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First Spring Chinook Season in 30 Years to Open by Associated Press News Wire Serivce - April 30(?), 2001

SPOKANE, Wash. - The first season for hatchery spring chinook salmon on the Snake River ( in Washington) since the 1960s will open on Tuesday, the state Department of Fish and Wildlife said.

The season opens one hour before sunrise and will end after sunset on May 31. State officials are forecasting that 206,700 salmon will return to the Snake River.

The large return of spring salmon is due to good conditions in the river system in 1998 and 1999 that helped more salmon migrate to the ocean, and to improved conditions in the Pacific.

Fishing on the Snake will be open from Texas Rapids, above the mouth of the Tucannon River, to Clarkston.

Barbless hooks will be required and only hatchery salmon may be kept. All wild salmon and steelhead must be released unharmed. The daily limit is two hatchery fish.