Apologies for this post being long winded.
We are a week out from the MA 9 opener, so I wanted to get this posted.
Comments, suggestions and criticisms are welcome.
Please feel free to share this on other forums or groups prior to the 7/17 opener.
Attention: MA 9 Beach Anglers
In 2024, a WDFW regulation change in MA 9 only allowed coho fishing on days that chinook fishing was open. In years past, you could fish for coho and pinks on non-chinook days.
The end result of that regulation change is as follows.
2023 – We had 19 days of July Coho and Pink Fishing in MA 9.
2024 – We had 3 days of Coho fishing in MA 9 out of a potential 14 days.
2025 – We currently have only 3 days of Coho and Pink fishing scheduled (7/17 to 7/19) in MA 9 out of a potential 15 days unless additional chinook days are added.
2026 – We have the potential for 16 days of July Coho fishing in MA 9 provided the opener is on 7/16.
I would like to change this but will need your help.
Here is my ask.
Please fill out a Voluntary Trip Report form after each MA 9 beach trip this summer. The form can be found online using the link below. Please submit a report even if you don’t catch anything.
https://wdfw.wa.gov/licenses/fishing/trip-reporting
This is very important. In the area on the form that asks for your name, please put Beach Angler followed by your name.
Example - Beach Angler / John Doe
I have attached a photo example of what the Voluntary Trip Report looks like on WDFW’s website.
With your help, my goal is to have beach angling for coho, and pinks open in MA 9 on non-chinook days in future seasons.
Since beach creel checks have become rather uncommon these days, WDFW and the co-managers want data regarding chinook impacts from beach fisheries. We know chinook impacts from the beach are not zero, but they are extremely low based on my beach fishing experience.
In my lifetime, MA 9 has gone from being open year-round to two months and three days, which is our season this year. Hopefully, the data we gather can prove this and we can get back our July MA 9 opportunity in the future. This is also not a new fishery. We had this fishery for years prior to 2024.
Some people I have spoken with have expressed concern that WDFW will use data from these trip reports against us.
I understand their concerns but other than outright closures can our fishing opportunities really be reduced much more than they currently are? We have lost all of October and now most of July.
As we have learned in other fisheries, closing things is easy, getting them back open again is not.
I originally proposed this to the advisory group as both a boat and beach fishery, but with chinook encounters being a concern the boat option is not likely, so I would like to focus on beach only fishing in July on non-chinook days.
Beach only fishing is not a new concept. It has been used as a management tool in both MA 9 and MA 11 in the past. This would have been a perfect year to have this regulation change with a forecast of 700k+ coho and nearly 8 million pinks. MA 9 has had excellent July resident coho fishing in past years plus the early portion of the pink run, yet we will only get three July days as of now.
Rather than turning this into a WDFW bashing, I would prefer to see what we can accomplish as an angling community by using citizen science to collect data via the voluntary trip reports to gain more opportunity. If you need to bash anyone, feel free to bash me.
I cannot promise I can get this done or that it will be easy, but I will work hard and continue my efforts to do so. I appreciate any help you can provide.
For full transparency, I am a member of the WDFW Puget Sound Sport Fishing Advisory Group.
Thanks,
Brian Stone
We are a week out from the MA 9 opener, so I wanted to get this posted.
Comments, suggestions and criticisms are welcome.
Please feel free to share this on other forums or groups prior to the 7/17 opener.
Attention: MA 9 Beach Anglers
In 2024, a WDFW regulation change in MA 9 only allowed coho fishing on days that chinook fishing was open. In years past, you could fish for coho and pinks on non-chinook days.
The end result of that regulation change is as follows.
2023 – We had 19 days of July Coho and Pink Fishing in MA 9.
2024 – We had 3 days of Coho fishing in MA 9 out of a potential 14 days.
2025 – We currently have only 3 days of Coho and Pink fishing scheduled (7/17 to 7/19) in MA 9 out of a potential 15 days unless additional chinook days are added.
2026 – We have the potential for 16 days of July Coho fishing in MA 9 provided the opener is on 7/16.
I would like to change this but will need your help.
Here is my ask.
Please fill out a Voluntary Trip Report form after each MA 9 beach trip this summer. The form can be found online using the link below. Please submit a report even if you don’t catch anything.
https://wdfw.wa.gov/licenses/fishing/trip-reporting
This is very important. In the area on the form that asks for your name, please put Beach Angler followed by your name.
Example - Beach Angler / John Doe
I have attached a photo example of what the Voluntary Trip Report looks like on WDFW’s website.
With your help, my goal is to have beach angling for coho, and pinks open in MA 9 on non-chinook days in future seasons.
Since beach creel checks have become rather uncommon these days, WDFW and the co-managers want data regarding chinook impacts from beach fisheries. We know chinook impacts from the beach are not zero, but they are extremely low based on my beach fishing experience.
In my lifetime, MA 9 has gone from being open year-round to two months and three days, which is our season this year. Hopefully, the data we gather can prove this and we can get back our July MA 9 opportunity in the future. This is also not a new fishery. We had this fishery for years prior to 2024.
Some people I have spoken with have expressed concern that WDFW will use data from these trip reports against us.
I understand their concerns but other than outright closures can our fishing opportunities really be reduced much more than they currently are? We have lost all of October and now most of July.
As we have learned in other fisheries, closing things is easy, getting them back open again is not.
I originally proposed this to the advisory group as both a boat and beach fishery, but with chinook encounters being a concern the boat option is not likely, so I would like to focus on beach only fishing in July on non-chinook days.
Beach only fishing is not a new concept. It has been used as a management tool in both MA 9 and MA 11 in the past. This would have been a perfect year to have this regulation change with a forecast of 700k+ coho and nearly 8 million pinks. MA 9 has had excellent July resident coho fishing in past years plus the early portion of the pink run, yet we will only get three July days as of now.
Rather than turning this into a WDFW bashing, I would prefer to see what we can accomplish as an angling community by using citizen science to collect data via the voluntary trip reports to gain more opportunity. If you need to bash anyone, feel free to bash me.
I cannot promise I can get this done or that it will be easy, but I will work hard and continue my efforts to do so. I appreciate any help you can provide.
For full transparency, I am a member of the WDFW Puget Sound Sport Fishing Advisory Group.
Thanks,
Brian Stone
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