Guide
Ocean fishing seasons, explained
Checked September 16, 2026 against the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife and NOAA Fisheries.
The fishing tile on the board says whether Chinook, coho, halibut and bottomfish are open in the ocean off your town, worked out from the season the Department of Fish and Wildlife set and every rule since, and it says CHECK when it cannot be sure. This page explains where each rule is actually published, how to read one yourself, and which Marine Area your town fishes, from Moclips to the Columbia.
The pamphlet is not the last word. In the department’s own words: “Rules found in the Sport Fishing Rules pamphlet are in effect unless otherwise noted” in its emergency rules. Ocean salmon and halibut are fished against quotas and guidelines, and a season printed in June can be closed, reopened and closed again by September. Read the newest emergency rule for your Marine Area on the day you go.
Three fisheries, three clocks
| Fishery | How often it changes | Where the department says so |
|---|---|---|
| Ocean salmon | Week to week in season. | The emergency fishing and shellfishing rules, one rule per change, each naming its Marine Area. The tile reads these. |
| Pacific halibut | A season set for the year in each area, which “may close before September 30 if the quota is taken.” | The halibut pages for the Columbia River (Marine Area 1) and the South Coast (Marine Area 2), with changes posted as emergency rules. The tile reads those too. |
| Bottomfish rockfish, lingcod, cabezon, flatfish | Set for the year, and seldom changed during it. | The same two pages, and any rule the department posts. The tile reads the season from them; the year’s rules are below. |
What OPEN, CLOSED and CHECK mean on the tile
- OPEN and CLOSED are worked out, not copied. They start from the season the department set for the year and apply every emergency rule since, on the dates each one gives, and each one links to where it came from. Halibut and hatchery coho always add “or until the quota is caught”.
- CHECK means the board could not be sure. A rule worded in a way it has not seen before, part of an area closed while the rest is open (a nearshore closure, for example), a year whose seasons nobody has read yet, or the department’s list not read for six hours. A Willapa Bay town whose two Marine Areas disagree also says CHECK. It is never a guess in either direction. Read the rule it links to.
- The word is our reading. The rule is the department’s, and it is the rule you are held to.
How to read an emergency rule
Each rule is laid out in labelled parts, and they are worth reading in order:
- Action says what changed, in one line: “Closes Chinook retention and possession onboard a vessel.”
- Effective date says when. It is not the date the rule was posted; the Marine Area 2 Chinook closure was posted August 17, 2026 and took effect August 22.
- Location says which water. A rule can carve out part of an area: the September 1 rule for Marine Area 1 set different days for a nearshore closure area “within approximately 3 miles of shore” than for the rest of the area.
- Rules gives the limits that apply while it is in force.
- Additional information is not small print. Under it, this year’s Marine Area 2 rules also opened “Grays Harbor Control Zone and that portion of Grays Harbor (Area 2-2) west of the Buoy 13 line” under the same rules as Area 2.
Search for the whole name. “Area 1” also finds Marine Areas 10, 11, 12 and 13, which are inside Puget Sound and Hood Canal. The tile matches “Marine Area 1” and “Marine Area 2” as whole names for the same reason.
Why the tile remembers old rules
The department’s list “shows all emergency rules currently in effect.” When a rule expires, it leaves the list, and with it the record of what changed. So the tile keeps this year’s rules for your area once it has seen them, and marks any that are “no longer on WDFW’s list.” Those are history, not rules. To see what was in force on a past date, the department has an advanced search on the same page.
Which Marine Area your town fishes
| Marine Area | The department’s description | Towns on the board |
|---|---|---|
| Marine Area 1 Ilwaco | “from Buoy 10 at the Columbia River mouth north to Leadbetter Point at the north end of Long Beach,” and in the ocean south to the state line | Chinook, Ilwaco, Seaview, Long Beach, Ocean Park |
| Marine Area 2 Westport–Ocean Shores | “from Leadbetter Point at the north end of Long Beach north to the Queets River” | North Cove, Tokeland, Grayland, Westport, Cosmopolis, Aberdeen, Hoquiam, Ocean Shores, Ocean City, Copalis Beach, Pacific Beach, Moclips |
| Both | Willapa Bay reaches the ocean over the Willapa bar, in Marine Area 2; the peninsula’s ocean shore south of Leadbetter Point is Marine Area 1. | Nahcotta, Oysterville, Bay Center, South Bend, Raymond, Naselle |
The tile is about the ocean. Willapa Bay (Marine Area 2-1), Grays Harbor (Marine Area 2-2) and the Columbia River inside Buoy 10 have seasons of their own, which are not on the tile. A town on the harbor or the bay is shown the ocean area its boats run to.
Halibut
Marine Areas 1 and 2 each have their own halibut season and quota. In both, the department’s pages say there is “a one-fish daily catch limit and no minimum size restriction,” “a six fish annual bag limit,” and that anglers must record their catch on a WDFW catch record card. The dates are set for the year but close early when the quota is taken, so the tile shows the newest halibut rule for your area rather than a date of ours.
NOAA Fisheries runs a Pacific halibut hotline, 800-662-9825, for in-season actions.
Bottomfish in 2026, as the department published it
These are the 2026 rules from the Columbia River and South Coast pages, which say the same for both Marine Areas except where noted. They are this year’s and will be replaced by next year’s. They are here because they seldom move during a year; the pages themselves are still the rule.
| What | The 2026 rule |
|---|---|
| Season | “The second Saturday in March through the third Saturday in October, which is March 14 through October 17, 2026.” |
| All bottomfish | 9 a day in all, within the limits below. On top of the 9, in the department’s words, “five additional flatfish species (excluding Pacific halibut) can be retained.” |
| Rockfish | 7 a day, no minimum size. No more than 5 canary rockfish. Yelloweye may not be kept. Copper, quillback and vermilion rockfish may not be possessed in May, June and July. |
| Lingcod | 2 a day, no minimum size. Where lingcod may be taken depends on depth, month and Marine Area; the restrictions are on each area’s page. |
| Cabezon | 1 a day, no minimum size. |
Crab is on the shellfish tile
Whether crab and clams are safe to eat is the Department of Health’s reading, and it is on the board’s shellfish tile. The shellfish guide explains why a safe beach and an open season are two different permissions.
Before you go
- Read the newest emergency rule for your Marine Area on the day, all the way to Additional information.
- For halibut, check your area’s halibut page and the newest halibut rule, or call the NOAA Fisheries hotline, 800-662-9825.
- For bottomfish, read the lingcod restrictions for your area before you fish deep.
- Before crossing a bar, check the bar report; the bar guide explains what it means.
Sources
- Department of Fish and Wildlife, emergency fishing and shellfishing rules — the pamphlet sentence, the list of rules in effect, and the 2026 Marine Area 1 and 2 rules quoted here
- Department of Fish and Wildlife, Columbia River halibut and bottomfish — Marine Area 1’s halibut limits and 2026 bottomfish rules
- Department of Fish and Wildlife, South Coast halibut and bottomfish — Marine Area 2’s
- Marine Area 1 – Ilwaco and Marine Area 2 – Westport-Ocean Shores — the area descriptions
- NOAA Fisheries Pacific halibut hotline, 800-662-9825