2026 regulation year

Washington Fishing Regulations 2026 — License Fees, Seasons, Bag Limits

Last updated June 4, 2026

Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW) runs a single-agency regulatory system covering all inland freshwater + anadromous + Puget Sound + coastal saltwater fisheries — Washington is the country's premier Pacific salmon + steelhead + sockeye salmon + Pacific halibut + Puget Sound saltwater + Dungeness crab + razor clam state, with country-defining anadromous runs returning annually to the Columbia River (under the OR/WA Columbia River Compact administered jointly by WDFW + ODFW since 1918 — country's longest-running interstate fishery compact), the Snake River (under the OR/WA/ID Snake River reciprocal compact + Lower Snake from Lewiston ID downstream to the Columbia at Burbank WA), the Puget Sound 13-marine-area inland sea (Hood Canal + Strait of Juan de Fuca + San Juan Islands archipelago + Whidbey Basin + South Sound), Lake Washington (22,000-acre King County urban natural lake — country's premier urban sockeye salmon run via the Cedar River + Sammamish River + Lake Washington Ship Canal Locks at Ballard), Lake Wenatchee + Wenatchee River + Methow River + Entiat River (mid-Columbia sockeye + chinook + steelhead tributaries), the Baker River + Baker Lake (Skagit County sockeye fish-trap framework — one of country's only sockeye fisheries with a dedicated fish-trap-and-haul reintroduction system around Puget Sound Energy Baker River Hydroelectric Project), Lake Chelan (33,104-acre Chelan County natural lake — country's 3rd-deepest natural lake at 1,486 ft after Crater Lake OR 1,949 ft + Lake Tahoe CA/NV 1,645 ft), the Yakima River (214-mile mainstem Yakima County + Benton County — Cascade Range headwaters origin through Yakima + Tri-Cities to the Columbia at Richland — country's premier blue-ribbon wild interior-Columbia redband rainbow trout + chinook + steelhead Quality Management river), the Olympic Peninsula coastal rivers (Hoh + Quinault + Queets + Sol Duc + Bogachiel + Calawah + Quillayute — Olympic National Park 922,650-acre federal NPS park overlay — country's premier coastal wild-steelhead + chinook winter-run fishery), and the Skagit + Sauk + Stillaguamish + Snohomish + Skykomish + Snoqualmie north Puget Sound salmon + steelhead + bull trout river system. WDFW requires a Resident or Non-Resident Fishing License for anglers age 15+ ($29.50 res Freshwater / $124 NR Freshwater / $32.50 res Saltwater / $80 NR Saltwater / $54.75 res Combination / $190 NR Combination) plus a Catch Record Card (free with the WDFW Fishing License — required to track every harvested salmon + steelhead + sturgeon + Pacific halibut under joint Columbia River Compact catch-allocation tracking with ODFW). Washington carries country-defining native salmonid endemics + federally listed runs: Puget Sound chinook salmon ESU (federally Threatened ESA since 1999 — 22 distinct populations across Puget Sound + Hood Canal + Strait of Juan de Fuca tribs — only hatchery-marked adipose-fin-clipped chinook may be retained on listed reaches), Puget Sound steelhead DPS (federally Threatened ESA since 2007 — Skagit + Sauk + Stillaguamish + Snohomish + Skykomish + Snoqualmie + Green + Puyallup + Nisqually + Skokomish + Dungeness + Elwha + Hood Canal tributaries — only hatchery-marked retained), Lower Columbia + Upper Willamette + Snake River Basin steelhead DPS (federally Threatened ESA — only hatchery-marked retained), Lower Columbia + Snake River chinook ESU (Threatened/Endangered ESA — only hatchery-marked retained), Hood Canal summer-run chum (federally Threatened ESA), Ozette Lake sockeye salmon (federally Threatened ESA since 1999 — Lake Ozette Clallam County Olympic Peninsula — endemic-population WDFW + Makah Tribe + NPS Olympic National Park joint recovery program — closed to retention), bull trout (Salvelinus confluentus — federally Threatened ESA since 1998 — Skagit + Sauk + Stillaguamish + listed Cascade + Olympic Peninsula reaches — WDFW + USFWS + Puget Sound Energy + Seattle City Light joint recovery program). Columbia River OR/WA joint compact since 1918 (already-wired columbia-river-or-wa reciprocity entry — country's longest-running interstate fishery compact + country's premier Pacific salmon + steelhead anadromous fishery on the Columbia main stem) covers the lower 309-mile Columbia main stem from the Pacific Ocean upstream to McNary Dam at the OR/WA border, plus joint salmon + steelhead + sturgeon + smelt regulations + joint commercial harvest allocation + tribal harvest under the four Columbia River treaty tribes (Yakama + Umatilla + Warm Springs + Nez Perce) under the US v. Oregon federal-court-ordered allocation framework. Lake Washington 22,000-acre largest natural lake in King County is the country's premier urban sockeye salmon run — the Cedar River + Sammamish River + Lake Washington Ship Canal Locks at Ballard route routes Pacific sockeye through downtown Seattle, with peak returns of 350,000-500,000 sockeye annually through the Ballard Locks fish ladder during the June-August summer run when WDFW opens the sockeye fishery (sockeye season opens only when forecast returns clear the WDFW spawning-escapement threshold — typically ~350,000 returning sockeye triggers season opening). Lake Wenatchee 2,486-acre Chelan County natural lake + Wenatchee River + Methow River + Entiat River + Okanogan River (mid-Columbia sockeye + chinook + steelhead tributaries — joint WDFW + Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation tribal harvest allocation under US v. Oregon framework). Baker River + Baker Lake (Skagit County — Puget Sound Energy Baker River Hydroelectric Project Lower Baker Dam built 1925 + Upper Baker Dam built 1959) is the country's premier dedicated-fish-trap-and-haul sockeye reintroduction fishery — Puget Sound Energy + WDFW + USFWS + Skagit River System Cooperative jointly operate a fish trap at Lower Baker Dam to capture upstream-migrating sockeye, transport them by truck around the dam, and release them above Baker Lake to spawn — peak returns ~30,000 sockeye annually. Lake Chelan 33,104-acre 50.5-mile-long Chelan County natural lake is the country's 3rd-deepest natural lake at 1,486 ft (after Crater Lake OR 1,949 ft + Lake Tahoe CA/NV 1,645 ft) — country's premier deep-water-glacial-fjord trout + kokanee + Mackinaw (lake trout) + chinook salmon mixed-species fishery (chinook smolts stocked annually via WDFW + Chelan PUD + Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation joint program). Yakima River 214-mile mainstem (Cascade Range headwaters at Keechelus Lake downstream through Cle Elum + Ellensburg + Yakima + Sunnyside + the Yakima Wildlife Refuge USFWS to the Columbia at Richland) is country's premier blue-ribbon wild interior-Columbia redband rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss gairdneri Columbia River redband subspecies) Quality Management river — WDFW-distinctive Yakima Quality Management catch-and-release-only on Cle Elum to Roza Dam reach (artificial-fly-and-lure only + barbless single-hook required) — Yakima blue-wing-olive + skwala + caddis + pale-morning-dun + green-drake hatch sequence produces wild interior-redband rainbow + steelhead routinely. Cle Elum + Bumping + Rimrock (Tieton) + Keechelus + Kachess Yakima Cascade Range reservoir tier (USBR Cle Elum Dam 1933 + Bumping Dam 1910 + Tieton Dam 1925 + Keechelus Dam 1917 + Kachess Dam 1912 — Yakima Project — country's longest-tenured USBR irrigation-project reservoirs alongside Idaho Boise + Minidoka). Olympic Peninsula coastal rivers — Hoh River (56-mile glacier-fed river — Mt. Olympus headwaters at the Blue Glacier through Olympic National Park 922,650-acre federal NPS park to the Pacific at Hoh Indian Reservation) + Quinault River + Queets River + Sol Duc River + Bogachiel River + Calawah River + Quillayute River (Quileute Tribal Reservation + Quinault Indian Nation + Hoh Tribe + Makah Tribe + Olympic National Park overlay — Coastal Salmon-Steelhead Stamp required for non-tribal anglers on listed reaches — country's premier coastal wild-steelhead + chinook winter-run fishery + most-concentrated wild winter-steelhead returns in lower 48). Skagit + Sauk + Stillaguamish + Snohomish + Skykomish + Snoqualmie + Green + Puyallup + Nisqually + Skokomish north Puget Sound salmon + steelhead + bull trout river system (Puget Sound steelhead DPS federally Threatened ESA — only hatchery-marked retained — WDFW + Skagit River System Cooperative + Tulalip Tribes + Stillaguamish Tribe + Sauk-Suiattle Tribe + Upper Skagit Tribe + Swinomish Tribe + Muckleshoot Tribe + Puyallup Tribe + Nisqually Tribe + Skokomish Tribe joint harvest allocation under US v. Washington 1974 Boldt Decision — 50/50 treaty-tribal + state recreational allocation). San Juan Islands 172-island archipelago in the Strait of Juan de Fuca + Strait of Georgia (San Juan County — saltwater rockfish + lingcod + Pacific halibut + Dungeness crab + spot prawn fishery — country's premier Salish Sea cold-water saltwater fishery + Southern Resident Killer Whale chinook prey-base protected area under USFWS + NOAA Pacific Marine Sanctuaries joint conservation framework). Olympic National Park 922,650-acre federal NPS park (Clallam + Jefferson + Grays Harbor + Mason Counties — Mt. Olympus + Hoh Rain Forest + Quinault Rain Forest + Hurricane Ridge — country's only US national park with three distinct ecosystems on a single mountain massif — temperate rainforest + alpine glaciers + Pacific coastline) is WDFW's controlling-document national park (WDFW Fishing License + Coastal Salmon-Steelhead Stamp valid throughout — NPS does NOT supersede WDFW unlike Yellowstone NP in WY). Mount Rainier National Park 236,381-acre federal NPS park (Pierce + Lewis Counties — country's most-glaciated peak in lower 48 + 26 named glaciers — Mowich Lake + Crystal Lake + Tipsoo Lake + Mystic Lake high-alpine trout reaches) + North Cascades National Park 504,654-acre federal NPS park (Whatcom + Skagit + Chelan + Okanogan Counties — country's most-glaciated NP outside Alaska + 300+ glaciers + Ross Lake + Diablo Lake + Gorge Lake Skagit Hydro reservoirs) — both WDFW-controlling-document national parks. WDFW statewide standard: salmon + steelhead 2 / day combined adult under Catch Record Card (with mandatory daily punch-card recording on every harvested fish for WDFW + ODFW joint catch-allocation tracking under Columbia River Compact + state-specific in-river allocation + 50/50 treaty-tribal allocation under US v. Washington 1974 Boldt Decision); spring chinook 1 / day adult on Columbia mainstem + Snake + Wenatchee + Methow + listed tribs (March 1 – June 15 spring chinook season); summer chinook 1 / day adult on Columbia mainstem + Snake + Wenatchee + Methow + listed tribs (June 16 – July 31 summer chinook season — WDFW-distinctive separate summer chinook quota on mid-Columbia tribs); fall chinook 2 / day adult on Columbia mainstem + Snake (August 1 – December 31 fall chinook season); coho 2 / day adult on Columbia mainstem + Puget Sound + coastal (September 1 – November 30 coho season); summer steelhead 1 / day adult on Columbia mainstem + Snake + Yakima + Wenatchee + Methow + Cowlitz + Lewis + listed tribs (June 1 – December 31 summer-run season); winter steelhead 1 / day adult on Olympic Peninsula coastal + Puget Sound tribs + Lower Columbia tribs (December 1 – April 30 winter-run season); WDFW-distinctive sockeye salmon Lake Washington 4 / day no min when open (sockeye season opens only on years that forecast returns clear the WDFW spawning-escapement threshold — typically ~350,000 returning sockeye triggers season opening at the Cedar River + Ship Canal Locks at Ballard); sockeye salmon Wenatchee + Okanogan + Baker 4 / day combined no min when open; rainbow trout 5 / day combined statewide + 10 / day kokanee + 2 / day Yakima Quality Management catch-and-release-only on Cle Elum to Roza Dam reach (WDFW-distinctive blue-ribbon QM); native interior-Columbia redband rainbow Quality Management on Yakima + listed reaches; bull trout 0 / day catch-and-release-only statewide on listed Skagit + Sauk + Stillaguamish + Cascade + Olympic Peninsula conservation reaches (federally Threatened ESA — WDFW + USFWS + Puget Sound Energy + Seattle City Light joint recovery program); Ozette Lake sockeye 0 / day catch-and-release-only on Lake Ozette (federally Threatened ESA endemic-population — WDFW + Makah Tribe + NPS Olympic National Park joint recovery program); kokanee salmon 10 / day combined on listed Cascade + interior reservoirs (Lake Chelan + Lake Wenatchee + Lake Roosevelt + Banks Lake + Lake Whatcom + Loon Lake — WDFW-distinctive aggressive kokanee bag alongside ODFW + CPW); smallmouth bass in lakes / ponds / reservoirs 10 / day no minimum size with only 1 over 14 in retained + in rivers / streams / beaver ponds no size or daily limit; largemouth bass in lakes / ponds / reservoirs 5 / day with a protective slot (only bass under 12 in retained except 1 over 17 in) + in rivers / streams / beaver ponds no size or daily limit; walleye in lakes / ponds / reservoirs 8 / day with a 12 in minimum + only 1 over 22 in retained + in rivers / streams / beaver ponds no size or daily limit; WDFW-distinctive Columbia River invasive-removal rule suspends ALL daily + size limits on bass + walleye + channel catfish from the mouth upstream 545 mi to Chief Joseph Dam (effective March 3 — to increase harvest of these non-native species that prey on ESA-listed juvenile salmon + steelhead); white sturgeon 1 / day with 38-54 in fork-length slot (sturgeon catch-and-release season closed for spawning protection May 1 – June 30 on Columbia mainstem) + Catch Record Card punch required; green sturgeon 0 / day catch-and-release-only statewide (federally Threatened ESA); Pacific halibut 1 / day with 32 in min on listed Puget Sound + coastal saltwater + Strait of Juan de Fuca marine areas (under Pacific Fishery Management Council allocation — WDFW joint with NOAA Pacific Marine Sanctuaries); Dungeness crab 5 / day with 6.25 in shell width + males only (state-record + country's iconic Salish Sea crab fishery — WDFW Crab Endorsement required); razor clam 15 / day no min on listed Pacific coastal beaches (Long Beach + Twin Harbors + Copalis + Mocrocks + Kalaloch — WDFW-distinctive WA-iconic open-and-close digging-tide schedule); panfish 25 / day combined no minimum. WDFW stocks ~17 million catchable + fingerling trout + salmon + steelhead + sockeye + smolts annually statewide via Skagit + Snohomish + Skykomish + Sol Duc + Quinault + Forks Creek + Naselle + Cowlitz + Toutle + Kalama + Lewis + Klickitat + Yakima + Spokane + Colville State Fish Hatcheries (country's largest hatchery system alongside OR + CA + ID + CO) + USFWS Quinault NFH + USFWS Makah NFH (treaty-tribal salmon hatcheries on Quinault + Makah Reservations) + USFWS Quilcene NFH (Hood Canal coho production) + USFWS Olympic Peninsula NFH. WDFW-distinctive Free Fishing Weekend first weekend of June statewide (1-day-per-year amnesty — alongside ID + UT + WY + NV + CO Rocky Mountain Free Fishing Day tradition). WDFW fees: $29.50 res Freshwater annual + $32.50 res Saltwater annual + $54.75 res Combination (Freshwater + Saltwater + Shellfish) + $9.46 res Steelhead Report-Restoration Card (required to retain steelhead) + $11.25 res 1-day Combination + $19.50 res 2-day Combination + $7.50 res 3-day Combination + $0 res Catch Record Card (free with license) + $5 res youth (15-17) Combination reduced + $0 res Disabled Veteran 100% + $0 res youth under 15 + $20 res senior 70+ Combination reduced; $124 NR Freshwater annual + $80 NR Saltwater annual + $190 NR Combination annual + $9.46 NR Steelhead Report-Restoration Card + $30 NR 1-day Combination + $50 NR 2-day Combination + $20 NR 3-day Combination + $0 NR Catch Record Card (free with license) + $5 NR youth (15-17) Combination reduced + $0 NR youth under 15 + $0 NR Free Fishing Weekend.