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States Set Spring Chinook Season for March, April by Bill Monroe The Oregonian, February 11, 2009

Fishery managers from Oregon and Washington set spring chinook salmon fishing seasons Wednesday for March and April in the Columbia and Willamette rivers but didn't decide the larger issue facing the states.

The seasons are based on a forecast of 298,000 returning upriver spring chinook, with 17,300 fish destined to be caught by anglers below Bonneville Dam. If the chinook run bears out the prediction, it would be the third-highest run on record. Until seasons kick in March 1, fishing remains open in the Columbia and Willamette rivers under permanent rules listed in the angling synopsis.

The season-setting session Wednesday in Longview, Wash., is a temporary truce in the allocation squabble between the Oregon and Washington fish and wildlife commissions. That issue must be settled, the Washington commission has said, before any further sport or commercial seasons can be decided for May and June.

Wednesday's decision:

• On the lower Columbia from Astoria to the Hayden Island power lines (west towers), anglers will be able to fish seven days a week from March 1 to March 15 and three days a week (Thursdays through Saturdays) from March 19 to April 18.

• From the Hayden Island power lines (west towers) upstream to Bonneville Dam, the season will run seven days a week from March 1 to March 22 and four days a week (Wednesdays through Saturdays) from March 25 to April 22.

  The daily salmon bag limit for these areas will be one adipose-clipped spring chinook. Hatchery steelhead and shad can be retained on the mainstem Columbia only during days and seasons open for retention of adipose fin-clipped spring chinook.

• The season between the Bonneville and McNary dams was set for March 16 to April 30, with a bag limit of two adult adipose fin-clipped chinook or steelhead per day.

• On Multnomah Channel and the Willamette River below Willamette Falls, anglers will get seven days a week from March 1 to March 15 and three days a week (Thursdays through Saturdays) from March 19 to April 30, after which the sport season will end.

  The daily bag limit will also be a single hatchery chinook, but hatchery steelhead can also be caught and kept within the two-fish daily bag limit.

• The Willamette River upstream of Willamette Falls and the Clackamas River upstream of the Highway 99 bridge will remain open under permanent rules.