Fishery managers from Oregon and Washington added four additional days (Saturday, April 8 through Tuesday, April 11) of recreational spring Chinook salmon fishing in the mainstem Columbia River downstream of Bonneville Dam during a joint state meeting today.
With the additional days, the following seasons are in effect:
Downstream of Bonneville Dam
- Open through Tuesday, April 11
- Bag limit: Two adult hatchery salmonids (Chinook or steelhead) per day, but only one may be a Chinook
- Open area: Buoy 10 line upstream to Beacon Rock (boat and bank) plus bank angling only from Beacon Rock upstream to the Bonneville Dam deadline. Go online for exact boundaries
- Shad may also be retained
The season upstream of Bonneville Dam, from the Tower Island power lines upstream to the Oregon/Washington border, started April 1 and continues through Saturday, May 6 as originally scheduled.
Through Sunday, April 2, the combined season kept catch is approximately 600 adult spring Chinook from more than 23,000 angler trips. The recreational fishery has used about 4 percent of the upriver spring Chinook ESA allocation available prior to a run size update.
Staff expect this fishery to use a cumulative total of 12 percent of the pre-update allocation by April 7, when the fishery was originally scheduled to close, leaving room to add more days and remain confident that the fishery will be well within its conservation limits.
The fishery will be closely monitored, and an upriver spring Chinook run size update is expected in mid-May. More fishing days may be added at that point. There have been 222 adult spring Chinook counted at Bonneville Dam through April 3. It is still very early in the run — based on 10-year average run timing, to date, less than one percent of the adult upriver spring Chinook destined for the Columbia River have passed Bonneville Dam.
All other permanent regulations are in effect including that the use of barbless hooks is required when angling for salmon or steelhead in mainstem Columbia River waters from the mouth upstream to the OR/WA state line.
