The best salmon season the Long Beach Peninsula has seen in a generation just lost one of its most productive pieces of water.
On Aug. 13 the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife closed the inshore portion of Marine Area 1 to salmon angling, a strip roughly three miles wide running north from the mid-mouth of the Columbia River. The reason was success, not scarcity.
"Chinook catches have been higher than expected in Marine Area 1," the agency said in its closure notice. "Chinook fishing near shore has been particularly effective. Closing this near-shore area to salmon fishing will reduce Chinook catch, increasing the likelihood that sufficient Chinook guideline will remain, allowing for salmon fisheries later in the season."
Anglers can still fish the North Jetty, and the Buoy 10 fishery inside the river mouth is untouched. That matters, because Buoy 10 is now entering its two-week crescendo.
Butch Smith has 70 seasons of family history at the Port of Ilwaco, where Coho Charters operates. His read in mid-August was that Chinook sat at about 75 to 80 percent of quota and coho at roughly 65 percent.
"The fishing has been amazing all season long, from the very beginning," Smith told the Chinook Observer. "It's coming toward the end, but hopefully we can keep it open for another couple weeks."
What he wants is calendar, not fish.
"The closer we can get to Labor Day (Monday, Sept 7), the better off we are," Smith said. "That's the first goal, to make it to Labor Day. After that, every day on the ocean is a bonus."
Sea Breeze Charters owner Steve Sohlstrom, whose seven boats have fished the same water, called it the best season in more than a quarter century.
"Chinook have ruled the day, where many of our boats have limited on Chinook and coho day after day," Sohlstrom said. "The size of the Chinook has been impressive!"
State creel work supports him. Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife estimates through Aug. 16 put Buoy 10 at 25,515 boat trips with 11,005 Chinook and 3,461 coho kept, against 18,716 boat trips and 6,980 Chinook by the same point in 2025. Another 6,914 Chinook and 1,722 coho went back over the side.
Average weights rose all summer. The Ilwaco derby leaderboard opened with a 16.10-pound king in week one and had reached 21.70 pounds by week eight, when Lisa LeClaire took the top spot. Coho climbed from 5.9 pounds to 9.35 over the same stretch.
The economics were less generous. Smith paid $284 to fuel up in January and $538 on his most recent fill, with marine diesel spiking to $5 or $6 a gallon in spring before easing to about $4.68.
"There's only so much we can pass on to our customers," he said. "So we simply had to pull back on our throttles to make it a little more economical."
