ReelCaster

Chinook Salmon Fishing in Bellingham, WA

55 spots · peak Jun-Sep

Bellingham puts Chinook in front of you twelve months a year, but the trip you want to book falls between June and September. Late July through August is the high point, when mature summer and fall fish stage through Rosario Strait and the San Juans before committing to the Nooksack and Skagit, and numbers hold up into early October. Winter and early spring belong to resident blackmouth feeding on the herring and sand lance around Cherry Point and Bellingham Bay. Late May and June is the thin stretch, after the feeders spread out and before the adults show.

Seven spots carry the fishery: Alden Bank, Belle Rock, Hein Bank, Parker Reef, Partridge Bank, Point Lawrence and Thatcher Pass. Downrigger trolling does most of the work, with whole herring, trolling spoons and flasher-hoochie combos run from 40 to 150 feet through the bay and the San Juan approaches. Drift mooching a banana weight and cut-plug herring works the rip lines and bait schools near Lummi and Eliza Islands. When fish stack tight to bottom over bait, drop metal jigs and fish them vertically.

Fish moving water. You want the current running at 0.4 knots or better, so plan around the run of the ebb or flood, not the turn. Go at first light and again at dusk. A daily tide swing of 5 to 10 feet and flat, wind-free water give you the best of it.

When to go

Bellingham-area Chinook (Areas 7/7B) peak in mid-to-late summer as North Sound and Fraser-bound stocks stage through Rosario Strait and the San Juans, with a clear July–August abundance high. A secondary winter blackmouth (resident feeder) presence keeps numbers moderate from late fall through early spring, with the lowest biological presence in late spring as outmigrating smolts have left and mature returns haven't yet arrived.

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Relative abundance by month: Jan 63 percent of peak, Feb 63 percent of peak, Mar 64 percent of peak, Apr 62 percent of peak, May 61 percent of peak, Jun 86 percent of peak, Jul 100 percent of peak, Aug 100 percent of peak, Sep 82 percent of peak, Oct 59 percent of peak, Nov 52 percent of peak, Dec 57 percent of peak.

Relative abundance through the year around Bellingham. Peak: Jun-Sep

How anglers fish it around Bellingham

downrigger trolling

Most used here

Anglers troll cut-plug or brined herring and flasher-hoochie combos behind downriggers from 40 to 150 feet through Bellingham Bay and the San Juan approaches.

Bait and lures
  • whole herring
  • trolling spoons
  • hoochies
  • flashers

mooching

Drift mooching with a banana weight and cut-plug herring is worked along rip lines and bait schools near Lummi and Eliza Islands.

Bait and lures
  • whole herring
  • cut-plug herring

jigging

Vertical jigging over concentrated bait balls and structure produces feeder Chinook when fish are stacked tight to bottom.

Bait and lures
  • metal jigs

Tide, current and light

These are the conditions ReelCaster weights when it scores chinook salmon at Bellingham spots, and they are the ones worth planning a trip around.

Current
21% of the score

Fish moving water

Best once the tide is running at about 0.4 knots or more. The bite fades as the current drops away and dead slack is the worst of it, so plan the trip around the run of the ebb or the flood rather than the turn.

Water temp
15% of the score

Watch the water temperature

Feeding holds up between about 8.25°C and 13°C. Local water sits inside that band most of the year, so it rarely decides a day on its own.

Light
13% of the score

Go at first light

The bite is strongest with the sun low: from just before sunrise through the first couple of hours of daylight, and again as the light goes in the evening. Through the middle of a bright day it tails off, and scores follow it down.

Tide swing
8% of the score

Mind the size of the tide

A day's tide swing between about 5 and 10 feet is the productive band here; past that the day is about whether you can fish it at all.

Waves
6% of the score

Pick your sea state

Wind wave between about 0 and 0 feet is the productive band here; past that the day is about whether you can fish it at all.

Tides here read off Anacortes, Village Point, Lummi Island, San Juan Islands

Where to fish for chinook salmon

Every spot we cover around Bellingham that holds chinook salmon, with today's score for this species. Open the spot for the tide, wind and the next 14 days.

SEE THEM ON THE BELLINGHAM MAP →

Other Bellingham guides

Guide last reviewed August 2026. Seasons, limits and closures change: confirm the current WDFW notice before you fish.