Spring chinook salmon anglers in the lower Columbia River will return to the water on Saturday and Sunday.
Washington and Oregon on Thursday approved the two days of angling, along with 14 hours of commercial fishing on Monday.
“We’re kind of blessed to have some run sizes to get to fish — arguably — close to the peak of the run,” said Randy Woolsey of the Northwest Sportfishing Industry Association.
The Columbia River Technical Advisory Committee on Wednesday updated the forecast for upper Columbia-Snake spring chinook to 220,000.
The update allows state officials to remove the buffers in place against overpredicting the run and to allocate additional salmon to sport and commercial fishermen.
Anglers harvested 10,134 upper Columbia-Snake-origin spring chinook through April 16, when fishing closed, said Robin Ehlke, assistant Columbia River policy coordinator for the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife.
With the buffers removed, the updated forecast leaves 4,021 upper Columbia-Snake chinook available for lower Columbia sportsmen.
Ehlke said anglers during the two days are projected to catch and keep 2,920 total chinook and release 680 more. Catch plus release mortalities of upper Columbia-Snake fish are expected to total 2,660.
That leaves 1,361 upper Columbia-Snake chinook available through the end of spring salmon management period on June 15.
Sport fishing for hatchery summer steelhead and hatchery jack chinook opens May 16 downstream of Interstate 5.
Biologist Jeff Whisler of the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife said about 3,100 to 3,200 chinook are needed to allow a chinook in the daily limit during the mid-May to mid-June steelhead fishery.
The approximately 1,360 upper Columbia-Snake chinook expected to be left on the sport allocation is about enough to allow chinook retention to resume June 1 and continue through June 15, Whisler said.
June 16 starts the summer chinook management period, when different guidelines apply.
The spring chinook forecast needs to be upgraded to about 250,000 to allow for this weekend’s fishery and to permit a chinook in the bag beginning May 16.
Guy Norman, regional director of the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife, said he is encouraged by strong counts in recent days at Bonneville Dam and is hopeful a chinook can be allowed in the daily bag limit on May 16, but it’s not guaranteed.
“If we forego this opportunity, we can never get these days back,” Norman said.
Commercial season — The commercial fleet will fish from 10 a.m. Monday until midnight from Beacon Rock downstream.
Ehlke said the commercials have caught 1,361 upper Columbia-Snake spring chinook from an overall allocation of 4,101. They are projected to catch 1,400 on Monday, leaving a balance of 1,340.
Robert Sudar, a commercial fish buyer from Longview, said Mothers Day weekend is an important time to sell salmon.
“The markets are hungry for fish,” he said.
The fleet will use 4.25-inch-mesh nets, which allow for release of wild chinook. The commercials are expected to be paid about $7 per pound for spring chinook.
