Anglers get a chance to actually retain a sturgeon beginning Friday as the first of three, three-day seasons open in the Bonneville pool of the Columbia River.
Retention is scheduled Friday through Sunday, then again June 26 to 28 and July 3 to 5.
Sport fishermen kept 155 sturgeon from Bonneville pool in the two-month winter season, which ended March 2. That leaves 945 fish on the annual sport allocation of 1,100.
Sturgeon in Bonneville pool must be between 38 and 54 inches fork length to be retained. The daily bag limit is one. The seasonal limit is two. Single, barbless hooks are required.
No sturgeon fishing is allowed in the spawning sanctuary, which is from The Dalles Dam downstream for 1.8 miles to the boat ramp at the Port of The Dalles.
o Horseshoe Lake at Woodland is getting stocked with 250 jumbo-size rainbow trout for Father’s Day weekend. The trout average 15 to 17 inches. Also stocked were 2,000 catchable-size brown trout.
o Shad fishing has been mediocre, especially for boaters. Catches off the Oregon shore at Bonneville Dam have been better than the Washington side. The shad count at Bonneville is about half the number counted by the same time in 2014.
o Summer chinook and sockeye season is open. Sockeye counts at Bonneville Dam are at a record-high pace. Too bad sockeye are not good biters. The mark rate on chinook has dropped to about 50 percent.
Angler checks from the Washington (WDFW) and Oregon (ODFW) departments of Fish and Wildlife:
Lower Columbia — Downstream of Puget Island, 21 boaters with two steelhead kept and one chinook released. (WDFW)
Tongue Point to Wauna power lines, 10 boaters with no catch. (ODFW)
Cathlamet, 35 boaters with 12 steelhead kept plus seven steelhead and three sockeye released; 32 bank rods with five steelhead kept. (WDFW)
Westport, Ore., to Portland, 63 boaters with nine adult spring chinook and one jack chinook kept, plus three adult chinook and steelhead released; five boaters with three shad released; 69 bank rods with one jack chinook kept and one steelhead released. (ODFW)
Longview, 135 boaters with three adult chinook and eight steelhead kept plus three adult chinook and one jack chinook released; 127 bank rods with one adult chinook, one jack chinook and 13 steelhead kept plus three steelhead and two sockeye released. (WDFW)
Kalama, 55 boaters with two adult chinook kept plus three adult chinook and a steelhead released; 81 bank rods with one adult chinook kept and four released. (WDFW)
Woodland, 43 boaters with three adult chinook kept plus two adult chinook and one steelhead released; 67 bank rods with two adult chinook and one steelhead kept, plus two adult chinook released; one boater with three walleye kept. (WDFW)
Warrior Rock to Kelley Point, 27 boaters with one adult chinook kept and one released; 86 bank rods with 10 adult chinook kept and one released. (WDFW)
Davis Bar to Portland airport tower, 28 boaters with two adult chinook and one steelhead kept plus two adult chinook released; six bank rods with no catch. (WDFW)
Troutdale, Ore., 146 boaters with 15 adult spring chinook and two jack chinook kept plus eight adult chinook released; nine boaters with one shad kept; eight boaters with two legal sturgeon and eight sublegals released; one boater with no walleye. (ODFW)
Camas-Washougal, 74 boaters with nine adult chinook and one steelhead kept plus 16 adult chinook released; nine bank rods with no catch; eight boaters with four shad kept; three boaters with one walleye (WDFW)
Columbia Gorge (downstream of Bonneville Dam), 94 boaters with 12 adult chinook kept and 16 adult chinook released; 12 boats with eight shad kept. (ODFW)
Columbia Gorge, 49 Oregon bank rods with 12 adult chinook and two jacks kept plus five adult chinook and one jack kept; 149 Oregon bank rods with 720 shad kept. (ODFW)
North Bonneville, 60 boaters with seven adult chinook kept and 18 released; 120 bank rods with 15 adult chinook and one jack kept plus 10 adult chinook released; 427 bank rods with 921 shad kept and eight released; 14 boaters with 12 shad kept and one released. (WDFW)
Mid-Columbia — The Dalles pool, four bank rods with two shad kept; seven boaters with 20 walleye kept and three released. (WDFW)
Cowlitz — Twenty bank anglers with one winter steelhead released; 20 boaters with one adult spring chinook and seven summer steelhead kept. (WDFW)
Yale Reservoir — Two boaters with 16 kokanee kept and about a dozen released. The fish average about 10 inches.
