Meanwhile, the crab fishery opens July 1 in marine areas 8-1 (Deception Pass, Hope Island and Skagit Bay), 8-2 (Port Susan and Port Gardner), 9 (Admiralty Inlet), and 10 (Seattle/Bremerton). Fisheries in those areas will be open on a Wednesday-through-Saturday schedule, plus the entire Labor Day weekend.

The daily catch limit in Puget Sound is five Dungeness crab, males only, in hard-shell condition with a minimum carapace width of 6¼ inches. Fishers may catch six red rock crab of either sex per day, provided those crab measure at least 5 inches across. See WDFW's sport-crabbing website ( http://wdfw.wa.gov/fish/shelfish/crab/ ) for more information.

In Marine Area 8-2, the Tulalip Bay "bubble" salmon fishery is currently under way. The fishery got off to a slow start and the bite has yet to pick up, said Steve Thiesfeld, WDFW fish biologist. "It’s been quiet out there," he said. "But fishing tends to improve as we head into July."

The bubble is currently open each week from Friday through noon Monday. Anglers fishing the bubble have a two-salmon daily limit, plus two additional pink salmon. Chinook must measure 22 inches in length to retain.
 
The catch-and-release salmon fishery in the northern portion of Marine Area 10 continues through June 30. However, beginning July 1, anglers fishing in the marine area will have a daily limit of two salmon, plus two additional pink salmon, with no minimum size limit. Anglers must release chinook salmon.
 
"Marine Area 10 has been great for resident coho the last several years," Thiesfeld said. "Hopefully, anglers will find more of the same this year."
 
Another option is Marine Area 7 (San Juan Islands), which also opens July 1 for salmon. Anglers will have a daily limit of two salmon, plus two additional pink salmon, but can only keep one chinook.

In the freshwater, portions of the Skykomish, Skagit and Cascade rivers are open for hatchery chinook salmon fishing.  On the Skykomish River, which is open from the Lewis Street Bridge in Monroe to the Wallace River through July 31, there have been recent reports of anglers hooking some nice-size hatchery chinook. Anglers fishing there have a daily limit of two hatchery chinook salmon.

The Skagit is open to hatchery chinook retention from the Highway 530 bridge at Rockport to the Cascade River. On the Cascade, anglers can fish from the mouth of the river to the Rockport-Cascade Road Bridge. Both stretches are open through July 15.

The daily limit on the Skagit and Cascade rivers is four hatchery chinook, two of which may be adults (chinook salmon at least 24 inches in length). Statewide rules require anglers to stop fishing for salmon once they have kept two adults.

Anglers are reminded that gamefish regulations have changed on the Cascade River from the mouth to the Rockport-Cascade Road Bridge. From June 1 to July 15, anglers can retain up to two trout, including hatchery steelhead and bull trout. For details, anglers should check the rules and regulations pamphlet on WDFW's website at http://wdfw.wa.gov/fish/regs/fishregs.htm .

Meanwhile, Skagit anglers are gearing up for an upcoming summer chinook salmon fishery. Beginning July 9, anglers will have the opportunity to hook a summer chinook on a portion of the lower Skagit for the first time in 16 years. The Skagit will be open from the mouth of the river to the mouth of Gilligan Creek from noon Thursday through Sunday each week. Anglers will have a daily limit of two chinook, only one of which may be an adult.