About Grays Harbor Buoy 2 / Bar Entrance

Grays Harbor Buoy 2 marks the bar entrance off Westport, Washington, a sand-bottomed corridor where the harbor meets the open ocean across depths of 20 to 60 feet. This outer, exposed water channels migrating salmon as they stage and move through the entrance, making it a productive line for Chinook and Coho Salmon, both peaking from June through September. Trolling dominates here, working whole herring, anchovies, trolling spoons, and hoochies for Chinook, and cut-plug herring, spoons, hoochies, and flashers for Coho. Mooching with whole or cut-plug herring covers the same water at a slower pace, while metal jigs work the deeper edges of the channel. The shallow sand and tidal flow through the entrance keep bait and fish concentrated along predictable travel lanes.