greetings from Monterey Bay, CA

Been a member of NCKA for many years and fish the central coast of CA for anything that swims.  Or crawls. Halibut, seabass, lings, rockies, stripers, salmon, crabs, sand dabs even perch in desperation.

My son is looking into potential colleges and as Washington is on his list, checking out the fishing opportunities.  Lets just say I am discouraging anything that is not coastal.  I mean sure Kansas may have a great school, but without salt water therapy, none of it will stick

What are his intended majors?  Also curious why he's looking up here.  The bigger Cali schools are generally pretty good, and last I heard cheap for in-state tuition (granted that was 10 years ago I last talked to anyone about it). 

Anyway, not much point coming up to WA.  No fish of any consequence have been caught up here in a looooong time. 

UW on the list? Great fishery program. Campus is on one of the best lakes for large wild trout, and bass in the state. And about 20 mins from the Puget Sound where he'll get plenty of salmon opportunities July to Oct.

Of course there's a lot of smaller great colleges around the state.

What programs is he looking for?  I've been taking electrical engineering classes at Portland State since 2010 and I'm pretty happy with my experience.

I would have him steer clear of WSU-Vancouver. It is a pretty little campus but they are growing too fast for their own good. They have low faculty retention and are more interested in investing in capitol growth rather than the intellectual growth of their students. UW and Western Washington are all superior choices.

I grew up in Kansas. It is definitely not a destination location for the fisherman but has decent warm water fisheries on its limited water. If you are into bird hunting Kansas will not be a disappointment.

Have to agree with sumpNZ, it depends upon what he wants to study (at this point) as to where to look.  Oregon State is a good school and they are growing by leaps and bounds but in a good way, 180 tenure track new professors, ~300 million in new campus construction etc.  I also really happen to like Corvallis as a town.  As a bonus thought, I finished my last exam on a Friday, Monday I was offered a job and flew to my new job that Sunday.  All of my friends (that were looking for work) were hired in less than a month as well.

Hi Eugene!   

Go Huskies!

Here's a recent pic of Eugene's son Nathan.  With skills like this, I'm sure they'll "let him in".

-Allen

OSU has a great Fisheries program and etc. Close to the coast with the Marine lab here in Newport.

Wes

P.S. that LING IS HUGE   

Hey E2!

My daughter, Ema, is in her 2d year at UW.  and lovng it.  Sadly she does not fish, but the school is top-notch, town is great, and there are actually jobs to be had, unlike California.

For youse NWKA'rs here's another shot of Nathan- winning 2d place in a recent derby.

Bushy

Humboldt State is a really good school, particularly in wildlife, fisheries, forestry and you get that in state tuition.  Fishing is quite good, Trinidad head is an easy launch.  Oregon State is really strong, my daughter is there studying Ecological Engineering

thanks folks.  Nathan is into gymnastics, so all the colleges he is looking at have programs.   Not many coastal schools still have a mens program.