According to the information the advisory group has suggested that spring Chinook fishing in the lower Columbia River should be open daily for boats upstream to Beacon Rock and for bank anglers to Bonneville Dam. They predicted that such a season would last through April 5 before catching the early-season allocation of 12,700 upper Columbia-origin spring salmon.
The overall catch would be about 14,300 when factoring in chinook headed for Oregon’s Willamette River plus the Cowlitz, Kalama and Cowlitz in Washington. The advisory group has forecast that there might be returns of 314,200 upper Columbia spring chinook and 83,400 Willamette-origin fish to enter the river. Complicated allocation schemes involving the Endangered Species Act, catch balancing between the Columbia treaty tribes and non-Indians along with sport-commercial sharing arrangements all interact to determine available harvest.
Advisory committee member Josh Graham of Vancouver said boat ramps get chaotic when the sport fleet is trying to launch and the gillnetters are trying to load 28- to 32-foot boats at the same time. Committee member Robert Moxley of Newberg, Ore, said if the commercials fish in the day, then the closure is warranted. But if the commercials are netting at night, then the river should be stay open daily for sportsmen.
