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Columbia River Summer Chinook and Sockeye Fishery Ends on a Good Note by Mark Yuasa Seattle Times, July 15, 2011

The sport summer chinook and sockeye fishery on some parts of the Columbia River will end Monday, July 18 after what has been a very good month-long time of very good catch rates, according to a state Fish and Wildlife news release.

The summer chinook fishery will close after midnight Sunday from Bonneville Dam downstream, and sockeye fishing will close at the same time downstream from the Highway 395 bridge in Pasco.

Anglers will still be able to fish for hatchery steelhead and jack chinook, measuring 12 to 24 inches, in those sections of the river.

Fishery managers agreed to close fishing for adult summer chinook and sockeye in those areas two weeks earlier than expected after reviewing catch numbers to date.

"This is some of the best fishing we've seen in recent years for both summer chinook and sockeye," Cindy LeFleur, Columbia River policy manager for state Fish and Wildlife said in a news release. "This year's catch has exceeded expectations, and is pushing up against our harvest guidelines."

Through July 14, anglers fishing below Bonneville Dam had caught and kept 5,285 summer chinook salmon - twice as many as last year - and released 2,553 others.

They also caught 1,564 sockeye and released 390 others, the highest number of sockeye taken by anglers since at least 1980.

"For summer chinook salmon, we have to make sure we meet our conservation goals and leave enough fish for fisheries further upstream," she said. "Sockeye salmon bound for the Snake River are protected under the federal Endangered Species Act and have catch limits of their own."

Ongoing summer chinook fisheries above Bonneville Dam and sockeye fishing above the Highway 395 bridge in Pasco will not be affected by the closures scheduled further downstream.

According to current projections, 80,000 summer chinook and 181,500 sockeye are expected to return to the Columbia River. The summer chinook run will be the second largest since 1980.

Joe Hymer, a state Fish and Wildlife biologist, noted that hatchery-reared steelhead are still providing good fishing on the Lower Columbia River and that fishing for fall chinook will open Aug. 1.

"The fall chinook run is also looking very strong," Hymer said. "Salmon fisheries are far from over on the Columbia River this year."

Related Pages:
Sockeye and Chinook Season is Closed Upstream of Astoria Bridge by Staff, The Daily Astorian, 7/18/11
Sockeye Catch-and-Keep Opens Today on Upper Columbia by Rich Landers, Spokesman-Review, 7/15/11
Upper Columbia River Region Opens for Sockeye Fishing by Mark Yuasa, Seattle Times, 7/13/11