Fishery managers from Oregon and Washington have closed sturgeon retention in Bonneville and The Dalles pools prior to the next scheduled retention day – Saturday, Jan. 4).
The closure areas are the Bonneville Pool (mainstem Columbia River from Bonneville Dam to The Dalles Dam, and all adjacent tributaries) and The Dalles Pool (mainstem Columbia River from The Dalles Dam to John Day Dam, and all adjacent tributaries).
Catch estimates from the states’ harvest monitoring program indicate the recreational fishery in Bonneville Pool exceeded its white sturgeon recreational harvest guideline of 675 fish on opening day yesterday following record effort and catch rates. The Dalles Pool fishery would also exceed its harvest guideline of 275 fish if retention remained open as scheduled.
The 2025 retention fishery in these two pools was originally scheduled to be open on Wednesdays and Saturdays only from Jan. 1-29 (down from a three-day-per week fishing season for the last few years) but is closing after only one day. Sturgeon retention fisheries upstream of Bonneville Dam have grown very popular over the last several years and harvest guidelines can be rapidly met when effort is high and fishing conditions are favorable like they were yesterday.
“We’re seeing and hearing about a lot of successful sturgeon anglers and it was another record-setting opening day,” said Tucker Jones, Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife Ocean Salmon and Columbia River Program manager. “But when we set 2026 regulations in late 2025, we’ll want to have an honest conversation with the public about whether we should continue to keep sturgeon retention open on New Year’s Day.
“It’s proven impossible to offer any meaningful number of retention days due to the fishery’s popularity, so we’ll want feedback from anglers,” Jones said. “Should we change the way the season is structured to attempt to extend the season longer?”
The Dalles Pool fishery used a little over half of its guideline on the opening day so additional retention opportunity may be considered at the Compact/Joint State hearing scheduled for Jan. 16.
Sturgeon retention remains open seven days a week in John Day Pool until the harvest guideline of 105 sturgeon is met. This fishery has historically been slower to reach its catch guideline and has provided more retention days than the Bonneville and The Dalles pools.
Catch-and-release sturgeon fishing remains open in Bonneville and The Dalles pools and in other areas on the mainstem Columbia, except angling for sturgeon is prohibited May 1-Aug. 31 within sanctuary areas below each of the dam tailraces. See the permanent regulations for details on the ODFW website.
Anglers should always check the Fishing Report for their zone for the latest in-season regulation changes.
