Salmon Season Will Open Sept. 1

Fishing enthusiasts might now want to include a trip to north Puget Sound in their Labor Day Weekend plans.

The Strait of Juan de Fuca will open to sports salmon fishing Sept. 1 and remain open until Sept. 30 or until approximately 50,000 coho are caught, the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife has announced.

There will be a two-salmon-daily bag limit and any salmon species, except chinook, can be retained. All chinook must be released.

Department director Bern Shanks said the decision to open the season was made after Canada agreed to limit its commercial harvest of Washington-bound coho off the west coast of Vancouver Island to less than a million.

Past agreements with Canada have allowed that country’s commercial trollers to harvest up to 1.8 million.