual process.
For the second year, WDFW has created The Salmon Fishing Current blog. This blog is a way to provide regular updates of the ongoing developments during the upcoming 2025–26 salmon season setting process, known as North of Falcon. The name refers to waters north of Oregon’s Cape Falcon, which is the farthest south that Washington manages salmon stocks. This area includes freshwater and coastal areas of the Puget Sound, Strait of Juan de Fuca, and Columbia River.
Additionally, the blog keeps anglers informed of any in-season fishing rule changes, emergency closures or other related developments in Puget Sound, the coast, and Columbia River.
WDFW will host more than a dozen in-person and hybrid North of Falcon meetings in spring 2025 to develop the annual salmon fishing seasons. A full timeline of the process, including a public meeting schedule with opportunities to participate and provide public feedback is available on WDFW’s North of Falcon webpage.
WDFW listens closely to the input of anglers statewide and attempts to find solutions that best serve the wide array of interested participants. WDFW also strives to meet conservation goals to aid the recovery of salmon and steelhead, including constraints under the federal Endangered Species Act.
WDFW works together with tribal co-managers to equitably divide the share of harvestable salmon, both during North of Falcon and ongoing management throughout the year.
Visit our new North of Falcon overview page for helpful information about meetings, a glossary of key terms, and suggested resources.
Feb. 11, 2025 — WDFW invites public participation in annual salmon season-setting process
The 2025–26 Washington salmon season setting process kicks off on Friday, Feb. 28 when WDFW fishery managers have scheduled opportunities for the public to participate in a hybrid statewide forecast meeting in Olympia.
WDFW will present initial salmon forecasts developed by WDFW and tribal co-manager fisheries biologists on Feb. 28 from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the Office Building 2 Auditorium, 1115 Washington Street S.E. in Olympia. The main session of the Feb. 28 meeting will be available to watch via Zoom webinar. Participants must register in advance. The public can refer to the WDFW salmon forecast meeting news release for more information.
This will be followed by a Pacific Fishery Management Council (PFMC) meeting from March 6–11 in Vancouver, WA, where initial 2025 ocean fishing options will be adopted.
The first NOF public meeting to shape fisheries for inner-marine and freshwater salmon fisheries is March 19 in Olympia, and the second NOF public meeting is March 25 in Lynnwood. The final salmon seasons will be tentatively adopted when the PFMC meets from April 10–15 in San Jose, CA. A full timeline of the state’s North of Falcon process, including a public meeting schedule with opportunities to participate in meetings and provide public feedback, visit the WDFW North of Falcon webpage.
Feb. 11, 2025 — Columbia River spring Chinook fishing seasons to be announced soon
The first in a series of meetings is a hybrid joint state hearing scheduled for Wednesday, Feb. 19 at 10 a.m. where Washington and Oregon fishery managers will consider Columbia River recreational spring Chinook fisheries.
The Feb. 19 hearing will be held at the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife’s (ODFW) Clackamas office, 17330 S.E. Evelyn Street, Clackamas, OR 97015 and a teleconference call in option will be available on the Columbia River recreational fisheries webpage. The hearings are open to the public and allow for public testimony; interested individuals can sign up to receive notice of hearings.
Spring Chinook primarily enter freshwater during February through June to spawn in Columbia River tributaries during August through October. Returning adults are comprised of lower river (originating from tributaries downstream of Bonneville Dam) and upriver (originating from tributaries upstream of Bonneville Dam) stocks.
Most wild spring Chinook entering the Columbia River are listed under the federal Endangered Species Act (ESA) and return to the Snake River and Upper Columbia River tributaries.
The total spring Chinook forecast for 2025 is 217,500 up from the 2024 preseason of 205,600 and the actual return of 189,559.
In 2025, preseason forecasting anticipates a return of 122,500 adult upriver-origin spring Chinook and is 88% of the average returned observed from 2015 to 2024. Approximately 116,332 adult aged upriver-origin spring Chinook returned to the Columbia River in 2024, which was less than the preseason forecast of 121,000.
You can find all the early Columbia River spring and summer salmon forecasts by going to the WDFW website.
Under the current permanent WDFW regulations, the 2025 spring Chinook fishery on the Lower Columbia is open daily through March 31 from Buoy 10 to the Interstate-5 Bridge.
