A lower than expected harvest of chinook salmon at the Columbia River mouth prompted the two-state Columbia River Compact at its hearing August 31 to extend the popular Buoy 10 recreational fishing season by nine days through September 14.

With quotas still unmet, the two-state Columbia River Compact, meeting last week and this week, sent recreational anglers and commercial gillnetters downstream of Bonneville Dam -- along with tribal gillnetters upstream of the dam -- fishing for the last remnants of the spring chinook salmon run.

With lower fishing success than expected by recreational anglers fishing upstream of Bonneville Dam to the Oregon and Washington border, along with a surge of spring chinook salmon passing the dam, the two-state Columbia River Compact yesterday extended recreational fishing through this weekend.

Spring steelhead anglers can fish the Grande Ronde, Wallowa, and Imnaha Rivers including Big Sheep Creek through April 30 due to 2016 regulation changes that went into effect Jan. 1. The old closure date was April 15.

The popular spring chinook fisheries on the Deschutes and Hood rivers will open this spring.

Anglers can now fish for bass, walleye and channel catfish without daily catch or size limits from the mouth of the Columbia River 545 miles upstream to Chief Joseph Dam.

Fishing in Idaho for spring and summer chinook will probably happen in the same places as last year if pre-season forecasts are correct, but the run size is expected to be smaller than last year, and anglers could see shorter seasons and/or lower bag limits.

Regular closures on catch and release waters could actually improve the quality of angling when the waters are reopened, according to a recent study.

More than 150 steelhead were stocked in the Boise River on Thursday the first of two planned stocking efforts prior to the Thanksgiving holiday.

With most of the second largest run of fall chinook salmon on record now upstream of Bonneville Dam on the Columbia River and entering tributaries, and a coho salmon run that so far has failed to materialize, Northwest states are beginning to scale back or end sportfishing catch limits for both species.

After record-breaking catches of fall chinook salmon in the Buoy 10 fishery at the mouth of the Columbia River, the two-state Columbia River Compact is prohibiting the take of all chinook salmon beginning tomorrow.