Fisheries managers in Oregon and Washington have again added more fishing days to the spring chinook salmon fishery on the lower Columbia River.
The Columbia season will now remain open through Thursday, April 11, from Buoy 10 to the boater deadline that’s about four miles below Bonneville Dam (basically below Beacon Rock). Bank anglers can fish closer to the dam. Previously, the state agencies set a closure after this Friday, so it’s on this weekend and a little beyond!
You can keep just a single hatchery Chinook in this area. You also can keep a hatchery steelhead (or two hatchery steelhead, for that matter).
Biologists have determined that relatively low catches so far means that harvests will still be below their target levels that are based on run forecasts.
This is good timing because the springer catch rates are just starting to get more consistent on the Columbia.
When the Columbia is closed, we’ll still have lots of good weeks to catch springers on the Lower Willamette River in Portland.
Here’s the Columbia River Action Notice (scroll down to the recreational fishery section).
A happy client with a spring chinook he caught fishing with me on the Columbia River near Portland.
Last Updated on by Marv
