Washington and Oregon officials have announced a 15-day fishing season for summer chinook and sockeye salmon in the lower Columbia River in June.
Angling will be open downstream of Bonneville Dam from June 16 through 30 with a daily limit of two adult salmon or steelhead or one of both. Only fin-clipped hatchery chinook or steelhead, but any sockeye, may be retained.
It is possible chinook remaining on the spring allocation might be caught in mid-June, allowing the season to open before June 16.
A summer chinook run of 73,500 is forecast to enter the Columbia. The return in 2012 was 58,300.
A run of 180,500 sockeye is predicted compared to 2012’s return of 521,000.
The summer steelhead forecast is 339,200, while 2012’s return was 230,800.
Other fisheries adopted by the Pacific Fishery Management Council, Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife and Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife include:
Buoy 10 — Angling between Buoy No. 10 at the Columbia River mouth and Tongue Point in Oregon and Rocky Point in Washington will be open for chinook and hatchery coho from Aug. 1 through Sept. 1.
The daily limit will be two salmon, but only one chinook.
From Sept. 2-30, two hatchery coho may be retained but no chinook.
Lower Columbia — From Tongue Point-Rocky Point to Bonneville Dam, the Columbia will open Aug. 1 for any chinook and hatchery coho. One chinook will be allowed in the daily bag.
Hatchery chinook only may be retained from Sept 6-12 downstream of the Lewis River to Tongue Point-Rocky Point, then all chinook retention closes downstream of the Lewis until Oct. 1.
Upstream of the Lewis River mouth, chinook retention continues uninterrupted Aug. 1-Dec. 31.
Ocean salmon — Fishing for hatchery chinook will be open daily June 8-21 in the ocean between Cape Falcon, Oregon, and Leadbetter Point, Washington.
Fishing for any chinook and hatchery coho will open June 22 off the southern Washington-northern Oregon coast and is likely to be open all summer.
