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Oregon's Fall Salmon Seasons by Bill Monroe The Oregonian, July 29, 2017

Coast to Buoy 10 to McNary Dam

Anglers begin fishing Tuesday for fall salmon and steelhead inside a Rubik's Cube of regulations.

Aug. 1, the official opening of the Columbia River's fall season (including Buoy 10), is also heralded in Oregon's coastal bays, estuaries and rivers.

Chinook salmon returns to both the Columbia and coast rivers are expected to roughly match last year's numbers; and coho, while somewhat late, are biting well off the mouth of the Columbia River.

The ocean remains closed to all salmon fishing south of Humbug Mountain near Port Orford and closes Monday evening to hatchery coho from Humbug Mountain north to Cape Falcon, near Manzanita.

An offshore, any-coho, season opens Sept. 2 between Cape Falcon and Humbug Mountain until 6,000 are caught.

No alterations have been made this fall to fishing regulations on inshore coastal waters (bays and rivers), so it's all as listed in the regulations pamphlet. There will be no additional wild coho seasons in any coastal bays and rivers, although limited fishing is scheduled for Siltcoos, Tahkenitch and Tenmile lakes.

Likewise, last year's temporary two-rod rule for coastal salmon isn't repeated and there is no two-rod rule allowed on the Columbia River. The temporary two-rod rule for salmon and steelhead on the lower Willamette and Clackamas rivers expires Monday evening.

There is still a permanent 10-fish season limit for wild chinook in bays and rivers (not ocean) between, and including, the Necanicum and Salmon rivers.

The Columbia River, from Buoy 10 upriver, opens Tuesday under an array of temporary regulations in several zones.

Repeats from 2016 are the requirement for a Columbia River Endorsement fee for salmon, steelhead and sturgeon in the river and all its tributaries and, at Buoy 10, the Youngs Bay exclusion zone along the green buoy line from the Megler Bridge to the Warrenton pier; in effect from Tuesday through Sept. 15.

More than 600,000 chinook and 300,000 coho are predicted to enter the Columbia this summer and fall.

Note: The basic Oregon daily limit for adult salmonids is two fish, with restrictions within that limit depending upon the area, dates, species and origin (hatchery or wild). For example, no steelhead, hatchery or wild, can be kept in August from the river mouth to The Dalles Dam and only one hatchery steelhead can be kept after Sept. 1 in that stretch.

Buoy 10 to Tongue Point: Open for adult chinook and hatchery coho through Sept. 4. Two-fish daily limit, but only one can be a chinook. Hatchery coho (and steelhead) only Sept. 5-30.

Tongue Point to Warrior Rock (Sauvie Island): Nearly the same as Buoy 10 for coho and chinook through Sept. 7. Open for coho and hatchery chinook (one per day) Sept. 8-14, but no chinook Sept. 15-30.

Warrior Rock to Bonneville Dam: Any chinook or hatchery coho; one hatchery steelhead after Sept. 1.

Bonneville to McNary dams: Any chinook or hatchery coho through the end of the year (downriver from Hood River Bridge only; any coho allowed upriver from the bridge). One hatchery steelhead, except - no steelhead allowed in September from The Dalles to John Day dams and in September and October from John Day to McNary dams.

Get away: Head spinning?

Ease your angst with a copy of "Grant's Getaways, Oregon Adventures with the Kids," the latest text of Oregon's rich texture, written by outdoor television icon and author Grant McOmie.

McOmie's getaway mantra, spawned decades ago at KATU-2 and since migrated to KGW-8, has always been to educate parents and youngsters alike about Oregon's boundless outdoor adventures and vistas. His publisher calls it "touchable teaching."

From crabbing to sunstones (Oregon's gem stone, by the way), zip lines to ghost towns, "Adventures with the Kids," embraces Oregon's culture, history, fish, wildlife and wild places in ways that stir the imagination.

All four dozen trips offer great suggestions and background for seeing the state from sea to desert and back. They're arranged by month, but like his chapter 38 title for Diamond and Crater lakes (page 194), each is "A jewel anytime."

Published by West Winds Press/Graphic Arts Books, it sells for up to $17.99 in the paperback version and is available just about anywhere Grant's series of travel and wildlife adventures are sold.

Or come listen to his passion and have him sign one for you in August as he recovers from shoulder surgery in time for fall filming: Aug. 15, 7 p.m., Powell's Books/Cedar Hills; Aug. 20, 10:30 a.m., Multnomah County Library/Hollywood; Aug. 31, 2 p.m., Oregon State Fair.

Related Pages:
Spring Chinook Season Ends Sunday by Staff, Lewiston Tribune, 7/12/17