How to Tie a Hook: Easy Fishing Knots for Beginners
Placeholder: step-by-step hook knots for new anglers — clinch, improved clinch, palomar, and when to use each with mono vs. braid.
Trailhead
Fishing
Kayak Crabbing: Setup and Limits Overview
A kayak is the cheapest crab boat on Puget Sound — one pot, quiet water access, and dinner riding home on your deck. Here's the setup, the technique, and the rules that matter.
Opening-Day Eve Checklist: License, Gear, Launch Plan
The night before opening day decides half your morning. This ten-minute walkthrough covers license, tackle, boat prep, and the launch plan that beats the crowd.
WDFW Trout Derby Playbook: Tagged Fish Tactics
Washington's Trout Derby puts prize-tagged trout in 100+ lakes from late April through October — same tactics, lottery-ticket upside. Here's how to fish it deliberately.
Lingcod and Shrimp Openers: Salt Water Kicks Off
Mid-April opens Puget Sound's lingcod season and May brings the spot shrimp rush — the two saltwater events that pull landlocked anglers toward the Sound every spring.
Lowland Lakes Opener: Crowd-Free Alternatives That Still Produce
Opening day crowds pile onto ten famous lakes while dozens of equally stocked waters sit half-empty. Here's how to find them — and the timing tricks that make even famous lakes feel private.
Bass Move Shallow: First Warm-Water Windows
The first sustained warm weeks pull bass out of deep wintering holes and into the shallows — a short window when they're catchable in ways they won't be again all year.
Trout Stocked Lake Maps: Where the Truck Dumps Fish
How to turn Washington's public stocking data into a personal map of the closest, most reliably stocked lakes near you — plus the access details the reports never mention.
Springer Bank Access: Willamette and Columbia Spots
Where to fish from shore for spring Chinook on the Willamette and lower Columbia — the classic bank waters, what each needs to produce, and how run timing picks your morning.
Lowland Lake Opener Prep: Stocking Reports Decoded
Washington's trout stocking reports tell you which lakes will fish hot on opening day — if you know how to read plant sizes, dates, and the difference between catchables and jumbos.
Spring Chinook Countdown: 2026 Season Outlook and Gear
What to expect from the 2026 spring Chinook season on the Columbia and Willamette, how forecasts shape the fisheries, and the gear worth rigging before the first counts post.
December Steelhead on the Bogachiel and Hoh: Peak Hatchery Window
The two weeks around Christmas are the most reliable window of the winter-run season on the Olympic Peninsula — where to fish, what to throw, and how to plan around river levels.