The 2021 Buoy 10 season looks promising starting in August . jason brooks photo lihood and reputation of Southeast Alaska as a mecca for salmon fishing , both commercially and for recreation .
CALIFORNIA
San Francisco Bay Area Salmon Seasons Shortened
Salmon anglers in the Golden State will find themselves standing more on the shoreline than out on the blue Pacific this year . The season is expected to be very short for bay-area anglers as the chinook run for the Sacramento River is projected to be 271,000 fish . Sounds like a lot , but it is way below the projected 2020 run of 473,200 . To meet escapement and allotment goals this means the bay fishing will be drastically cut . Some sources say that it might not open until June or later and that the normal allowance of 50 % of the run estimation will also be reduced to allow more fish to return to the Sacramento and the Klamath River , with the latter to receive slightly higher returns this year , around 40,000 fish . Total saltwater harvest set at 148,000 fish which will be split between sport and commercial fisherman .
The economic impact will be huge and even possibly catastrophic as it follows the COVID-19 pandemic where fish buyers didn ’ t need as much fish last year . The San Francisco bay area is also known for charters and private fishing boats for the sport fishery . With the delayed start of the season and a shortened one , tackle and bait stores will also be hit hard .
WASHINGTON
North of Falcon Salmon Seasons Set
The nearly two-month process where salmon managers at the state , tribal and federal levels all get together to figure out how many fish are returning , and how many can be caught , is finally over for 2021 . This year fisheries managers worked together and unlike previous years where one group would hold out and refuse to talk about one fishery over another causing the process to wane until the last minute . Tribes , state and federal managers agreed that most salmon runs in Puget Sound are smaller than in previous years and adjusted the seasons accordingly . But it was not all bad news , since this is a pink salmon year and those runs are improving over the past few runs , which will allow for some extended seasons and bag limits .
When it comes to ocean fishing the abundant coho return , estimated to be around 1.5 million fish will help extend the fishing seasons into the fall . The ever-popular Buoy 10 fishery that has seen severe restrictions and even a flip-flop of barbless to barbed back to barbless hooks rules is looking more positive than last year . In 2020 the season was short , only a couple of weeks , where this year it is set to open on Aug . 1 for hatchery only chinook and coho and then on Aug . 11 through Sept . 6 it will be an
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