Information about our Chapter

Edmonds/Laebugten Salmon Chapter Trout Unlimited
Washington Council Trout Unlimited
PO Box 278, Edmonds, WA 98020
WHO ARE WE?
We are recreational salmon & freshwater fishermen. Most of us consider Puget Sound our backyard. You can find us fishing the Edmonds shoreline, Possession Bar, Point-No-Point, Eglon, Admiralty Inlet, Jefferson Head, area lakes & streams throughout the year
The Edmonds Laebugten Salmon Chapter, based in Edmonds, is affiliated with the Washington Council of Trout Unlimited (the state wide entity & all other TU Chapters) and the national organization of TU. The Laebugten portion of our name is a Norwegian word meaning "quiet cove" and pronounced "lah-boot-n".
On the 4th Wednesday of each month, we meet at 7:00 pm at the South County Senior Center, 220 Railroad Ave, Edmonds (one block south of the Edmonds Ferry Terminal). Our meetings routinely include a guest speaker, a member fishing report, raffle drawing, refreshments etc.
Activities include Club derbies, sponsorship of sport & fly fishing schools, participation in the Edmonds Waterfront Festival (our Open House & Kids Fishing Pond), Edmonds Fishing Pier Coho Net Pen, the Willow Creek Hatchery (formerly known as Deer Creek Hatchery), various other enhancement projects, elementary school education classes and our annual awards banquet held each spring.
OUR PURPOSE
Our chapter was started in 1974 by seventeen concerned sport fisherman in response to an obviously diminishing salmon resource and inequitable allocation of the resource to the recreational fisherman. Our purposes are:
1. To preserve and protect the cold water resource
2. To work with the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife and other interested groups to enhance the salmon stocks of Puget Sound
3. To advocate for more equitable allocation of the non-treaty portion of the salmon resources to the recreational salmon fisherman through realignment, relocation and reduction in the commercial gear on Puget Sound, the straits of Juan de Fuca and in the North Pacific
4. To promote a more viable recreational salmon fishery in Puget Sound, especially Marine areas 8, 9 and 10.
OUR SOLUTIONS
We raise salmon. We raise awareness. We actively participate in salmon politics. Our projects not only add salmon to the Puget Sound for the benefit of all but serve to educate kids, parents and the general public in our community.
Annually since 1979, we have sponsored a Coho net pen rearing project under the Edmonds Fishing Pier. We raise 30,000 Coho smolts for several months until they imprint on the local waters. Instead of migrating long distances, a number of them become residents of the Puget Sound. Survivors return as mature adults to the Edmonds Fishing Pier and creeks along the Edmonds shoreline.
Our largest project is the Willow Creek Hatchery. After years of fund-raising and contributions by many, we built the Willow Creek Hatchery in 1985. It is one of the largest privately maintained and volunteer operated hatcheries in the State of Washington. Under the supervision of the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife, we have successfully raised and out-planted an average of 100,000 high-quality salmon each year.
Since 1990, we have out-planted over 2,250,000 Coho fry into Scriber Creek, Swamp Creek, North Creek, Boeing Creek and Edmonds area watersheds. Hundreds of Edmonds and Shoreline Districts’ elementary school students have participated in Willow Creek Hatchery/Edmonds Fishing Pier field trips.
YOU CAN HELP
It takes a lot of community support and volunteer effort to sustain our enhancement projects. Edmonds/Laebugten’s primary source of funding comes from our Annual Awards Night Banquet and Auction. Sponsors contributions and auction donations are actively solicited and are 100% tax deductible (we are a non-profit organization). If you believe in our goals and in what we are accomplishing, please contact our club. We also appreciate direct contributions to help defray our expenses as well. Your support and participation will be rewarding & appreciated.