If you were to build a year long fishing profile of what to fish for ...

[Parasite]

If you had the means and the time, how would you build a year long fishing profile of what to fish for every week/month? This is going to be my ultimate goal here in the Pacific Northwest. Mainly Washington of course, but could vary a little bit into Canada and Oregon. I'd like to be afield about 100 days a year. That pretty much means every weekend and maybe some after or before work midweek outings. My 3-5 weeks of yearly vacation time will be spent probably chasing elk or whitetails, with maybe a trip to Yellowstone every year.

I feel like that being based out of Olympia, I can pretty much go anywhere pretty easily, so short day trips locally should be fairly inexpensive and easy to do.

The problem is … what species and when to target them. Any ideas or general trends for January thru December? At the moment I think I'm pretty much open to anything that I can DIY. With my boat and tackle, I want to stay inshore, piers, near shore, rivers, lakes, and in the sound. Maybe one offhsore charter a year for something such as tuna or halibut.

[full choke]

Tagging.
This should be an interesting thread. I am eager to see what everyone's calendar would look like.

[jackelope]

You can fish halibut with reasonable success in the sound.

What style of fishing do you prefer? Do you flyfish or is this a gear fishing mission?

[Parasite]

Good to know on the halibut. I will look into that.

Gear or fly, I can do both. No big deal. Just no trolling ... God do I hate trolling.

[Jpmiller]

Tagging along. I'm hoping to expand my fishing calendar. All I've ever really done is small mountain streams for trout on fly's from snow melt to august. Alot of fun but leaves a pretty big gap in the calendar.

[deerlick]

Dec-April winter steelhead, April-June spring Chinook, bass, kokanee. June-august walleye summer steelhead bass. mid Aug-Dec fall salmon (when not hunting).  pretty non specific because it could be anywhere, but that how I do it.   3 boats for all different types, wife that loves to fish and hunt and no kids. pretty much spend every non working day fishing or hunting.

[Stein]

For me, I book out the calendar in this order:

1.  Shrimp as many days as it's open.
2.  Halibut in the sound/islands as many days as its open, weather is workable and there appears to be a reasonable chance at catching something.
3.  Work in a Columbia springer trip if possible.
4.  Fish 8, 9, 10 as much as possible for salmon, maybe a few trips up into 7 weather, schedule and budget dependent.  Start with chinook, then silvers and pinks on odd years with good returns.
5.  Take 2-3 trout trips with the kids.
6.  Take 2-3 flounder trips with the kids, hopefully sneak in a few ling drifts.
7.  Fill the rest of the days with crab, usually combination trips.

That could fill out 100 days pretty easily, I probably average maybe half that on a great year.  I don't do much river fishing at all, usually only if we are camping somewhere.

It's about impossible to map that out weekly with the way seasons are set, but shrimp and crab are predictable.  I usually hit it hard when open and then don't go for a while until the next season as opposed to getting out every Saturday.  The above takes me from May through September when I put the boat away and hit archery elk then waterfowl and rifle big game. 

[bassquatch]

If your just a straight up angler...tons of options!!

If you're an addict like myself it gets real easy.... January 1st to December 31st = BASS!!! 

[hollymaster]

Golden trout

[Alchase]

Kokanee!

[Birdgetter]

Start fly fishing in  early June for high country cutthroat until early August. Finish it up with a trip for bull trout in Oregon (late August/ Early September).A trip or two to a spring creek in February/March for rainbows. Hunting fills up the time in between! 

[Mfowl]

My calender would be something like this (keep in mind much more of my time is spent hunting Sept 1st - Jan 31st):

Jan/Feb/March - steelhead/blackmouth

March/April - steelhead/spring chinook and maybe eastside bass

May - shrimp/halibut/lingcod/walleye/bass

June/July - summer chinook/crabbing/bass/walleye

August/Sept - fall chinook/tuna...maybe/ coho/ perch/ walleye

Oct/Nov - coho/perch/walleye

Dec - steelhead

[huntnphool]

Interesting nobody included sturgeon.

[metlhead]

I actually made one years ago, and have each month broken into three parts. All species and locations to include water levels. Really handy and even had my wife laminate,  illustrate, and bind all the pages. Many of the seaons don't exist anymore, rivers are closed, and some just not worth the effort. July through September for summers and searuns, then chasing birds till March

[slavenoid]

If your just a straight up angler...tons of options!!

If you're an addict like myself it gets real easy.... January 1st to December 31st = BASS!!! 

People have gotten so good at catching bass all year round you could fill every opening in your fishing schedule with Bass. Don't be fooled by their warm water reputation the big ones get caught all the time in cooler weather. My biggest fish typically come in April and early November.