Michigan salmon fisherman wants to make trip west

[Denko]

So my son is currently living in the Seattle area. I'm thinking about visiting and taking him on a charter. Since Utube loves to keep you seeing ads I've watched a bunch of suggested fishing vids, some Puget Sound and some Vancouver Island, one that piqued my interest was jigging for squid to use as salmon bait. Here we troll mostly and I love it but a little variety is appealing as well. There is no closed season on the Great Lakes and I'm having a little trouble figuring out how that works there. I understand you can only keep hatchery fish, but when exactly? Is it worth it book a trip that drops crab traps as well? Freshwater guy with so many questions Ideally it would be a time when fishing wasn't prime here, mid June - mid July, or Sept- Oct.
Anyone have some pointers or suggested reading? It would be much appreciated! TIA!

 

[jjack5150]

All Rivers Salt Water Fishing. They stage out of Westport Wa. Three hour drive from Seattle. They also stage out of Shilshoal just west of the locks. In Vancouver (Canada) I would talk to BonChovy Fishing Charters. They generally stage out of Granville Island (False Creek). They are the best up there (and run an all Grady fleet)You can find both on the web and Insta.

 

[Wild blue]

I agree, Mark Coleman owns and operates All Rivers, they offer a great service, I’d go out of Westport, they will have a better season with more action than what you will get in the Puget Sound on most days. If you want to do something different and you are out in September I’d try Albacore tuna fishing, Went 4 times last year, all 4 times we put 50 fish in the boat in about 3 hrs!

 

[CharlieBeard]

We all are drooling over the live squid mooching video. That's an anomaly and I hope to experience it once in my lifetime. But lots of skippers will mooch herring. You could find one to try it. How far you want to travel? August is prime time for west side Vancouver island. Great experience but count on a day travel each way. Look for charters in Tofino. Uclulet. Bamfield. Lots of others you can find too. I think Vancouver fishing is closed or severely restricted for Chinook until Sept 1st. Seattle area is crspshoot. End of July for Chinook opening but typically gets shut down early so timing is hard to predict. Silver salmon usually stays open through Sept... But not sure if that will be completely satisfying to you. Westport is also available. That is ocean fishing so days can be nice, or not. Recommend Seattle Squid and Paul Kim for Seattle based charter.

 

[Fishtales]

Agree. Pls take vids to share. Check out Elliott's on Fishermans Wharf. Great selection of oysters if you are into that.