Additional Fisheries For Anglers On Columbia River

OLYMPIA – Columbia River anglers will have more opportunities to fish for spring chinook and sturgeon under an agreement reached Tuesday by fishery managers from Washington and Oregon.

Fishery managers agreed to extend the spring chinook fishery through June 15 below Bonneville Dam and increase the daily adult chinook limit to two hatchery fish for anglers fishing above and below Bonneville Dam. All wild chinook and wild steelhead must be released.
Below Bonneville, fishery managers also agreed to open the section from Beacon Rock to the deadline below Bonneville to boat angling. That section was previously open only to bank anglers.

The fishery below Bonneville had been scheduled to close June 6 but is being extended to align with the closing date for the fishery above Bonneville Dam. The changes are based on an updated run forecast projecting 116,500 chinook, said Ryan Lothrop, a Columbia River fishery manager for the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW).

"There is sufficient catch allocation to allow us to add a few more days of fishing opportunity in the mainstem Columbia below Bonneville Dam," Lothrop said.

Anglers fishing below Bonneville Dam can now keep two adult hatchery chinook or two adult hatchery steelhead or one of each as part of their daily catch limit. The same regulations also apply above Bonneville Dam.

Also on Tuesday, fishery managers agreed to open white sturgeon retention on Saturday, June 9 in the Columbia River estuary downstream from the Wauna powerlines. The one-day fishery is open from one hour before sunrise through 2 p.m. June 9, when the fishery closes for both retention and catch-and-release fishing.
Retained sturgeon must measure between 44 and 50 inches fork length. The daily limit is one fish and the annual limit is two. All green sturgeon must be released immediately. 

More information about these fisheries can be found online at https://fortress.wa.gov/dfw/erules/efishrules/rules_current_order_by_date.j.