Columbia River steelhead limit to drop to one fish a day

A new wrinkle in lower Columbia River sport-fishing regulations begins Monday with implementation of a one-steelhead daily limit.

The daily limit has been two hatchery-origin steelhead for decades, but the change was enacted to reduce harvest from a declining run headed for the Snake River.

The one-hatchery-steelhead limit begins Monday downstream of Bonneville Dam, begins Sept. 1 between Bonneville and McNary dams and begins Nov. 1 between McNary Dam, near Umatilla, Ore., and the Highway 395 Bridge at Pasco.

Group B steelhead return primarily to Snake River tributaries. Government biologists are forecasting a run of 25,800 Group B steelhead, which is 53 percent of the average, said Robin Ehlke, Columbia River assistant policy coordinator for the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife.

The majority of Group B steelhead caught by non-Indians are taken by sportsmen upstream of Bonneville Dam, Ehlke said.

The one-steelhead limit will not apply at Drano Lake.

Drano is a backwater of the Columbia in Skamania County and a popular angling spot at the mouth of the Little White Salmon River where steelhead tend to take a respite from the warmer water of the main river.