States set spring chinook, smelt seasons

Washington and Oregon adopted the spring chinook seasons for the lower and mid-Columbia River on Wednesday leaving anglers little left do now except wait another six weeks until the salmon start arriving.

Fishing already is open downstream of Interstate 5.

On Wednesday, Washington and Oregon adopted a season of March 1 through April 10 from I-5 to Beacon Rock for boaters and upstream to Bonneville Dam for bank anglers.

The daily limit is two hatchery steelhead or one hatchery spring chinook and one hatchery steelhead.

Three Tuesdays — March 24, March 31 and April 7 — will be closed to allow for commercial fishing on the lower Columbia without a clash between the sport and net fleets.

The sport-fishing closure date is an estimate of when the catch allocation will be reached. Angling could end sooner or be extended.

Returns of 80,100 spring chinook to tributaries downstream of Bonneville Dam and 232,500 to waters upstream of the dam are forecast for 2015.

Guy Norman, regional director of the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife, said it was not so long ago that the upper Columbia spring chinook run was less than 20 percent of this year’s forecast and sport-fishing ended in March.

“I think this year’s run represents an outstanding opportunity relative to where we have been in history,” Norman said.

Under the plethora of Endangered Species Act limitations, tribal/non-Indian catch sharing agreements, sport-commercial allocation policies and overharvest buffers, sportsmen get 10,318 upper Columbia spring chinook downstream of Bonneville, 1,376 between Bonneville and the Washington-Oregon line east of Umatilla, Ore., and 1,112 in the lower Snake and upper Columbia.

Commercial fishermen get 1,760 in the mainstem lower Columbia and 244 in the off-channel areas.

Overall, lower Columbia sportsmen are projected to catch 11,500 spring chinook when salmon headed for the Willamette, Lewis, Kalama, Cowlitz and Sandy rivers are added to the upper Columbia fish, said Robin Ehlke, assistant Columbia River policy coordinator for the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife.

Catch numbers will change after the upper Columbia River run forecast is updated in early to mid-May.

The season for the Columbia River between Bonneville Dam and the Washington-Oregon state line east of Umatilla, Ore., was set for March 16 through May 6. Fishing from a boat is not allowed between Bonneville Dam and the Tower Island power lines, which are about 6 miles downstream of The Dalles Dam

Smelt — Washington approved two days of sport smelt dipping in the Cowlitz River. Dipping will be allowed from 6 a.m. to noon on Feb. 7 and Feb. 14, both Saturdays. The limit is 10 pounds per person.

Norman said the goal is two allow for two days of dipping when smelt are available in the lower Cowlitz. Additional dipping periods in February are likely if smelt are not in the river on Feb. 7 and 14.

Oregon approved two days of smelt dipping in the Sandy River. Dipping will be allowed 6 a.m. to noon on March 7 and March 15. The limit will be 10 pounds per person.

Chris Kern of the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife said extensions are possible if there are no smelt in the Sandy in early March, but also noted some years the fish avoid the river entirely.