CLACKAMAS, Ore. — Spring chinook fishing in the lower Columbia River should resume on Saturday and be open from boats as far upstream as Beacon Rock, Washington and Oregon officials were told Wednesday.
The states will meet by teleconference at 1 p.m. Friday to make a decision when to reopen the river. State officials met Wednesday with the bi-state Columbia River Recreational Advisory Group to hear the panel’s suggestions for fishing regulations.
State and tribal biologists on Wednesday upgraded the forecast of upper Columbia-origin spring salmon from 198,400 to 210,000.
At, 210,000 salmon, there are about 3,800 fish available for sportsmen downstream of Bonneville Dam, said Cindy LeFleur, Columbia River policy coordinator for the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife.
That should be enough chinook to start Monday and continue through June 15 under the 2011 regulations which had the river open to boats as far upstream as Rooster Rock and from the bank up to Bonneville Dam.
Summer chinook fishing starts June 16.
Ken Beer, operator of The Fishery boat ramp at Dodson, Ore., a member of the advisory group, noted there has been no fishing from boats this year in the Bonneville Dam area. Opening the river for boats upstream as Beacon Rock would open a portion of the Bonneville area.
Guy Norman, regional director of the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife, said there is a hesitancy to reopen immediately below Bonneville. Spring salmon can stack in that area. Very high catch rates have been seen in past years just below Bonneville, he added.
There is no reason to wait until Monday to reopen, said Liz Hamilton of the Northwest Sportfishing Industry Association. She noted the states upgraded the run on Wednesday and immediately adopted a gillnet fishery, while are waiting until Friday to consider reopening sport fishing.
“Folks feel there are two standards applied to the fisheries,” Hamilton said.
Group member Clinton Winn of Kalama said sportsmen are chomping to get back on the Columbia before flows get too high to fish effectively.
Streamflows are projected to reach a high 420,000 cubic feet per second by the middle of next week.
“We’re going to have a heck of a time catching what we’ve got left,” said Larry Swanson of the Vancouver Wildlife League.
LeFleur said sportsmen in the stretch between Bonneville Dam and the Washington-Oregon border exceeded their allocation by 900 chinook, while the Snake River anglers topped their share by 300. Those overages are subtracted from the lower Columbia share.
“It not a bad thing that the guys on the east side end up with some fish,” said Ed Wickersham of Ridgefield, government relations chair of the Coastal Conservation Association in Washington.
LeFleur also said the biologists believe the updated forecast of 210,000 will climb as more fish pass Bonneville Dam. If the run forecast reaches 225,000, the lower Columbia sport share increases from 3,800 available to 5,900.
