Columbia Gorge pools to reopen for spring chinook

Spring chinook angling will reopen for four days beginning Saturday in the pools of the Columbia River Gorge.

Angling will be open from the Tower Island power lines (six miles downstream of The Dalles Dam) upstream to the Washington-Oregon border, plus from the shore from Bonneville Dam to Tower Island power lines.

Biologist Robin Ehlke of the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife said on Wednesday that the area was open from March 16 through Sunday but sportsmen killed only 470 spring chinook out an allocation of 1,032.

Anglers are not expected to catch the full 562 fish remaining in the four days of fishing, Ehlke said.

The count at Bonneville Dam through Tuesday is 68,752. Sport and commercial fishermen killed about 8,000 spring chinook in the lower Columbia.

The run, which continues through June 15, needs to total 116,000 to meet catch-balancing agreements with the four Columbia River treaty tribes.

Guy Norman, regional director of the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife, said once the run is forecast to exceed 139,000 spring chinook reopening fishing in the lower Columbia can be discussed.