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Spring Chinook Retention to Reopen in Columbia Gorge by Allen Thomas The Columbian, May 27, 2014

Spring chinook salmon retention in the Columbia River upstream of Bonneville Dam will resume on Saturday, Washington and Oregon agreed today.

Retention will be open through June 15 for boat and bank anglers from the Tower Island power lines near The Dalles to the Washington-Oregon border east of Umatilla, Ore. Retention also will be allowed from the shore only between Bonneville Dam and the Tower Island power lines.

The daily limit will be two fin-clipped salmon or steelhead, but only one chinook.

Retention closed on May 10 for chinook upstream of Bonneville when the catch allocation was reached.

Biologist John North of the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife said the upper Columbia spring chinook forecast was upgraded today from 224,000 to 230,000.

Sportsmen in the lower Columbia are expected to have 1,312 spring chinook left on their allocation even with angling open daily through June 15.

State officials agreed to transfer 750 spring chinook upstream to the Columbia Gorge and 500 to the Snake River from the lower Columbia allocation surplus.

North said it is estimated 365 spring chinook will be taken in the Columbia upstream of Bonneville Dam.

"High flows and (dam) spill may limit angler success, North said.

Gillnetting -- The commercial fleet will fish from 6 p.m. Wednesday to 6 a.m. Thursday from Beacon Rock downstream to the ocean with 8-inch-mesh nets.

Commercial fishermen are expected to retain about 600 hatchery-origin chinook on Wednesday night.

North said the commercial catch for the spring will total about 3,100 chinook or about 72 percent of the allocation.

Tribal fishing -- The four Columbia River treaty tribes will fish from 6 a.m. Wednesday to 6 p.m. Saturday between Bonneville and McNary dams.

Stuart Ellis, a biologist for the Columbia River Inter-Tribal Fish Commission, estimated the tribes will catch about 4,100 spring chinook, well short of the 8,443 remaining under allocation agreements