Yule tides, Christmas bites light up the holidays for those seeking to get outdoors
Get your shopping and decorating done and head to these Washington fisheries for plenty of December fun
Story originally published in the Northwest Sportsman Magazine December issue
Whether you believe in Santa Claus or not, there’s no doubt a number of us have played the part as one of his helpers for friends and family members.
To help all of Santa’s helpers out there, here’s my December “fishy wish list” that’ll have you “fa-la-la-la-ing” to many waterways in Western Washington and across the Cascade Mountains in Eastern Washington.
South Puget Sound sea-run cutthroat trout
All the bays, inlets, estuaries and beaches of Puget Sound are home to some quality catch-and-release sea-run cutthroat trout fishing. These fish are usually a short cast from shore during a soft incoming or outgoing tide or at slack water, when small baitfish and other forage tend to congregate. Avoid a strong tidal exchange, which tends to scatter fish and bait.
Look for rocky beaches with larger baseball- and softball-sized gravel at depths of 15 to 20 feet. The top fly choices are a marabou Clouser Minnow and Muddler, but poppers and floating baitfish patterns can be effective. For hardware stick with a small spoon weighing a 1/4 to 1/8 ounce and/or spinners in a size two or three. Dark colors are good on sunny days or clear water conditions, while brighter colors fished in cloudy water or around covered areas work well.
Keep in mind barbless hooks are the rule for all marine recreational fishing in Puget Sound. And don’t be surprised if you hook into a feisty resident coho, which also inhabit many parts of Puget Sound.
Coastal razor clam digging
The 2025–2026 razor clam season started off on a high note back in October with many daily limits at Long Beach, Twin Harbors, Copalis and Mocrocks. The next approved digs are Dec. 2–8 with more tentative digs planned on Dec. 18–23 and Dec. 31-Jan. 6, 2026. Additional tentative digs are likely in January and February of 2026, and the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW) will announce details on specific dates later this month.
Digging is allowed from 12 p.m. to midnight only. Not all beaches are open for every dig, so be sure to check the schedule. Diggers should also keep tabs on winter weather and surf conditions. Final approval usually occurs about a week before the start of each dig series. Before heading out, refer to the WDFW razor clam webpage.
Salmon, steelhead and trout river fishing
Despite bone-chilling temperatures and the unpredictability of flooding in the late fall and winter, there are options to catch a fish. While some rivers have closed for salmon as of Nov. 30, there are several on the coast that remain open and anglers can refer to the WDFW regulation pamphlet webpage for current information.
The upper Skykomish River and its Reiter Ponds stretch are worth a try for early hatchery winter steelhead as well as a few other rivers open in the Puget Sound region. Tokul Creek is open for hatchery steelhead from mouth to the posted boundary marker downstream of the diversion dam, including upstream of the Fish Hatchery Road Bridge, now through Feb. 15; fishing is closed daily from 5 p.m. to 7 a.m. The Cowlitz River is a popular fishery for late-arriving hatchery coho and hatchery steelhead. The Skagit and Cascade rivers are now closed after coho catch guidelines have been achieved. Check the WDFW website for closure dates and emergency closures, plus what fish species you can or can’t keep.
In Eastern Washington, spring creeks such as Rocky Ford and Crab Creek can provide excellent winter trout fishing. The Yakima River can also fish well for trout during warm snaps and later in winter.
Coastal winter steelhead seasons were recently announced and fishing for early returning hatchery fish typically builds between Christmas and New Year’s Day. Anglers should check the WDFW emergency fishing rules webpage for updates on what rivers and stream are open or closed. Steelhead survival rates have declined in coastal rivers, and many populations are falling under spawning escapement goals in recent years. Preliminary information from 2024–2025 steelhead returns indicate most coastal areas are below spawning escapement goals. WDFW fishery managers will aim to provide meaningful fisheries when allowed while focusing efforts on wild steelhead conservation.
Lake whitefish in Banks Lake
Lake whitefish don’t get the respect they deserve, but once you hook into these feisty fighters, it’ll be a game changer. Plus, they’re abundant, taste great, have moderately firm, flaky meat like a salmon and are packed with omega-3 fatty acids.
The current state record, a 7.86-pound fish caught in winter 2022–23, came from Lake Roosevelt, where an even bigger 9.5-pounder was also sampled by WDFW, but Banks Lake is a more popular fishery for the species. This large, 27-mile-long reservoir, which stretches along Highway 155 between Coulee City on the south end and Electric City on the north, has about 91 miles of shore access, mainly on the eastern side across from North Dam Park and the dike at the Coulee City Marina. When fishing from a boat head to the red buoys near the marina and along the riprap. Lake whitefish average 18 to 24 inches with some up to 31 inches.
A lightweight six-foot rod with a spinning reel works well and a sensitive tip makes it easier to detect their very light bite. From the shore, use an oval slip sinker on four- to eight-pound-test mainline tied to a barrel swivel with a foot-and-a-half fluorocarbon leader tied to a size eight or 10 hook.
Lake whitefish have a small mouth, so match your bait or lure to that size. Their diet includes snails, clams, small fish and fish eggs. Thread a small piece of cocktail shrimp or a maggot to a hook and leave just the tip exposed, as their bite is subtle.
The best lures are a spoons or spinners or a blade bait. Tip your hook with a single red salmon egg. Jigging spoons, a cocktail shrimp or maggot can be effective when suspended at the proper depth. You can also cast and slowly retrieve small jigs and spoons (resembling a forage minnow) just off the bottom.
The daily limit is 15 lake whitefish per angler with no minimum size limit. Banks Lake also has black crappie, bluegill, burbot, common carp, kokanee, largemouth and smallmouth bass, rainbow trout, steelhead, walleye and yellow perch.
Puget Sound winter crabbing
Don’t be crabby and just be happy for the productive crabbing happening right now in many marine areas of Puget Sound. While participation is much lower than summer fisheries, it can be equally good if not better from a success standpoint.
WDFW issued 33,743 Puget Sound winter catch record cards in 2024 with 134,075 crabs retained for a total of 241,336 pounds; and 32,975 catch record cards were issued in 2023 with 131,769 crabs retained for a total of 237,184 pounds. Both years showed winter crabbers averaged 3.9 crabs per person. The five-year average revealed 33,584 winter catch record cards issued with 120,516 crabs retained (3.5 crabs per person) for a total of 216,930 pounds.
Marine Areas 4, 5, 6, 7, 8–1, 8–2, 9, 10 and 12 north of Ayock Point are open daily through December 31. Setting or pulling traps from a vessel is only allowed from one hour before official sunrise through one hour after official sunset.
The daily limit in Puget Sound is five Dungeness crabs, males only, in hard-shell condition with a minimum carapace width of 61/4 inches. Crabbers may also keep six red rock crabs of either sex per day with a minimum carapace width of 5 inches, and six Tanner crabs of either sex with a minimum carapace of 4 1/2 inches. Coastal areas are also open year-round for crab fishing.
WDFW is also asking Puget Sound crabbers to be on the lookout for hundreds of tagged Dungeness crabs in Areas 9 and 10. Each tagged crab features a thin green, wirelike marking device known as a “floy tag” measuring 2 inches long. Crabbers who catch a tagged crab are asked to call the phone number on the tag and leave a voicemail or provide a text message.
This past April, the Swinomish Tribe also conducted a similar crab tagging study in Area 8–1, where hundreds of crabs with a blue-colored tag were released in Similk Bay. Read more on crab tagging in the WDFW blog post.
Other stocking stuffer opportunities
· Rufus Woods triploid rainbow trout: One of the most consistent winter rainbow trout fisheries is located on the Upper Columbia between Chief Joseph and Grand Coulee Dams, where a decent number of fish average two to six pounds with a few hitting the beefy 20-plus-pound category. The Colville Confederated Tribes, in cooperation with the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife, produce and annually release tens of thousands of hatchery-raised rainbows from three net pen facilities. Most anglers target the waters near the pens.
· Eastside burbot: Burbot are a long-lived and fine-tasting, white-fleshed fish that average two to eight pounds. Eastside lakes to fish for burbot include Banks in Grant County; Bead and Sullivan in Pend Oreille County; Chelan in Chelan County; Cle Elum, Kachess and Keechelus in Kittitas County; Roosevelt in Stevens, Ferry, Lincoln, Grant and Okanogan Counties; Osoyoos and Palmer in Okanogan County; and Rufus Woods Reservoir in Douglas and Okanogan Counties.
Best lures are soft plastic baits on a weighted jighead tipped with a piece of nightcrawler or a little chunk of fish. Crayfish meat is another good bait option. A medium-weight trout-style fishing rod and spinning reel with braided line is the preferred setup. The daily limit for burbot is five with no size limit restriction.
· Deep South Puget Sound winter Chinook: In Marine Area 13 (South Puget Sound south of the Tacoma Narrows Bridge), success for hatchery Chinook is mainly centered on tidal movements, location and where the baitfish (herring and anchovy schools) are mostly congregated. Head to Point Gibson near the Big Rock off Fox Island’s southeastern side, Point Fosdick, Anderson Island, Fox Point, the “concrete” public fishing pier on the east side of Fox Island, Lyle Point, Budd Inlet, Devils Head and Johnson Point. There are also several piers throughout Puget Sound that are open year-round for salmon fishing.
· Rainbow trout at year-round lakes: Late last month, WDFW planted 29 lakes and ponds across the Puget Sound region, Southwest Washington and Eastern Washington with 64,350 jumbo-sized rainbow trout, averaging one to two pounds apiece.
Planted lakes include Roses in Chelan County; Battleground and Klineline in Clark County; Kress in Cowlitz County; Leland in Jefferson County; Cranberry in Island County; Alice, Beaver and Green in King County; Rowland in Klickitat County; Fort Borst Park Pond and South Lewis County Park Pond in Lewis County; Cases Pond in Pacific County; American and Tanwax in Pierce County; Ballinger, Blackmans, Gissburg Ponds, Silver and Tye in Snohomish County; Black, Long and Offutt in Thurston County; and I-82 Pond №4 in Yakima County.
The four far Eastern Washington lakes are Hatch and Williams in Stevens County; Fourth of July Lake in Adams and Lincoln Counties; and Hog Canyon in Spokane County. Read more on trout fishing in the WDFW blog post.
Use a lightweight, limber rod with a medium-sized spinning reel. For bait stick with the soft, moldable dough baits or worms, maggots, salmon eggs and scented marshmallows. Small spinners, jigs and spoons also catch their fair share of fish.
WDFW has stocked 230,000 trout in 67 lakes statewide this fall, but not every lake is open year-round. In Washington, some lakes close at the end of October, and some open every year on the day after Thanksgiving, providing lots of fishing opportunity. Don’t forget to check the WDFW regulations webpage or the FishWashington mobile app to confirm the lake you plan to fish is legally open. Information generated by artificial intelligence “AI” can be outdated or incorrect.
· Squid jigging in Puget Sound: The first signs of a decent season began a couple months ago when migrating squid — referred to as “market squid” and measuring four to 12 inches — began to show up around the inland sea’s many fishing piers. Squid tend to feed mainly at night and are attracted to lighted piers, but when abundant it isn’t uncommon to catch them during daylight hours. Look for squid along the many public piers from Mukilteo south to Edmonds, Elliott Bay to Des Moines, and the Tacoma area. Be mobile, and if squid aren’t abundant in one place, pack it up and move to another pier.
Fishing gear consists of a trout-style rod and reel, a handful of glow jigs, a bucket for your catch and warm, waterproof clothing. For tips, advice and even how to cook squid, refer to the WDFW squid webpage.
(Editor’s note: Mark Yuasa is a Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife communications manager and longtime local fishing and outdoor writer.)
