Guide Jeremy Warter with a nice slab of Columbia Chrome!
The strange year that is springers on the Columbia River continues as fishery managers yesterday extended the spring Chinook fishery above Bonneville Dam through June 15, 2011.
The area from the Tower Island power line (approximately 6 miles below The Dalles Dam) upstream to the Oregon/Washington border AND the Oregon and Washington banks between Bonneville Dam and the Tower Island power lines will be open from Friday, June 3 through Wednesday, June 15. The area had been scheduled to close on June 2.
Anglers fishing above Bonneville Dam can keep sockeye salmon, adipose fin-clipped chinook salmon and adipose fin-clipped steelhead. The daily bag limit is two adult salmon or steelhead in combination, and an additional five fin-clipped jack chinook. Sockeye salmon count towards the adult limit regardless of size.
Salmon (& some shad) passing the fish counter station at Bonneville
Better than expected returns of Chinook salmon to the Columbia River prompted fishery managers from Oregon and Washington to reopen salmon season below Bonneville Dam on May 15.
“For the first time since 2007, we have a run update that is going to let us open a late-spring Chinook season,” said Chris Kern, assistant manger of ODFW’s Columbia River Fisheries Program. “This also allows us to get an early start on fishing for summer steelhead between the I-5 Bridge and Bonneville. That area doesn’t usually open until June 16.”
The daily bag limit will be two adult salmon/steelhead in combination, of which only one may be an adult chinook. Chinook salmon and steelhead must be adipose fin-clipped to be retained; the fin clip requirement does not apply to sockeye. Fishing from boats will be allowed from the Tongue Point/Rocky Point line near Astoria upstream to Beacon Rock, approximately five miles downstream from Bonneville Dam. Bank fishing will be permitted all the way up to Bonneville Dam.
[click to continue…]
I‘ve read several books about Lewis & Clark over the years, including a version of their Journals that was as thick as a Manhattan phone book. Not only was their journey one of history’s most epic road trips, but man, oh man, did they see some spectacular fishing! The numbers of salmon and steelhead they encountered on the Columbia-Clearwater-Snake river system were beyond imagination. When I finally get my jet boat time machine built, my first trip is going to be along much of the Lewis & Clark Trail!
Apparently, I am not alone in my fascination with the fishing that the dynamic duo and the Corps. of Discovery encountered…The Federation of Fly Fishers has created a virtual and physical exhibit on this very subject! Check this out: Undaunted Anglers: Fishing with Lewis & Clark
Chum salmon, long considered to be almost extinct on the Oregon side of the lower Columbia River, might again return to its tributaries if a cooperative effort of the Oregon and Washington departments of fish and wildlife proves successful.
The first week of April, the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife (ODFW) released 106,000 juvenile chum salmon into lower Big Creek in the first phase of project attempting to re-establish the species, which began to disappear from the Oregon side of the river more than 50 years ago. While the reason for their decline is not completely clear, biologists believe that severe habitat degradation, among other factors, played a key role. [click to continue…]
Only Ad-clipped hatchery springers will be allowed for take
I know, the Columbia’s springer season was pretty much a bust this year… but it’s not officially over yet! The Oregon Department of Fish & Wildlife announced today that the Lower Columbia River reopens for marked hatchery Chinook on Friday, April 8 and will remain open through April 15.
The initial season, which opened March 1 and closed April 4, was marred with poor river and weather conditions that made fishing tough. As of Monday, approximately 3,820 upriver chinook remained on the catch quota of 7,750.
“Given the available fish remaining on the harvest guideline, we believe at least an additional eight days are available to give fishermen a chance to catch the upriver chinook quota,” said Chris Kern, ODFW’s assistant Columbia River fisheries manager.
[click to continue…] 
HSU's in da house!
Though spring Chinook salmon fishing on the Columbia River has been a bit spotty of late due to stained water conditions, Craig Hultgren of Kelso, Washington (and fellow Humboldt State grad) was able to put this fine piece of barbecue fodder in the box recently.
Craig is now entered into our March Hawg of the Month Contest in which he has a chance to win some cool new headgear from the
Pautzke Bait Co. If he advances, he will get to compete in the Hawg Bowl Playoffs at the end of the year and maybe, just maybe win a trip with Bill Swann of
Swanny’s Guided Fishing. Click to
ENTER 
There are springers in the Columbia...let the games begin!
The arrival of spring Chinook salmon in the Columbia River is one of the most eagerly anticipated events of the year in the Pacific Northwest. While it’s early yet, there are definitely some fish around, as proven by this one caught Weds near I-5 by Buzz Ramsey (r) and friend/guide Eric Linde.
They hooked a second fish, too, but it was grabbed by a marauding sea lion. Both fish were hooked using a Fish Flash (chartreuse) and plug-cut herring combination on the downstream troll.
