Sturgeon retention will be open Friday through Sunday in Bonneville pool, the last chance to keep a fish until January.
Catches slowed last weekend. The average catch was 123 sturgeon per day the first weekend and 74 fish per day last weekend.
Biologist Jeff Whisler of the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife said 355 sturgeon remain on the allocation, enough to get through the final three days of fishing.
STEVENSON — A Camas angler caught a near-record smallmouth bass last week from the Columbia River in Skamania County.
STEVENSON -- A Camas angler caught a near-record smallmouth bass last week from the Columbia River in Skamania County.
The fisherman, who declined to be named, landed an 8.53-pound smallmouth on a plastic grub near Stevenson. The fish was 21 7/8 inches long with a girth of 18 1/2 inches.
The catch was verified by a Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife biologist in Vancouver.
The state record is an 8.75-pound smallmouth caught in the Hanford Reach of the Columbia River in April 1966.
The fisherman, who declined to be named, landed an 8.53-pound smallmouth on a plastic grub near Stevenson. The fish was 21 7/8 inches long with a girth of 18 1/2 inches.
The catch was verified by a Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife biologist in Vancouver.
The state record is an 8.75-pound smallmouth caught in the Hanford Reach of the Columbia River in April 1966.
Summer chinook fishing will continue through July 31. It was scheduled to close beginning Tuesday, but state officials extended the season and modified the bag limit.
The new limit is two salmon or steelhead, but only one chinook. However, wild chinook are allowed in the bag along with any sockeye and fin-clipped steelhead.
Normally, about 80 percent of the summer chinook catch occurs between June 16 and July 4, so the bulk of the catching is over.
Summer chinook fishing has been spotty. From June 16 to June 28, there were 16,805 angler trips with 1,603 chinook kept and 1,112 released.
Shad fishing remains poor despite decent counts at Bonneville Dam. Apparently the warm water has turned off their biting.
No numbers were available from the coastal salmon season off the southern Washington and northern Oregon coasts, but fishing has been good. A week ago the catch average was 1.5 salmon per rod.
Angler checks from the Washington (WDFW) and Oregon (ODFW) departments of Fish and Wildlife:
Lower Columbia — Megler-Astoria bridge to Wauna power lines, nine boaters with 10 summer chinook kept and five released. (ODFW)
Downstream of Puget Island, five boaters with no salmon or steelhead; 16 bank rods with five steelhead kept. (WDFW)
Westport, Ore., to Portland, 79 boaters with four adult summer chinook, one jack chinook and seven steelhead kept plus eight adult chinook released; 73 Oregon bank rods with four adult chinook, one steelhead and one sockeye kept plus one steelhead released. (ODFW)
Cathlamet, 44 boaters with 20 steelhead and three sockeye kept plus one adult summer chinook and six steelhead released; 59 bank rods with one adult summer chinook and 15 steelhead kept plus eight steelhead released. (WDFW)
Longview, 132 boaters with four adult chinook and 20 steelhead kept plus two adult chinook and five steelhead released; 207 bank rods with one adult chinook, 17 steelhead and one sockeye kept plus one adult chinook and nine steelhead released; 12 boaters with eight legal sturgeon and 68 sublegals released. (WDFW)
Cowlitz River mouth, six boaters with no salmon or steelhead. (WDFW)
Kalama, 80 boaters with seven adult chinook, one steelhead and two sockeye kept plus seven adult chinook, two steelhead and four sockeye released; 119 bank rods with three adult chinook kept and two released; six boaters with seven legal sturgeon, one oversize and 53 sublegals released. (WDFW)
Woodland, 77 boaters with 11 adult chinook kept plus four adult chinook, two steelhead and one sockeye released; 117 bank rods with two adult chinook, two steelhead and one sockeye kept plus two adult chinook released. (WDFW)
Warrior Rock to Kelley Point, 71 boaters with three adult chinook, one steelhead and one sockeye kept plus four steelhead released; 91 bank rods with eight adult chinook and two sockeye kept plus three adult chinook released; three boaters with four legal sturgeon released. (WDFW)
Davis Bar to Portland airport tower, 24 boaters with six adult chinook, four steelhead and two sockeye kept plus one adult chinook released; 182 bank rods with six adult chinook, 10 steelhead and 56 sockeye kept plus one adult chinook and nine steelhead released. (WDFW)
Troutdale, Ore., 85 boaters with nine adult summer chinook kept plus 13 adult chinook and one steelhead released. (ODFW)
Camas-Washougal, 100 boaters with eight adult chinook, one jack chinook and four sockeye kept plus six adult chinook, two jacks and two steelhead released; three bank rods with no catch; five boaters with one walleye kept and five released. (WDFW)
North Bonneville, 20 boaters with five adult chinook kept and three released; 125 bank rods with 11 adult chinook and one sockeye kept plus 13 adult chinook and one steelhead released; one bank rod with one oversize and 11 sublegal sturgeon released; 135 bank rods with 126 shad kept; two boaters with three shad kept. (WDFW)
Columbia Gorge (downstream of Bonneville Dam), 65 boaters with 13 adult chinook, one jack chinook and one sockeye kept plus 28 adult chinook and three jacks released; 10 boaters with eight shad kept; 97 Oregon bank rods with 471 shad kept; 67 Oregon bank rods with 16 adult chinook and one jack chinook kept plus three adult chinook released. (ODFW)
Mid-Columbia — Bonneville pool, 524 boaters with 84 legal sturgeon kept plus 19 legal, 59 oversize and 1,542 sublegals released; 81 bank rods with three legal sturgeon kept plus two oversize and 41 sublegals released; five boaters with one summer chinook released; 16 bank rods with no salmon or steelhead; three boaters with no walleye; 24 boaters with 146 bass released; six bank rods with two bass kept. (WDFW)
The Dalles pool, 10 boaters with 11 walleye kept and two released. (WDFW)
Cowlitz — Five bank rods with no steelhead. (WDFW)
