OLYMPIA — State officials are considering limiting anglers at Buoy 10 at the mouth of the Columbia River to one salmon per day in 2016 in an attempt to keep fishing open through Labor Day.
Sportsmen have been allowed two salmon per day at Buoy 10 in recent years, but only one chinook.
A monster fall chinook run of 951,200 is forecast to enter the Columbia River in 2016, but a relatively weak coho return of 380,600.
Often at Buoy 10 in August anglers catch and keep a chinook, then catch and release additional chinook trying to get a coho to complete their limit.
However, the length of the fishing season is determined by the overall mortality of fall chinook headed for lower Columbia tributaries so as to not exceed Endangered Species Act limitations.
A percentage of those chinook die in the process of being caught and released and are added to the kept catch in counting against the allowance.
In 2015, chinook fishing at Buoy 10 started off good, then got better. Angling shifted to retention of only fin-clipped hatchery chinook — an unpopular move with sportsmen — on Aug. 24, well before Labor Day. All chinook retention closed on Aug. 28.
This fall is shaping up to be a big year for chinook and a poor one for coho, said Ron Roler, Columbia River policy coordinator for the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife.
The early-returning (August-September) stock of Columbia River coho, important at Buoy 10, is forecast to number only 153,800.
Minimizing the extra handle of chinook by anglers trying for a long-shot chance at coho might keep chinook fishing open longer, Roler said here last week at the first of several meetings leading to adoption of summer ocean and fall Columbia River seasons.
“I want to concentrate the effort on the catch of chinook, but I don’t want to play with them,’’ Roler said. “Catch and release, catch and release and you have mortality building up on that and it runs though impacts.’’
Steve Watrous of Vancouver, Washington sport-fishing representative on the Salmon Advisory Subpanel of the Pacific Fishery Management Council, said trying to keep Buoy 10 open through Labor Day is an unrealistic goal when the holiday falls well into September.
Labor Day is Sept. 5 this year.
A more realistic date might be Sept. 1, he added.
Roler said the goal of reaching Labor Day is a policy set by the Washington Fish and Wildlife Commission.
Guy Norman, regional director for the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife, said switching earlier in August to a bag limit allowing retention of only fin-clipped hatchery chinook is another option.
Larry Swanson of the Vancouver Wildlife League said that’s a bad idea. The biggest and best fall chinook — the brights headed to Eastern Washington — are forecast to number more than 500,000 in 2016, but only about 27 percent to 29 percent are fin-clipped.
Watrous also said a one-salmon bag limit will not sit well with rank-and-file sportsmen while the guides make multiple trips per day.
“You already have guides down there running two or three or four trips a day, as we all know, and nothing is down about that,’’ Watrous said. “I can see the fist fights starting now. The guys will be saying: ‘You’re taking me back to a one-fish bag and I still see the guides going out three and four times.’’’
Roler agreed multiple trips by guides is a drawback of the one-fish limit at Buoy 10.
“I don’t know what I can do about that,’’ he said. “It’s Oregon guides that are going to be doing it. We don’t have many coming off our side.’’
The Pacific Fishery Management Council will meet April 8 to 14 at the Hilton Vancouver, 301 W. Sixth St., to adopt ocean salmon fishing seasons. The Washington and Oregon departments of Fish and Wildlife typically announce the Columbia River seasons at the end of the the PFMC meeting.
A public meeting to discuss ocean and Columbia River summer and fall salmon fishing seasons will begin at 9 a.m. March 17 at the Heathman Lodge, 7801 N.E. Greenwood Drive.
Washington and Oregon officials will explain the preliminary salmon-fishing options selected by the Pacific Fishery Management Council this week in Sacramento, then discuss sport and commercial fall fishing in the Columbia River.
Vancouver meeting — A public meeting to discuss ocean and Columbia River summer and fall salmon fishing seasons will begin at 9 a.m. March 17 at the Heathman Lodge, 7801 N.E. Greenwood Drive.
Washington and Oregon officials will explain the preliminary salmon-fishing options selected by the Pacific Fishery Management Council this week in Sacramento, then discuss sport and commercial fall fishing in the Columbia River.
