Sturgeon angling is open again in the reservoirs of the Columbia River Gorge with the slow catch typical of January.
Boaters in the Bonneville pool averaged a keeper per 13 rods and no fish were sampled among the bank rods. However, boats did much better in The Dalles pool.
Also of note, one boat with two anglers in the John Day pool had five walleye.
Several local lakes were stocked with rainbow trout near year’s end including 1,500 in Battle Ground Lake and 2,400 in Horseshoe Lake at Woodland.
Angler checks from the Washington (WDFW) and Oregon (ODFW) departments of Fish and Wildlife:
Mid-Columbia — Bonneville pool, 53 boaters with four legal sturgeon kept plus 123 sublegals and two oversize sturgeon released; 18 bank rods with nine sublegal and one oversize sturgeon released. (WDFW)
• The Dalles pool, 39 boaters with 11 legal sturgeon kept plus five legal, 86 sublegals and 11 oversize sturgeon released; two boaters with one steelhead kept plus one wild steelhead released. (WDFW)
• John Day pool, 24 boaters with five legal sturgeon kept plus 18 sublegals and four oversize sturgeon released; 23 bank rods with no catch; three bank rods with no steelhead; two boaters with five walleye kept. (WDFW)
East Fork Lewis — Twenty-one bank rods with one hatchery steelhead kept and two wild steelhead released. (WDFW)
Kalama — Eighty-one bank rods with four hatchery steelhead kept and four wild steelhead released. (WDFW)
Coweeman — Twelve bank rods with six wild steelhead released. (WDFW)
