ReelCaster

Today's best fishing in Gig Harbor: 7 AM to 10 AM

This page is full of real data to show you what you can see with ReelCaster in Gig Harbor.

Today's best fishing in Gig Harbor: 7 AM to 10 AM

Updated today

What's biting now near Gig Harbor: Coho

Coho fishing at Point Defiance (Clay Banks) looks good today.

ReelCaster scores every hour at Point Defiance (Clay Banks) from 0 to 100, reading the tide, current, wind and weather for Coho. The higher the score, the better your odds. Green means go.

Coho
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Pro is free for 7 days: all 14 days, full catch reports and text alerts for Point Defiance (Clay Banks).

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Point Defiance (Clay Banks), on the live map

Every spot is scored for today, out of 100. Green is worth the trip, amber is fair, red is slow.

View Gig Harbor fishing map

Gig Harbor report

2026-09-18

Coho boxed at close to one fish for every two rods across Marine Area 11, Chinook all but absent

The next 14 days in Gig Harbor

Data from: ECMWF + GFS + BlueCaster

  • Two weeks ahead

    Most forecasts stop at the weekend. This one runs a full 14 days, so you can pick the day before you book the time off.

  • One number, out of 100

    The best score anything in Gig Harbor reaches that day. Green is good, amber is fair, red is slow, and you can read it from across the room.

  • 8,064 scores behind it

    24 spots, every hour of every day, out to 14. This row is the best of them.

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Hour by hour today at Point Defiance (Clay Banks)

All times PDT

  • One real spot

    A city has no tide or wind of its own, so this is Point Defiance (Clay Banks), the most fished mark in Gig Harbor, scored for Coho Salmon.

  • Six readings, one clock

    Tide, current, wind, sea, air and sky, all lined up on the same hour, so you can see what is actually driving the score.

  • Currents, not just tides

    Modelled flow for the water off Gig Harbor, so you can see slack coming before you leave the dock.

Conditions
Time
10 PM
Now
Score
20
Tough
Tide
8.8 ft ▼
Ebbing
Current
—
Ebb
Wind
4 kn
WSW · steady
Sea state
Flat
est. from wind
Air temp
60°
Mild
Weather
Clear
5% cloud
Hour 10 PM. Score 20 Tough. Tide 8.8ft Falling ▼. Current +0.0kn Slack. Wind 4kn WSW G10. Sea Flat (est. from wind). Air 59.7°.

What others are saying about ReelCaster Pro

ReelCaster Pro Testimonials
5.0
I’ve been using ReelCaster for about a month and I love it! Having all the conditions listed together is really handy and makes deciding when to go a no brainer instead of checking multiple apps and sites to get wind, current, sea conditions and tides. I highly recommend ReelCaster!
Nick S.Tacoma WA
5.0
ReelCaster has completely changed how I plan my fishing trips. It brings together tides, currents, wind, swell, and water temperature in one place, then pinpoints the best times and locations to fish. It saves me time and gives me real confidence I’m on the water when conditions are ideal.
Bob N.Victoria BC
5.0
ReelCaster was very helpful in helping me figure out where and when to fish! I was lucky enough to catch a 7 lb Coho right off the beach. The info that the app provided was really helpful and it saved me the trouble of looking at multiple sources to figure out tides, weather, and regulations.
KevinMarrowstone Island WA

The spots people actually fish in Gig Harbor

17 more on the map

  • A year of catch reports

    The order here is how much each mark actually gets fished, not today's guess. The busiest water in Gig Harbor comes first.

  • Today's number too

    Beside each name is the best score that spot reaches today, so you can weigh a proven mark against a good forecast.

  • Every mark has a page

    Its own chart, its own species and its own rules, worked out the same way as everything above.

Every spot we score in Gig Harbor

Bathymetry: NONNA-10 + NRCan

  • Real charted seabed

    Depth soundings, not a stock map. The banks, reefs and drop-offs are where you can see them.

  • 23 of 24 marks scored

    Every spot we cover around Gig Harbor, each one carrying its own number for today.

  • Point at any of them

    The name, how busy a mark it is, and the tide, sea and seabed at its best hour.

Create custom spots

Our full model on your custom private spots.

  1. Drop a pinAnywhere on the water. The ledge you found, the bay nobody talks about.
  2. Name itYour name for it, not ours. It stays private to your account.
  3. Choose speciesPick what you fish there, and it starts scoring from the next run.

What you can keep in Gig Harbor today

  • Coho SalmonKeep2 a dayOpen at all 23 spots we cover
  • Chinook SalmonReleaseCatch and release at all 24 spots we cover
  • Chum SalmonReleaseCatch and release at all 3 spots we cover
  • LingcodClosedShut at all 24 spots we cover
  • HalibutClosedShut at all 24 spots we cover
  • Black RockfishClosedShut at all 14 spots we cover

Rules differ between marine areas and change in season. Check WDFW for the marine area you are fishing before you keep anything.

That was one day. Pro opens the next fourteen.

Every spot on this map, hour by hour, two weeks out, with alerts when your water crosses the score you set.

Start your 7-day free trial

$0 today, then $33 USD a year, which is $2.75 a month. Card required, cancel any time.

When to fish Gig Harbor

Each row is shaded against that species' own best month here, so a dark cell means a good month for that fish rather than a comparison between them.

Relative abundance by month for each species around Gig Harbor
SpeciesJanuaryFebruaryMarchAprilMayJuneJulyAugustSeptemberOctoberNovemberDecember
Chinook Salmon
Coho Salmon
Lingcod
Halibut
Black Rockfish
Chum Salmon

Chinook Salmon: January poor, February poor, March fair, April fair, May fair, June excellent, July peak, August peak, September fair, October none, November poor, December poor. Coho Salmon: January none, February none, March none, April none, May none, June fair, July peak, August peak, September peak, October peak, November none, December none. Lingcod: January good, February good, March excellent, April good, May fair, June fair, July fair, August fair, September fair, October fair, November fair, December fair. Halibut: January none, February poor, March good, April peak, May peak, June peak, July excellent, August fair, September poor, October none, November none, December none. Black Rockfish: January fair, February fair, March fair, April good, May good, June good, July good, August good, September fair, October fair, November fair, December fair. Chum Salmon: January none, February none, March none, April none, May none, June none, July none, August none, September fair, October peak, November peak, December poor.

  • Chinook Salmon. Gig Harbor sits in South Puget Sound near the Tacoma Narrows, where Chinook abundance peaks mid-July through August as mature adults stage and migrate toward the Puyallup/Nisqually river systems (late July–early August apex). A modest baseline of resident 'blackmouth' (immature feeder Chinook) persists through winter and spring, keeping weights above zero year-round with a gradual spring build toward the summer run.
  • Coho Salmon. Coho are absent from Gig Harbor / South Puget Sound waters most of the year, with a minor resident (blackmouth-style) coho presence and immature fish showing in spring (weeks 13-17). The dominant signal is the fall adult return staging through the harbor and heading toward the Puyallup/local systems, peaking sharply late August through September (weeks 35-37) before tailing off by late October.
  • Lingcod. Lingcod are resident year-round in Puget Sound's South Sound rocky structure near Gig Harbor, so abundance never hits zero. The strongest peak is late winter to spring (Feb–Apr) when mature fish move onto nearshore reefs and males guard nest sites, with a secondary late-summer/fall bump as juveniles recruit and post-spawn fish resettle on structure.
  • Halibut. Pacific halibut in south Puget Sound near Gig Harbor are scarce and marginal at this southern extent of their range; the modest late-spring through summer peak (May–July) reflects fish moving into shallower feeding grounds as water warms, while low winter values represent halibut retreating to deeper offshore basins. Abundance never fully hits zero since a few resident deepwater fish persist, but this area is well south of the productive halibut banks.
  • Black Rockfish. Black rockfish are non-migratory, long-lived resident groundfish that hold on rocky structure and reefs in South Puget Sound year-round, so biological abundance stays essentially flat near baseline across all 52 weeks. Minor undocumented variation exists but there is no true run timing or seasonal absence for this species in Gig Harbor waters.
  • Chum Salmon. Chum salmon are strongly single-run migrants returning to South Puget Sound streams near Gig Harbor in fall, with abundance building through October, peaking in early-to-mid November (weeks 43-45), and tapering off by early December. They are biologically absent from these inner Sound waters the rest of the year as they mature at sea.

Before you go

Management areas

Water around Gig Harbor falls into one area, and the rules can differ between them. Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife sets them.

  • 11 11 — Tacoma-Vashon Island
Licence you need

Saltwater fishing licence

Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife · 2026-27

Annual, Resident, 16 to 69: $40.71

Puget Sound Dungeness crab $11.89, required to drop a pot in Puget Sound, on top of a shellfish licence.

A saltwater licence does not cover shellfish. The combination licence covers both and works out cheaper than buying them apart.

Full licence guideBuy from Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife

Fishing Gig Harbor

Gig Harbor sits on the western shore of Puget Sound, with its 24 fishing spots spread across the passages, points, and underwater humps that define these inside waters. Chinook Salmon lead the fishery, peaking from June through September, followed by Coho Salmon that hold from July into October and Lingcod that turn on from February through April. Many of the spots cluster around submerged humps and channel points where current concentrates fish, while others sit off sheltered shoreline structure. Anglers work the Chinook run primarily by trolling, covering water across these deeper humps and passages. The calendar runs strongest through the summer salmon months, with the winter and early-spring lingcod season carrying activity into the colder half of the year.

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