ILWACO — Sport anglers will have their first opportunity to catch salmon off Washington’s southern coast from Ilwaco (Marine Area 1) on June 25.

Fish managers expect a decent forecast of nearly 1.2 million coho, which is near the actual return of more than 1.1 million in 2021, and around 485,000 fall Chinook, up from the actual return of 481,300 in 2021.

“We have strong coho forecasts for the Columbia River and coastal Washington and a large coho quota that reflects that,” said Kyle Adicks, intergovernmental salmon manager with the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife. “We had to delay opening dates a little to protect Chinook stocks, particularly Lower Columbia tules.”

WDFW will be monitoring catches in each area and making adjustments to seasons as needed to stay within quotas.

The coastwide sport catch quota is 168,000 hatchery coho and represents a significant increase over last year’s initial quota of 70,000. This season’s Chinook quota of 27,000 is nearly identical to the 27,250 quota in 2021.

Season details for Ilwaco:

Open daily from June 25 through Sept. 30: Daily limit 2, no more than 1 of which may be a Chinook. Chinook minimum size 22”. Hatchery coho minimum size 16”. Other salmon species no minimum size. Release wild coho.

Columbia River Control Zone is closed to fishing for salmon, except open to fishing from the north jetty when adjacent waters north of the Control Zone are open to fishing for salmon or the Buoy 10 fishery is open to fishing from salmon. The Chinook guideline in Area 1 is 7,700 (7,200 in 2021) and the Area 1 coho quota is 84,000 (42,400 in 2021).