Why Popular Summer Chinook Fishing is Closed Along the Columbia River
Chinook fishing on the Columbia River, is closed for the summer beginning Saturday.
Washington and Oregon fishery managers made the decision on Wednesday due to low tracking of pre-season expectations. According to the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife:
Retention of sockeye salmon, hatchery steelhead and jack Chinook remains open from the Astoria-Megler Bridge upstream to the Hwy 395 Bridge (Pasco, WA). The daily adult bag limit is two adult salmonids (only one may be a hatchery steelhead) and five hatchery jack salmon. All sockeye are considered adults.
In the summer, Chinook pass through the Bonneville Dam to get to the Columbia River Basin upstream of Priest Rapids Dam. Currently, the number of fish available to harvest in lower river fisheries is down more than half. This makes the Chinook closure necessary in areas downstream of the Priest Rapids Dam.
Chinook fishing on the Columbia River will reopen for the fall season on August 1st. You can read more out more about salmon and steelhead fisheries in Washington waters here.
Watch a video on plunking courtesy of BackFishing.