Spring chinook angling in the lower Columbia River will reopen Friday through Sunday, then close again, likely until early June.
Washington and Oregon officials on Tuesday approved the three days of sport fishing downstream of Bonneville Dam, plus the same three days between Bonneville and the state line, east of Umatilla, Ore.
A one-mile sanctuary near the mouth of the Lewis River also was approved to lessen the chances of spring chinook from a very weak run to the North Fork of the Lewis from being caught.
The states also adopted a 14-hour commercial season beginning at noon on Wednesday between the ocean and Beacon Rock.
The Columbia River Technical Advisory Committee met Monday and agreed the initial forecast of 188,800 spring chinook destined for the upper Columbia and Snake rivers appears on track. The update frees the states from managing with a 30 percent buffer to guard against under forecast or overharvest.
Robin Ehlke, Columbia River assistant policy coordinator for the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife, said sportsmen in the lower Columbia have 3,236 upper Columbia-Snake-origin chinook available for the rest of the spring season, which ends June 15.
She said anglers are expected to catch about 1,800 chinook overall during this weekend and 1,343 upper Columbia-Snake chinook. That would have sportsmen at 83 percent of their allocation.
Biologist John North of the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife said it appears sport fishing could reopen again about June 2 and continue until the start of the summer chinook season on June 16 without exceeding the spring allocation.
Liz Hamilton, executive director of the Northwest Sportfishing Industry Association, said the April 8 closure of spring chinook fishing in the lower Columbia has hurt sales of sport gear.
“There are millions in cancelled orders right now,’’ Hamilton said.
If not open this weekend, enough spring chinook remain on the allocation to reopen May 23 and continue through June 15, a position supported by some sportsmen.
Robert Moxley of Wilsonville, Ore., a member of the bistate Columbia River Recreational Advisor Group, said a high percent of the spring chinook passing through the lower river now are fin-clipped, which means anglers may keep them.
However, the mark rate drops in June, meaning more release of wild fish into a warming river, he added.
Mid-Columbia — Anglers in the Bonneville, The Dalles, John Day and lower McNary pools have 500 spring chinook remaining on their allocation. They are expected to catch 450 in the three days, leaving a balance of just 50.
Nathan Grimm of the Tr-Cities said the chinook get harder to catch closer to summer and urged using the allocation now.
Commercial —The net fleet has 1,934 upper Columbia-Snake spring chinook on its allocation.
Ehlke said the commercial catch is not expected to exceed 1,400 chinook from 85 deliveries and 1,200 upper Columbia-Snake chinook. That would bring the netters to 76 percent of their allocation.
Washington and Oregon adopted the commercial season on less than a day’s notice. Shad numbers are building in the lower Columbia and make fishing with the live-capture 4.25-inch tangle nets difficult.
The mortality of wild chinook getting released increases when the commercials need more time to clear shad from their nets.
The states may meet again May 17 to review catches and consider additional fishing.
