The Oregon Department of Fish & Wildlife has set regulations for a spring Chinook fishery on the Hood River.
The regulations are:
- Open for adult hatchery Chinook from April 15 through June 30 from the mouth to mainstem confluence with the East Fork, and the West Fork from the confluence with the mainstem upstream to the angling deadline 200 feet downstream of Punchbowl Falls.
- The catch limit is two adult hatchery salmon per day, and five hatchery jack salmon per day.
- All wild Chinook salmon must be released unharmed.
Fishery managers are predicting a relatively strong return of nearly 1,200 hatchery fish for the Hood River, which is slightly less than last year’s strong return.
Regrettably there will not be a spring salmon season on the Deschutes River this year due to predicted poor returns of both hatchery and wild fish.
According to Rod French, ODFW fish biologist, the Hood River fishery is one of the few places a bank angler has a pretty good chance of catching a Columbia River spring Chinook. While the fishery will open in mid-April, French said the run usually peaks in late May due to colder water temperatures in the Hood River.
