Chinook
Deep ledges, banks, and bait-rich current edges. Area 7 salmon openings and retention rules can change in season.
King salmon field guide →Check today's official rule before you launch.This field book explains the terrain. WDFW decides what is open, what may be kept, and what changes today.
Current rules ↗Annual pamphlet and area tables
Emergency changes ↗Updates that supersede print
Fish Washington app ↗Current mobile waterbody lookup
The Water
The San Juans are a current machine. Rosario Strait, Haro Strait, the passes, banks, and headlands reorganize every time the tide turns. Fish the moving water, but plan around the water you can safely control. Bait, birds, current seams, and contour changes are more durable knowledge than somebody else's waypoint. The hour around a manageable change often matters more than the name on the chart.
The Quarry
Seasonal possibility—not a promise that retention is open today. Verify the current species line first.
Coho
Fast fish that reward clean rip edges, surface signs, and mobile trolling when the legal season lines up.
Silver salmon field guide →Lingcod
Rock structure and manageable current matter. Confirm season, size, depth, preserve, and gear rules.
Lingcod field guide →Halibut
Deep banks, heavy gear, exact openings, and open-water judgment. The halibut schedule lives on its own WDFW page.
Hein Bank planning below →Dungeness Crab
Productive island water with separate days, gear, sex, size, reporting, and catch-card requirements.
Dungeness crab field guide →Spot Prawns
Deep pots and short windows. Check the exact Area 7 subarea, opening hours, gear, and closure time.
Spot prawn field guide →Rules & Location Guides
Open a quick field card here, or use the permanent guide page for the complete, shareable version.
Marine Area 7 Fishing Rules
Licenses, catch cards, salmon, bottomfish, crab, shrimp, whale water, preserves, and the five-minute dock check.
San Juan Island
West-side ledges, southern banks, protected whale water, launch planning, and the tides shaping the day.
Orcas Island
President Channel, Point Lawrence, Rosario Strait, and several tide-dependent options from one island base.
Lopez Island
A conservative plan for Rosario exposure, protected alternatives, legal access, and small-craft margins.
Anacortes Launch Plan
Washington Park, parking pressure, ferry traffic, route choices, current gates, fuel, and return weather.
Hein & Middle Banks
Current, depth, halibut and salmon potential, exposure, international boundaries, and the turn-around decision.
Bellingham Bay
Terminal salmon, shorter runs, weather advantages, traffic, and the Area 7 subarea-rule trap.
The Five-Minute Dock Check
Run it in this order before every trip, even when you fished the same water yesterday.
License and catch card. Carry the correct license and a valid paper or approved electronic record system.
Annual Area 7 table. Read the exact species and subarea line—not a screenshot from last season.
Emergency changes. Confirm today's date, water, and species on the WDFW update page.
Boundaries loaded. Marine preserves, Canadian water, ferry lanes, and whale habitat belong on the chart.
Wind against tide. Check both the outbound window and the return window.
Fallback fixed. Choose protected water and a no-argument turn-around time before leaving.
This is a field guide, not the legal rulebook. Regulations can change after publication. WDFW's current regulations and emergency changes control. For an uncertain identification or rule, release the fish safely and verify before continuing.