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Idaho Opts to Reopen Fishing on Lower Stretch, but Washington says No by Eric Barker Lewiston Tribune, December 27, 2019

Washington is opting not to reopen the lower Snake River to steelhead fishing, setting up a rare discord in Idaho and Washington fishing rules along part of the river that forms a border between the two states.

Steelhead fishing was shutdown on the Snake River downstream of Couse Creek in October because of perilously low numbers of B-run steelhead bound for Dworshak National Fish Hatchery at Ahsahkha. Idaho and the Nez Perce Tribe also closed steelhead fishing on the Clearwater River and its tributaries.

For the past few months, the tribe, Idaho, Washington and Oregon have been working to ensure as many as possible of the big fish return and survive until the spring spawning period. The tribe trapped steelhead at Lower Granite Dam and trucked them to the hatchery. The tribe and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service left the trap at Dworshak open much longer than normal in the fall. Washington and Oregon implemented strategic closures to steelhead fishing on the Columbia River as the fish were migrating upstream.

The tactics worked. The fishing closures increased survival, and the trapping efforts have netted about 850 steelhead that are being held at the hatchery. Fisheries managers are convinced they can trap the remaining 350 or so needed for spawning during the spring months. Many of those fish will come from a volunteer effort by anglers on the South Fork of the Clearwater River.

With the hatchery now expected to meet its spawning goals, Idaho opted to reopen steelhead fishing starting Wednesday on the Clearwater River and its South and Middle forks and on the Snake River downstream of Couse Creek. Anglers will be able to keep one hatchery steelhead per day on those river sections but must release any fish longer than 28 inches.

Washington had the option to do the same but fisheries managers there decided to leave that section of river closed. Steelhead fishing is allowed on the Snake River upstream of Couse Creek in both Washington and Idaho.

Chris Donley, regional fish manager for the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife at Spokane, said his agency wants to play it safe with both hatchery and wild B-run steelhead.

"For us (reopening the season) is just an undue conservation impact. We really worked hard to get those fish up there," Donley said. "Everybody from the mouth of the Columbia all the way upstream sacrificed to make sure those fish got there, and we are just done having impacts on them."

He noted Washington-licensed anglers can fish for steelhead by traveling upstream of Couse Creek where seasons are open on both the Snake and Grande Ronde rivers. He also said leaving the lower section of the river closed will protect wild A-run steelhead bound for Asotin Creek.

"We really don't want to encourage angling in front of Asotin Creek because we don't want to impact that population that is staging to go into the creek," he said.

There are likely fewer than 200 wild steelhead returning to Asotin Creek this spring, he said.

Related Pages:
Steelhead Closure Extended In Eastern Oregon by Staff, KXI, 12/26/19
Steelhead Closure Extended on Columbia River by Staff, The Astorian, 12/23/19
Limited Steelhead Season Approved by Eric Barker, Moscow-Pulmman Daily News, 12/19/19