By Larry Dublanko

For the GH News Group

We are approaching a part of the fishing season which is both exciting and somewhat confusing. The excitement arises out of the fact that migrating salmon are returning to our coastal streams and anglers can seize the moment to catch a fresh fish. It can get somewhat confusing when it comes to the regulations. Different waterways will open at different time periods.

For starters, Marine Area 2-2 — which is the Grays Harbor — opened Aug. 1 and closes Sept. 15 in the Humptulips North Bay Area. The East Grays Harbor Fishery is set to open Oct. 1 and close Nov. 30. The Humptulips North Bay fishery allows for the retention of chinook and hatchery coho with a daily limit of two fish. Whereas, the East Grays Harbor fishery will require anglers to release all chinook. It will be a coho fishery, exclusively.

Marine Area 2-1 which is Willapa Bay has been open for some time now. Currently, we are in that part of the season which runs from Aug. 1 to Jan. 31. This fishery allows for a daily limit of six salmon. Up to three adults may be retained and only one may be a coho. It is also required that all wild chinook be released. A special notification should be realized in that during this time period the Willapa Central Zone is closed. Anglers will be allowed to fish the open water with two poles if they possess a two-pole endorsement.

On the river scene, the Humptulips River opened to salmon fishing Sept. 1 and will close at the end of the month. This fishery allows for six salmon of which two may be adults. The daily limit permits the retention of one wild chinook, however, all wild coho must be released. The river will re-open Oct. 1 to the regular salmon fishery which will allow for the retention of two adult fish, however, all wild adult coho must be released.

The Chehalis River is currently open for jack salmon until Sept. 15. It will re-open on Oct. 1 for adult salmon. Anglers will be permitted to retain one adult fish but all chinook must be released.

The Wynoochee River, Satsop River, Wishkah River and Hoquiam River are all scheduled to officially open to salmon fishing on Oct. 1. Each of these rivers has its own set of regulations that anglers need to be mindful about. In simple terms, Grays Harbor rivers are a hatchery coho-only fishery.

So, the occasion for excitement, is mounting with salmon fishers. There would be two elements which could dampen this enthusiasm. The first would be the lack of fish and the second would be adverse fishing conditions, To reverse these issues, it will require that we have a decent rain to bring in the fish.

As is the case for most years, anglers will direct their fishing interest to the estuary waters on lower sections of hosting rivers. These are the locations where fish will congregate awaiting enough water to move upstream.