Fishery managers have announced 2013 summer and fall salmon and steelhead fishing seasons on the Columbia River.
With most of the allowable Columbia River upriver spring chinook salmon catch in hand, it appears as if anglers, and commercial fishers, will be kept off the lower river for a while until the catch data and/or run-size can be re-evaluated.
Oregon and Washington fishery officials Wednesday opted to extend the lower Columbia River season by six fishing days after eyeing a slowly swelling fish return, and the fact that anglers so far only have an estimated 1,572 upriver spring chinook salmon in hand that count toward an early season harvest limit of 4,900 fish.
Decisions over the past two weeks served to match up white sturgeon catch limits across the states of Oregon and Washington at two fish per year per angler.
The state of Oregon and NOAA Fisheries, joined by three sport fishing organizations, say that the operation of northwest Oregon’s Sandy Hatchery under newly approved federal guidelines is legal and does not jeopardize wild salmon and steelhead protected under the Endangered Act.
Anglers fishing along the Washington coast will likely see a lower catch quota for spring chinook salmon this year, while the quota for coho is expected to be similar to last season, the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife announced this week.
Most anglers would agree that a successful fishing trip involves a certain amount of luck. One Hagerman fisherman had plenty of that when an outing to Lower Salmon Falls Reservoir resulted in a $1,000 payday from Idaho Power.
The Washington Fish and Wildlife Commission on March 1 adopted numerous changes to sportfishing rules, including a paring down of the white sturgeon catch limit and the elimination of catch restrictions for non-native predators that gobble up protected, and non-listed, juvenile salmon and steelhead.
Idaho Fish and Game hosted a meeting in Priest River on February 28 to share information and answer questions about the future management of the fishery in Priest Lake.
Fisheries managers have announced that the popular spring chinook fishery on central Oregon’s Deschutes River will not open in 2013 due to anticipated low returns of both hatchery produced and wild fish.
The Washington Fish and Wildlife Commission will next week ponder nearly 70 proposed sportfishing rule changes, including one that is intended to boost the harvest of walleye, smallmouth bass and channel catfish in the mid and upper Columbia and lower Snake rivers and thus reduce predation on protected salmon and steelhead.
The Idaho Department of Fish and Game is set to launch a comprehensive study of the lake trout population in the northern panhandle’s Priest Lake as the first step toward a better understanding of how and why the big, non-native “mackinaw” thrive.
Oregon and Washington fishery managers on Wednesday established new rules for the white sturgeon fishery that will reduce harvest rates for the fourth straight year for the lower Columbia River (146 river miles from Bonneville Dam to the river mouth).
It is expected to be slim pickings this year for lower Columbia River fishers who like to pursue white sturgeon.
And there will be no pickings at all for eulachon, commonly known as smelt.
Starting New Year’s Day, anglers will be required to use barbless hooks until further notice when fishing for salmon, steelhead and cutthroat on a large section of the Columbia River.
“Preliminary” results released this week by the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife indicate that lower Columbia River anglers did well this year despite 2012 salmon and steelhead runs that, for the most part, returned in fewer numbers than had been expected.
Washington Gov. Chris Gregoire signed an executive order this week noting recommendations from her Blue Ribbon Panel on Ocean Acidification to address the growing problem of ocean acidification in Washington, which threatens the state’s shellfish resources and its $270 million shellfish industry.
Anglers on north Idaho’s vast Lake Pend Oreille will next year likely get to target kokanee for the first time since 2000 when fisheries for the land-locked sockeye salmon were closed because of plummeting populations.
Idaho Fish and Game planned to stock more than 250 steelhead in the Boise River Thursday, Nov. 1 -- the first of two planned releases during the next few weeks.
New data collected by Columbia Riverkeeper reveal high levels of toxic pollution in fish caught by an angler in the Portland area’s Columbia Slough as well in resident fish caught upstream and downstream.
Oregon and Washington fishery managers decided Tuesday that the white sturgeon retention season for anglers on the lower Columbia River upstream of the Wauna powerlines will not open Oct. 20 as planned.
Anglers will be allowed to retain adult hatchery chinook salmon along the 70-mile stretch of the lower Columbia River during a weeklong pilot fishery that started Monday and runs through Sunday, Sept. 16.
The total “kept” sport catch for adult fall chinook salmon from the lower Columbia River (from Bonneville Dam downstream nearly 130 river miles to Oregon’s Tongue Point) during August 2012 was 7,584 fish, which is the highest catch for the month on a record dating back to at least 1969.
Record sockeye salmon returns flooding the upper Columbia River region this year have allowed Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife fishery managers to extend fishing opportunity in Lake Wenatchee sockeye through Labor Day and increase the daily bag limit.
Fisheries officials say that the estimated total recreational fishing “handle” of 20,451 steelhead trout during July on the lower Columbia River mainstem from Bonneville Dam down to the mouth is the highest on a record dating back to at least 1969.
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