ILWACO — Fishermen off the mouth of the Columbia River are relishing some of the finest coho fishing in years, with reports of sizable silvers filling up catch cards and early-morning limits for local charters.
“There’s been days when it’s been as red-hot as we’ve ever seen it,” said Ilwaco-based Sea Breeze Charters owner Steve Solhstrom.
“We call it a coho slam — there will be boats coming in with like 30 salmon by 9 in the morning. We had boats back as early as 8:30 one morning.”
As of Sunday, July 13 — roughly two weeks into the 2025 ocean recreational salmon season — 3,127 coho and 1,278 Chinook have been reported caught in the Columbia River marine area, representing 8% and 10% respectively of each catch quota for the 2025 season, according figures from WDFW.

Leading the state

Most notably, fishermen in Columbia River marine area have a coho catch per angler rate of (1.46), the highest rate among marine areas all along the Washington coast by a wide margin, topping Westport (.48), La Push (.15) and Neah Bay (.05).
The Columbia River area has had the highest overall salmon catch per angler for all salmon so far this season, averaging (1.65), followed by Westport (1.20), La Push (.69) and Neah Bay (.69).
The last time the local fishing grounds had a coho catch rate this high — this early— in the season was in 2019, when 5,368 coho were landed with a near-identical 1.45 catch average per angler, accounting for 7% of the quota in the opening two weeks.

Healthy salmon

Quantity aside, the size of the salmon, particularly the coho, this early in the season has been an encouraging sign of abundant bait and feeding conditions offshore.
“The size has been really promising for this early in the year, normally they’re skinnier but apparently they’ve been feeding very well,” Sohlstrom said. “They’re quite a bit more plump than normal.”
The Marine Area 1 Chinook guideline is 16,600 (12,510 in 2024) and hatchery coho quota is 49,860 (39,000 in 2024) for the 2025 season, which officially started June 25.
The 2025 Washington ocean recreational salmon season is open seven days a week until Sept. 30, unless the allotted quota is met earlier. The daily limit is two salmon, and only one may be a Chinook. Anglers must release wild coho. The Chinook minimum size is 22 inches, and the hatchery-marked coho minimum size is 16 inches. Other salmon species have no minimum size. The Columbia River Control Zone is closed to salmon fishing, except from the north jetty when adjacent waters north of the Control Zone are open to salmon fishing or the Buoy 10 fishery is open to salmon fishing, according to WDFW.