On March 21, Hayden Lake in North Idaho produced a new certified state record northern pike. The record fish weighed a whopping 40.76 pounds, was 49 inches in length and 26.5 inches in girth – a true monster of a fish.
With a higher than average number of spring Chinook salmon forecasted to return to the Columbia River and pass Bonneville Dam this year, Oregon and Washington approved start and ending dates for recreational fishing in the river.
Fishery managers from Oregon and Washington today closed sturgeon retention in Bonneville Pool as of Jan. 12.
Due to ongoing low returns of upriver summer steelhead in the Columbia Basin, fishing restrictions will continue in the new year in the Columbia River mainstem upstream of The Dalles Dam and in the John Day and Walla Walla Rivers.
It was a typical cold, December day in central Idaho with rain down low and snow in the mountains. While many anglers might have been thinking about ice-fishing, winter steelhead, or even putting a fresh coat of wax on their skis and hitting the slopes, Joey Walton had other plans: big Smallmouth bass. Knowing he had to make the long run across the reservoir, he set out early in search of a trophy.
In 2022, anglers caught and removed more than 140,000 northern pikeminnow from the Columbia and Snake rivers, which the Bonneville Power Administration says is protecting hundreds of thousands of young salmon and steelhead from predation.
The 2023 white sturgeon fishing season gets underway Sunday, Jan. 1, 2023 on select sections of the Columbia River upstream of Bonneville Dam, fishery managers from Oregon and Washington announced Wednesday.
Central Oregon’s Crooked River became the first Oregon river the state has closed to angling specifically due to drought-related low flows that could result in major impacts on fish as well as on efforts to reintroduce salmon and steelhead to the river.
The lower Columbia River below Bonneville Dam will open additional areas for recreational salmon fishing beginning Oct. 1, fishery managers from Washington and Oregon announced Wednesday.
Starting Saturday, Sept. 24, anglers will be able to harvest coho salmon in the Grande Ronde River for the third time since they were reintroduced in 2017.
After an abrupt closure of the lower Columbia River to recreational angling on Sept. 2 just prior to Labor Day weekend, Oregon and Washington fishery managers this week are reopening two sections of the river to salmon fishing.
Angling for steelhead in central Oregon’s John Day River will close next week because the minimum abundance threshold for wild steelhead has not been met at Bonneville Dam. The count so far this summer is 25 percent short of the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife’s abundance goal that would have allowed the John Day to remain open.
Despite decades of resiliency, climate change may put Montana’s popular trout fisheries at risk, according to a new study.
The challenge of managing harvest of a decent run of salmon heading up the Columbia River that is mixed with populations listed under the federal Endangered Species Act came home to roost to Thursday just before what was expected to be a busy weekend of recreational angling below Bonneville Dam.
Well, it's happened again. C.J. Strike Reservoir in southwestern Idaho - typically known for abundant crappie and smallmouth bass - has once again produced an eye-popping state record fish.
Columbia River fishery managers from Oregon and Washington added 13 days of summer Chinook fishing below Bonneville Dam starting today, July 1 through Wednesday, July 13. The move comes as the sockeye return is now predicted to be more than double the preseason forecast.
Last week, an angler reported to Idaho Fish and Game that he had recently caught a walleye on the Snake River below Swan Falls Dam in Southwest Idaho. The angler provided photos, allowing fisheries biologists to confirm that it was a walleye. The angler will also provide the carcass to IDFG.
Last summer was particularly dry and hot in much of Idaho, renewing concerns among some trout anglers about fishing when water temperatures climb. Anglers are often concerned that maybe they shouldn’t be fishing on the hottest days for fear that they might be reducing trout populations, but a recent study on Idaho rivers during a hot summer showed catch-and-release angling did not harm the trout population.
Following another run upgrade, fishery managers from Oregon and Washington adopted additional fishing opportunity for spring Chinook salmon in the mainstem Columbia River from the Tongue Point area near Astoria to the Oregon/Washington state line upstream of McNary Dam and increased the bag limit for Chinook to up to two adults per day.
With another low run of summer steelhead forecast, angling closures for steelhead, bass and salmon will be in effect for parts of the Deschutes River this summer starting as early as June 1.
With a second upgrade of returning upriver Columbia River spring chinook in hand, Washington and Oregon fisheries managers opened up more mainstem recreational fishing and approved a one-day mainstem commercial tangle net fishery.
Travis Wendt of Lewiston, Idaho hooked a massive 23.5-inch smallmouth bass while fishing Dworshak Reservoir on May 10th. After a quick photo, Travis released the bass back into the lake, and secured a new catch-and-release state record.
On Saturday, May 7, off-duty Regional Fisheries Biologist Mike Thomas was fishing the Boulder Creek arm of Lake Cascade with local angler Chris Weber, when Weber landed an illegally stocked, 20-inch, nearly 3-pound mature male walleye. This is the second report of walleye in Lake Cascade in the past four years – with the first report back in 2018, when an angler reported catching a 19-inch walleye near Crown Point.
The Lower Elwha Klallam Tribe, Olympic National Park and the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife announced an extension to the recreational and commercial fishing closure for the Elwha River and its tributaries through June 30, 2023.
In 2021, an angler brought in a cool $61,409 for hooking 7,185 salmon-eating northern pikeminnows from the Columbia River. That guy or gal could make even more this year.
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