Spring chinook salmon fishing in the lower Columbia River will stay open on Saturday, close for four days, then reopen just for April 16, with a projected 97 percent of the early-season allocation caught.
Washington and Oregon officials on Wednesday added the two additional days of angling to a season that had been scheduled to close after Friday.
Biologist Jeff Whisler of the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife said the catch through Friday is projected to be 7,462 upper Columbia-Snake spring chinook, or 72 percent of the 10,318 available prior to a run update in May.
Robin Ehlke, assistant Columbia River policy coordinator for the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife, said catches after Saturday and April 16 are expected to push the total to 97 percent of the allocation allowed under management agreements.
Sportsmen were split Wednesday on how to use the 28 percent of the allocation projected to remain after fishing on Friday.
Some wanted to fish on Saturday and Sunday, while others wanted to take a break then fish Wednesday through Friday of next week.
Randy Woolsey of Tom Posey Co., a Tigard, Ore., sporting and recreation goods wholesaler, said a weekend closure would give retailers two days to market to anglers who are shopping in anticipation of fishing.
Eastern Washington and Idaho interests urged for a two-week break before a final day or two of lower Columbia angling to allow more spring chinook to pass upstream.
Peter Hassemer of the Idaho Department of Fish and Game said the lower Columbia spring chinook fishery catches large numbers of Idaho salmon, which are among the earlier-returning stocks.
However, the potential for a large daily catch increases significantly as April progresses and more chinook are in the Columbia. A year ago, anglers caught about 2,000 chinook when fishing was open just on April 19, and that was only downstream of Rooster Rock, east of Troutdale, Ore.
Guy Norman, regional director of the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife, said fishing on Saturday and Thursday allows anglers a weekend day and a weekday.
“That will be a pretty attractive day (Thursday), sitting out there by itself,” Norman said.
John North of the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife said a weekend day to fish spring salmon in April is “pretty precious.”
“A lot of people would appreciate a Saturday,” North said.
A run of 232,500 spring chinook are forecast to enter the Columbia River headed for tributaries upstream of Bonneville Dam.
To protect against overharvest, the states manage the run as if it were only 162,750 spring chinook until the middle of May, when the actual return can be more accurately projected.
