Spring Chinook fishing in northeast Oregon kicks off on Saturday, April 23 with the opening of the upper Snake River to salmon fishing.
The Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife will open the upper Snake River for spring chinook fishing under the following regulations:
• Open to sport fishing seven-days-a-week from Dug Bar Boat Ramp to the deadline below Hells Canyon Dam. The fishery will remain open until a notice of closure is announced.
• The daily bag limit is four hatchery spring Chinook salmon (adult and jacks) per day, no more than two can be an adult salmon more than 24-inches long. Anglers must stop fishing for salmon for the day when they have kept four jack salmon (equal to or less than 24-inches long) or two adult salmon, whichever comes first.
• Only barbless hooks may be used. Anglers are reminded to review the 2016 Oregon Sport Fishing Regulations for other applicable regulations.
ODFW and Idaho Fish and Game fishery managers, who co-manage the upper Snake River sport fishery, anticipate over 2,700 hatchery adult salmon will return to the base of Hell’s Canyon Dam.
“Currently, the run is coming in later than expected but we’re optimistic we will have a good Snake River fishery this year” said Jeff Yanke, ODFW district fish biologist in Enterprise.
“We expect the catch rates to pick up in the upper Snake around mid-May,” he said.
Managers are also monitoring detections of Chinook salmon stocks that support fisheries in the Grande Ronde and Imnaha Rivers. Spring Chinook returns to these basins are much lower than previous years “Our pre-season projections suggest there may be enough fish in both the Imnaha and Grande Ronde basins to have limited opportunity”, Yanke said.
Season changes and closures announcements will be posted on the ODFW website and released through local news outlets.
