Willapa gillnetters cap successful season; chum mount strong recovery

By Luke Whittaker Chinook Observer • November 24, 2025 1:30 am
Chinook Observer Commercial fisherman Caleb Sheaffer holds a chum for a photo during an offload at the Port of Peninsula in October. Nearly 85,000 chum were landed by commercial gillnetters last month, the most since 2020. Nearly 85,000 chum landed in October, highest since 2020.
Chinook Observer Commercial fisherman Caleb Sheaffer holds a chum for a photo during an offload at the Port of Peninsula in October. Nearly 85,000 chum were landed by commercial gillnetters last month, the most since 2020. Nearly 85,000 chum landed in October, highest since 2020.

Willapa Bay gillnetters have hauled in their nets for the season, capping one of the most fruitful falls of fishing in years.

The 2025 Willapa Bay salmon gillnet season began Aug. 13 with solid Chinook landings spread over seven allotted fishing days — 4,498, the most since 2020.

In early September, coho landings rose with openers between Sept. 14- 27, when roughly 70% of the nearly 42,000 coho were caught, second highest since 2020.

Chum then took center stage starting in mid-October. Between Oct. 12-18, more than 17,000 chum were landed. The hot fishing reached an apex the final two weeks of October, when more than 66,500 chum were caught between Oct. 12 and Nov. 1, totaling 84,898 for the season, the highest total for Willapa Bay since at least 2020, according to figures from WDFW.

Strong chum returns are a positive sign after years when the species has struggled. Low numbers have been partly blamed on WDFW’s historic efforts to suppress chum in favor of more commercially valuable species. That policy has been abandoned.

The significant chum landings this year come after a similarly strong 2024 season, when 65,057 were caught by gillnetters within Willapa Bay, totaling nearly 150,000 over the past two years, in comparison to around 30,000 combined in the four seasons prior.