Oregon and Washington approved the first of the year spring chinook commercial gillnetting in the lower Columbia River during a two-state Columbia River Compact hearing Tuesday, Feb. 15. Commercial fishing in lower river Select Areas begin as soon as this week.

As salmon runs in British Columbia hit record lows, commercial fisheries along the Alaska panhandle are catching a growing share of salmon bound for B.C. rivers, alleges a new technical report issued by Canadian conservation groups

With a run of steelhead into Idaho that is one-third of the 10-year average and the third worst run in the last ten years, the Idaho Department of Fish and Game is dialing back the number of fish that recreational anglers can retain to one per day and three in possession.

Amid concern about record low numbers of steelhead moving up the Columbia River so far this year, state fishery managers from the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife have announced new restrictions on steelhead fishing in the Snake River, as well as several Snake and Columbia River tributaries.

Oregon and Washington fish and wildlife staffs say there is little more that can be done to protect the dismally small number of upriver summer steelhead migrating this year in the Columbia River basin short of shutting down all non-tribal fishing, and even that “would not move the needle,” one staff member said.

A 60 percent drop in the forecasted run of summer steelhead over Bonneville Dam is adding to the already bad news for Columbia and Snake river steelhead returns this year, which is seeing its worst year since Bonneville Dam was built.

Run size forecasts for summer chinook and sockeye salmon were both downgraded by an advisory committee that predicts preseason run sizes and adjusts those forecasts, if necessary, during mid-season. In addition, the run size of Skamania steelhead came in as the lowest on record and the run of A- and B-Index steelhead heading to the Snake River so far is at its second lowest run in10 years.

Spring chinook salmon fishing is nearly over and summer chinook fishing begins next week. Although it may be difficult to see much of a difference between a spring and a summer chinook at Bonneville Dam, June 16 is the transition date on which all chinook that pass the dam become summer chinook.

Even with a Skamania hatchery steelhead return at its lowest since Bonneville Dam was built and Cowlitz River hatchery spring chinook salmon unlikely to meet broodstock needs, the two state Columbia River Compact this week extended retention of hatchery spring chinook from Tongue Point in Astoria to the Oregon and Washington border.

Spring Chinook season will open in the Snake River’s Hells Canyon on Saturday, April 24 from the Dug Bar boat ramp to the boundary below Hells Canyon Dam.

A poor spring chinook run is impacting angling opportunities in two Oregon rivers. The Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife set regulations for fishing in the Hood and Deschutes rivers, reducing the bag limit in one river and closing the other due to an extreme low run of wild fish.

The Pacific Fishery Management Council has adopted three alternatives for 2021 ocean salmon fisheries off Washington, Oregon, and California for public review. Options for Washington’s ocean salmon fisheries reflect the need to minimize impacts to low forecasted abundances of coastal coho stocks while providing opportunities to access the large forecast for Columbia River coho.

Oregon and Washington this week opened spring chinook salmon angling from Buoy 10 to the Oregon/Washington border in March. The opening in the lower river is the first time since 2018 that anglers will be allowed to pursue the prized fish early in the season from Buoy 10 to the Lewis River in Washington.

As they do every year from December through May, threatened eulachon (smelt) are returning from the Pacific Ocean and flooding into the lower Columbia River. The smelt – a 7 in., 2.5 oz. fish – may already be moving into their favorite spawning tributaries, the Cowlitz River in Washington and the Sandy River in Oregon, where their numbers peak in February.

Estimates of the number of fall chinook salmon, coho salmon and B-Index steelhead entering the Columbia River rose again this week, but, with the exception of the B-Index steelhead and early-stock coho, abundances are still expected to fall short of 10-year averages.

Oregon and Washington Thursday shut down commercial gillnetting for fall chinook salmon on the mainstem Columbia River, rescinding the last of the seven 12-hour gillnet periods approved last month.

Washington and Oregon extended summer chinook angling through the end of July from the Tongue Point-Rocky Point line, near Astoria, upstream to the border between the two states at the Hwy 395 Bridge near Pasco, Wash. The popular Buoy 10 fishing will open August 14.

Oregon and Washington added seven more days – July 9 to July 15 – of recreational angling for hatchery summer chinook on the mainstem Columbia River, but closed shad fishing in the Bonneville Dam pool as a way to protect endangered Snake River sockeye salmon. Shad fishermen have been catching too many of the sockeye incidentally.

Oregon and Washington are opening a five-day recreational summer chinook angling period on the mainstem Columbia River beginning this weekend after an in-season forecast boosted the anticipated number of chinook entering the river by 58 percent over the preseason forecast.

The two-state Columbia River Compact this week abruptly shut down recreational fishing for sockeye salmon on the mainstem Columbia River as anglers exceeded the limit on the number of sockeye allowed.

Columbia River Treaty Tribes will begin commercial gillnetting, along with commercial platform and hook and line fishing, upstream of Bonneville Dam (Zone 6) for summer chinook next week, a plan outlined by the tribes at a two-state Columbia River Compact hearing Monday, June 8. Some platform and hook and line fishing is also planned for downstream of Bonneville.

An anticipated poor summer run of chinook salmon means no summer chinook fishing this year on the Columbia River mainstem, according to Oregon and Washington. The summer season will be limited to only sockeye and steelhead retention.

After a late start for spring chinook angling on the Columbia River due to Covid-19 closures, Oregon and Washington approved a second four-day fishing period in a hearing Wednesday, May 13.

Oregon and Washington fisheries managers reopened the Columbia River along their border for limited recreational spring chinook and steelhead angling, despite continued concerns about the number of people in boats and at public facilities due to the COVID-19 outbreak.

Three ocean salmon fishery alternatives that were approved for public review Monday, March 9, by the Pacific Fishery Management Council reflect the lowest predicted return of coho salmon to the Columbia River in 20 years.