With only 10 percent of the early-season allocation caught, spring chinook salmon fishing in the lower Columbia River will reopen Thursday through Monday, be closed Tuesday and Wednesday, then open again April 20 through 23.
Washington and Oregon adopted the extensions Wednesday.
A hearing at 1 p.m. April 19 is scheduled to review catches through Monday and consider a longer extension or a cancellation, depending on the catch.
Through Monday, sportsmen in the lower river have made 22,127 angler trips with a kept catch of 1,134 spring chinook and 117 released, said biologist John North of the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife.
Of the catch, spring chinook destined for waters upstream of Bonneville Dam number 702, or roughly 10 percent of 6,905 upper Columbia-Snake fish allocated to the early portion of the season.
A high, cold and muddy Columbia River through early April kept fishing pressure and harvest far below expectations, said North.
The Columbia flow is 40 percent higher than normal, the river is 2 degrees colder than typical and visibility is 2 feet, compared to the 4-foot average.
North said the river flow is expected to increase from the current 12.9 feet on the gauge at Vancouver to 14.5 feet on Saturday.
He said the high, cold and dirty river, plus forecasted poor weather, makes projecting catches rough. Catch estimates range from 1,200 to 2,400 spring chinook for the first extension.
The catch through April 2 was 82 kept fish and six released. However, in the past week, water conditions improved and 1,052 chinook were kept and 117 released from 11,549 trips, North said.
Test netting on Sunday in the Wahkiakum-Cowlitz stretch of the lower Columbia caught 7.8 chinook per drift. Peak catches per drift were 2.5 in 2015 and 2.7 in 2016.
“Based on test fisheries, there’s a lot of fish to be caught,’’ said Ron Roler, Columbia River policy coordinator for the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife. “Conditions just make it difficult.’’
Trevor Storlie of Red’s Guide Service told the joint state hearing on Wednesday the same message.
“High water is an absolute nightmare to try to fish in,’’ Storlie said.
Harry Barber of Washougal said anglers will have to deal with high and turbid water all spring chinook season.
“We’re not even seeing the runoff yet from the upper Columbia, Snake and the Rockies,’’ he said. “It’s really tough out there.’’
Several anglers testified that the Tuesday-Wednesday closure next week is unnecessary, given how much of the allocation remains and the poor water conditions.
Robert Moxley of Wilsonville, Ore., said he likes a 50-degree surface water temperature to fish for spring chinook.
“We’re basically fishing in mid-March (conditions),’’ he said.
Ed Wickersham of Ridgefield urged saving enough spring chinook to have the lower Columbia open for salmon fishing on Memorial Day weekend.
Only 217 spring chinook had been counted at Bonneville Dam through Monday, one of the lowest numbers on record, said Tucker Jones, ocean and Columbia River salmon manager for the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife.
A run of 160,400 spring chinook headed for upstream of Bonneville Dam is forecast.
Stuart Ellis of the Columbia River Inter-Tribal Fish Commission and chairman of the Columbia River Technical Advisory Committee said dam counts mean little this early.
“You can’t tell if the the run will be larger or smaller than forecast,’’ he said. “It’s just too early to know.’’
