Updated: September 7, 2023
Removed previous landing and possession limits.
COMMERCIAL TROLL
Summer Fishery
Washington catch areas 1, 2, 3 and 4 will open for all salmon species fishery beginning July 1. The fishery will be open seven days per week and will close the earliest of September 30 or attainment of the quota of 13,000 Chinook or 30,400 marked coho. All salmon are legal except no chum retention north of Cape Alava beginning August 1. The minimum size limit for Chinook is 27 inches and the minimum size limit for coho is 16 inches. Gear is restricted to all legal troll gear with single point, single shank barbless hooks only. Vessels must land and deliver their fish within 24 hours of any closure of this fishery.
Landing and Possession Limits
Effective 12:01 AM Thursday, September 7:
Landing and possession limit for the entire area between Cape Falcon and the U.S./Canada border of 15 Chinook and 100 coho per vessel per landing week, defined as Thursday through Wednesday. Both marked and unmarked coho may be retained.
Please be aware that landing and possession limits may be added or modified in-season.
Salmon Troll Yelloweye Rockfish Conservation Area, Cape Flattery, and Columbia Control Zones are closed.
Vessels in possession of salmon north or south of the Queets River may not cross the Queets River line without first notifying WDFW by phone at (360) 249-1215 or by email at Danielle.Williams@dfw.wa.gov with boat name, area fished, total Chinook, coho, and halibut catch on board, and destination.
Vessels fishing, or in possession of salmon north of Leadbetter Point must land and deliver all species of fish in a Washington port and must possess a Washington troll and/or salmon delivery license. Vessels may not land fish east of the Sekiu River or east of Tongue Point, Oregon. For delivery to Washington ports south of Leadbetter Point, vessels must notify WDFW at (360) 249-1215 or by email at Danielle.Williams@dfw.wa.gov prior to crossing the Leadbetter Point line with area fished, total Chinook, coho, and halibut catch aboard, and destination with approximate time of delivery. During any single trip, only one side of the Leadbetter Point line may be fished.
Vessels fishing or in possession of salmon while fishing south of Leadbetter Point must land and deliver their fish within the area and south of Leadbetter Point.
Halibut
The operator of a vessel that has been issued an incidental halibut harvest license may retain Pacific halibut caught incidentally in area 2A during authorized periods while trolling for salmon. License holders may land no more than 1 halibut per each 2 Chinook, except 1 halibut may be landed without meeting the ratio requirement. No more than 35 halibut may be landed per trip. Halibut minimum size limit is 32 inches total length with head on. In-season action may be taken to avoid exceeding the commercial halibut allocation.
The Washington State Quick Reporting System will be in effect throughout the 2022 commercial troll fishery. All wholesale dealers or trollers retailing their fish will be required to report their landing by 10:00 AM the day following delivery. Reports can be made by email at trollfishtickets@dfw.wa.gov, by faxing to (360) 902-2949, or by calling (866) 791-1279. Please report dealer name and license number, the date of landing, the fish ticket number, the gear, the area fished, the number of days fished, the number of fish by species and the total weight by species including halibut.
Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife is engaged in rule-making to explore modification of the Quick Reporting rules to require additional information for Puget Sound Commercial and Coastal Troll salmon fisheries. At the time of this letter, the rule-making process is at the proposal stage. Additional information, including means to provide public comment, can be found at: https://wdfw.wa.gov/about/regulations/development/quick-reporting-vessel-information. The modification, should it be approved, is not anticipated to go into effect until sometime during the July-September fishery. Any commercial troll fishery participants can voluntarily assist in improving fishery management in advance of the rule-making process concluding by providing a vessel name and/or vessel ID when completing a Quick Report, in addition to the Washington State Quick Reporting System requirements currently in place.
Commercial troll fisheries are managed on a quota. Open days, landing and possession limits, or any other regulation could change at any time. The fisheries hotline is also available by calling (360) 902-2500.