Fishery managers from Oregon and Washington added two additional days, Saturday April 27 and Sunday April 28, to the lower Columbia spring Chinook fishery. The previous re-openings, which occurred the last two weekends, resulted in low catch rates due to poor water conditions. Water conditions are expected to remain challenging this weekend due to high turbidity.
The open area remains unchanged from earlier this season, which is the Columbia River mainstem from the Warrior Rock deadline upstream to Beacon Rock, for both boat and bank angling, plus bank angling only from Beacon Rock upstream to the Bonneville Dam deadline.
The adult daily bag limit is two hatchery salmonids (Chinook or steelhead) per day but only one may be a Chinook.
The additional spring Chinook fishing time was approved after another in-season review confirmed about 60% of the buffered upriver spring Chinook harvest guideline for this fishery remains available.
A Joint State hearing is planned for Wednesday, May 8 to review run and harvest information, and consider additional spring Chinook fishing opportunities.
For more information, including regulation updates, visit ODFW’s online fishing reports at http://www.myodfw.com
