Salmon fishing rules change on Sunday with the arrival of the summer chinook season.
The daily bag limit is two adult salmon or steelhead. Only fin-clipped chinook or fin-clipped steelhead can be retained, but any sockeye. Sockeye count as part of the two-fish limit.
Summer chinook and sockeye retention will be open daily through June 30 downstream of Bonneville Dam and through July 31 from Bonneville Dam upstream to the Highway 395 bridge in the Tri-Cities.
The sport allocation is 2,525 summer chinook downstream of Bonneville Dam and 635 between Bonneville and Priest Rapids dams. A run of 73,500 is forecast.
The gillnetters will fish from 9 p.m. Sunday until 5 a.m. Monday. State biologists predict a catch of about 2,500 chinook and 280 sturgeon. The gillnet catch allocation is 2,585.
Saturday is the final day for sturgeon retention between the Wauna power lines and Bonneville Dam until October.
Estuary sturgeon catches are improving. Through Sunday, 37 percent of the estuary quota had been taken. The season is scheduled to continue through June 30, but that may be in doubt. Catches are much better than modeled.
Kokanee fishing has been quite poor at Merwin Reservoir, but is much better at Yale Reservoir. The fish in Yale this summer are between 10 and 11 inches.
Smallmouth bass and walleye fishing have been good in the Columbia Gorge. Sturgeon retention will be allowed in the Bonneville pool on Friday and Saturday and again June 21-22.
At Ilwaco, 79 anglers caught 28 chinook in the hatchery-chinook-only opener. The Westport numbers were 684 anglers with 179 chinook.
Angler checks from the Washington (WDFW) and Oregon (ODFW) departments of Fish and Wildlife:
Lower Columbia — Buoy 10 to Puget Island, 478 boaters with 139 legal sturgeon kept plus 19 legal, 47 oversize and 461 sublegals released; 15 charter anglers with one legal sturgeon kept plus one oversize and one sublegal released. (ODFW)
Fort Canby/Ilwaco boat ramps, 288 charter anglers with 112 legal sturgeon kept plus four legal, 56 oversize and 228 sublegals released; 56 private boaters with nine legal sturgeon kept plus two oversize and 24 sublegals released. (ODFW)
Chinook, 83 private boaters with 18 legal sturgeon kept plus one legal, six oversize and 15 sublegals released. (WDFW)
Knappton, Deep River ramps, 66 boaters with 20 legal sturgeon kept plus four oversize and 52 sublegals released. (WDFW)
Tongue Point to Westport, 45 boaters with four adult chinook, three jack chinook and four steelhead kept plus four adult chinook and one steelhead released. (ODFW)
Estuary, eight boaters with one steelhead kept plus one steelhead and one chinook released; 33 bank rods with four steelhead kept. (WDFW)
Westport to Portland, 116 boaters with two adult chinook and one steelhead kept plus five adult chinook and two jacks released; three boaters with 42 shad kept. (ODFW)
Cathlamet, 41 boaters with three steelhead and one spring chinook kept plus one spring chinook and one steelhead released; 40 bank rods with four steelhead kept; six boaters with two legal sturgeon kept plus five sublegals released. (WDFW)
Longview to Portland, 42 boaters with 11 legal sturgeon kept plus one oversize and 36 sublegals released. (WDFW)
Longview, 201 boaters with 13 adult spring chinook, three jack chinook and 14 steelhead kept plus seven adult chinook, three jacks and one steelhead released; 235 bank rods with 15 steelhead and one chinook kept plus two steelhead and two sockeye released; 39 boaters with five legal sturgeon kept; four boaters with no shad. (WDFW)
Cowlitz River mouth, 20 boaters with five chinook kept and two released. (WDFW)
Kalama, 108 boaters with 13 adult chinook and two jack kept plus 11 adult chinook and two jacks released; 186 bank rods with nine adult chinook, three jacks and three steelhead kept plus 11 adult chinook and one sockeye released; 95 boaters with eight sublegal sturgeon kept and one legal sturgeon released; seven boaters with eight shad kept. (WDFW)
Woodland, 57 boaters with one adult chinook and two jacks kept plus two adult chinook and one jack released; 177 bank rods with six adult chinook and one steelhead kept plus three chinook released; 15 boaters with four legal sturgeon kept plus one legal and 35 sublegals released; three boaters with 13 shad kept. (WDFW)
Warrior Rock to Kelley Point, 100 boaters with six adult chinook and two jacks kept plus five adult chinook released; 190 bank rods with eight adult chinook and one jack kept plus three adult chinook, three jacks and one sockeye released; 10 boaters with one legal sturgeon kept plus five sublegals released. (WDFW)
Davis Bar to Portland airport tower, 22 boaters with one adult chinook released; eight boaters with four sublegal sturgeon released; 18 boaters with 54 shad kept and 31 released. (WDFW)
Troutdale, 116 boaters with four adult chinook and three jacks kept plus four adult chinook and four jacks released; 48 boaters with 252 shad kept; seven boats with 10 sublegal sturgeon released. (WDFW)
Camas-Washougal, 71 boaters with three adult chinook kept and five released; five boaters with seven sublegal sturgeon released; five bank rods with no sturgeon; 63 boaters with 528 shad kept and 119 released; 82 bank rods with 573 shad kept and 24 released. (WDFW)
North Bonneville, 10 boaters with no salmon or steelhead; 261 bank rods with 17 adult chinook and eight jacks kept plus 20 adult chinook and two jacks released; 13 boaters with 210 shad kept and 40 released; 928 bank rods with 9,528 shad kept and 53 released. (WDFW)
Columbia Gorge (downstream of Bonneville Dam), 21 boaters with four adult chinook and one jack kept plus two adult chinook released; 71 boaters with 695 shad kept and 205 released. (ODFW)
Columbia Gorge (downstream of Marker 82), 10 boaters with one oversize and 11 sublegal sturgeon released. (ODFW)
Mid-Columbia — The Dalles pool, 13 boaters with four walleye kept and nine released; 11 boaters with 69 bass kept and 11 released; four bank rods with two bass released; five boaters with 35 sublegal sturgeon released; 38 bank rods with two legal sturgeon kept plus one oversize and 24 sublegals released; 10 bank rods with one chinook kept and one released.
John Day pool, 69 boaters with 51 walleye kept and seven released; 16 boaters with 14 bass kept and 158 released; nine bank rods with six bass kept; 14 boaters with 17 sublegal sturgeon released. (WDFW)
Cowlitz — Fifteen bank rods with three adult spring chinook kept; two boaters with one adult spring chinook kept. (WDFW)
North Fork Lewis — Fifteen bank rods with one steelhead kept; two boaters with no salmon or steelhead. (WDFW)
Wind — In the upper river, two bank rods with no catch. (WDFW)
Drano Lake — Two boaters with no catch. (WDFW)
Klickitat — Six bank rods with one adult chinook and one jack chinook kept. (WDFW)
Yale Reservoir — Two boaters with 18 kokanee.
