States·WA
Washington fishing
News-desk briefs whose primary water is Washington.
WDFW reopens sport crabbing seven days a week Oct. 1–Dec. 31 in Marine Areas 4, 5, 6, 7 North, 7 South, 9, and Area 12 north of Ayock Point. Areas 10, 11, 8-1, and 8-2 stay shut for now; summer catch cards are due Oct. 1.
A Sept. 22 WDFW release says drone flights over the Quillayute system and the Hoh will start in late September 2026 to count recreational anglers and improve salmon and steelhead catch estimates.
WDFW is keeping the 2026 Northern Pikeminnow Sport-Reward Fishery open through Oct. 11 at Cathlamet, Washougal, Stevenson, The Dalles, Boyer Park, and Swallows Park. Other stations still close after Sept. 30.
No salmon fishing in Lake Washington from Sept. 16 until further notice — north of the 520 bridge, east of Montlake, and on the lower Sammamish River — after Ballard Locks counts showed a smaller-than-forecast coho return.
WDFW’s Lake Roosevelt white sturgeon retention season runs Sept. 16–Nov. 30 from Grand Coulee Dam to the Canadian border: 55–63 inches fork, daily 1, annual 2 statewide, CRC code 549, night closed.
WDFW listed 40 tentative evening razor-clam digs Oct. 9–Dec. 27 at Long Beach, Twin Harbors, Copalis, and Mocrocks. Every series still needs Department of Health marine-toxin clearance, and Kalaloch stays closed.