FISHING
Bounties Of Red And White Out On The Blue Summer’s made for full coolers of salmon and rockfish on the Pacific out of Westport. By Jeff Holmes
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fter several years of salmon slumber due to mostly unprecedentedly bad ocean conditions coupled with blah outmigration, salmon fishing in Westport is back on the upswing. Once hyperbolically branded the Salmon Capital of the World, Westport is rounding back into form with excellent Chinook and coho fishing predicted this summer. The same oceanic and atmospheric conditions inspiring a Pacific Northwest salmon revival – a cold, enlivened ocean and storm after storm after storm – have led to fantastic summertime bottomfishing conditions out of Westport as well. The rockfish and lingcod grounds received very little pressure this spring due to the scarcity of days that boats could safely get out of port and over the bar. On those days when charter and private boats could make the trip, fishing was lights out. This lack of pressure on bottomfish and early salmon results up the coast in Alaska and on Vancouver Island point toward an awesome July in Westport, Washington’s most accessible ocean port, which is just a couple hours from Seattle and an easy drive from anywhere in the state. Families and solo anglers alike looking for bounties of red and white fish flesh can find what they’re looking for this summer
Afternoons at the dock are likely to look a lot like this again this summer, as anglers, both chartered and aboard private boats, ambush Columbia River Chinook migrating through the deep waters off of Westport. (ANGLERS EDGE SPORTFISHING) nwsportsmanmag.com | JULY 2022
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