Columbia River fisheries managers are expecting the largest return of fall chinook salmon since 2004 to begin arriving when the fall sport fishing season gets under way Aug. 1.
Fishery managers from Oregon and Washington on July 15 announced that the sockeye salmon season on the Columbia River between the Astoria-Megler Bridge near the river mouth and Highway 395 Bridge near Pasco, Wash., as well as the retention of adult chinook downstream from Bonneville Dam, would be closed Monday, July 18 through July 31.
Chinook salmon fishing for Rapid River Hatchery fish is very good in the Lower Salmon and Little Salmon Rivers.
With the upriver spring chinook season showing considerable strength, fishery managers from Washington and Oregon on May 13 decided to reopen the popular sport fishery on the lower Columbia River mainstem through June 15.
Sunday, May 1, marked the beginning of the Northern Pikeminnow Sport Reward Fishery Program in the Columbia and Snake Rivers, offering cash to anglers who catch the predatory fish.
Oregon and Washington officials on Thursday voted to trigger a four-day extension of the lower Columbia River sport spring chinook salmon fishery, saying it posed little risk of breaching harvest limits established in negotiations with treaty tribes and the state of Idaho.
The Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife will host three public meetings in coastal communities later this month to solicit input on regulations for the 2011 fall chinook salmon and coho seasons in Oregon bays and coastal rivers.
A spring chinook fishery closed April 4, and slowed so far by a sudden flood of spring runoff, gets another shot with an opener on the lower Columbia River mainstem that is expected to last from today through at least next Friday, April 15.
The Idaho Fish and Game Commission has adopted spring chinook seasons as proposed by Idaho Department of Fish and Game managers.
Oregon and Washington fishery managers announced Monday the closure of sturgeon retention in the John Day Dam reservoir of the Columbia River effective at the end of the day Saturday.
Central Idaho anglers are enjoying a kokanee bonanza these days thanks to the inadvertent flushing of thousands of fish through Dworshak Dam into the North Fork of the Clearwater River below.
Only a hint of the annual spring chinook salmon run has arrived in the Columbia River but anxious sport fishers are doing their best land some of the precious cargo, already logging an estimated 13,452 angler trips to the lower mainstem through March 6 this year.
Anglers fishing along the north Oregon and Washington coast will see a lower catch quota for chinook salmon this year even though the total number of fish expected to return is higher than in 2010.
The ocean recreational coho and chinook salmon fisheries off the coast of Washington would vary under the ocean fishing options being considered this year by the Pacific Fishery Management Council.
Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar announced last week the distribution of more than $749 million in excise tax revenues generated by sportsmen and women to state and territorial fish and wildlife agencies through the Dingell-Johnson Sport Fish Restoration and Pittman-Robertson Wildlife Restoration programs.
Fishery managers from Washington and Oregon on Tuesday set a spring chinook fishing season for the Columbia River that is expected to entice nearly 100,000 angler trips this year.
By Bob Esselman, Idaho Department of Fish and Game
Even after years of working on Idaho's rivers and streams, a fisheries project can still amaze me.
Columbia River anglers who fish for salmon and steelhead will not be required to switch to barbless hooks next year, but state fishery managers are asking them to do it voluntarily.
A draft environmental review for a lake trout netting project on Flathead Lake has been delayed but should be released sometime this winter, an official with the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes said Thursday.
Anglers hooked large payoffs during this year’s Northern Pikeminnow Sport Reward Fishery Program, raking in over $1.2 million by catching 173,112 of the voracious salmon eaters.
For Columbia River mainstem anglers, the month of August provides plenty of opportunity.
One of the best returns of fall chinook salmon in several years is expected and the fishing seasons begins Sunday (Aug. 1) for chinook and hatchery coho salmon. And summer steelhead are expected to continue providing good fishing well into September.
The Idaho Fish and Game Commission has adopted a recommended harvest season on fall chinook salmon to open September 1.
It is too soon to say much about upriver summer steelhead counts at Bonneville Dam this year since the return to the Columbia River basin is just starting to build momentum.
CBB Shorts: Ocean Chinook Harvest; Spring Chinook Fishing In Wallowa, Imnaha; Fall Chinook Fishing In Deschutes; $30 Million For Puget Sound; Eastern Oregon Watershed Restoration; Carbon Emissions Impact Fish; Salmon In Hot Water; Potential Water Crisis In West
A record-setting surge of sockeye salmon over Bonneville Dam has given fishery managers the confidence that they can allow anglers to target the species in the Columbia River mainstem without sacrificing upriver escapement goals and impact limits.
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