News: Salmon, sturgeon fishing extended in lower Columbia River
By Bill Monroe For The Oregonian/OregonLive
Oregon and Washington will leave chinook salmon fishing open on the Columbia River through June 15 and will re-open sturgeon retention for one day, Saturday, in the estuary below Wauna.
Biologists met by telephone late Tuesday to review catches and agreed to both soften the salmon closure scheduled for Wednesday below Bonneville Dam and to allow two hatchery chinook salmon per day to be kept above and below the dam starting Thursday.
The river will remain open Thursday below Bonneville through June 15, then will close to chinook until June 22 but remain open for summer steelhead.
Above the dam, the river will continue to be open through July 31.
The sturgeon retention day was recommended for Friday, but bad weather in the forecast caused them to opt instead for Saturday. All sturgeon fishing, including catch-and-release, must stop at 2 p.m.
This weekend is Free Fishing Weekend for Washington anglers, but Washington law requires anglers to record sturgeon on a tag, which the state issues for free.
