Coho Returns: 1.732 MILLION fish are forecasted to return to the Columbia River

If there’s one thing to be excited about in 2021, this is it! Northwest salmon managers are projecting that an abundance of coho “silvers” will be returning from the Pacific Ocean this summer. The estimate is at least 1.732 MILLION fish!

This is the largest forecast since at least 2015. If the forecast is accurate it would be the highest actual ocean coho return back to the late 1980’s and just a little above 2014, which was one of the best years for sport fishermen in Oregon since 2008.

The total figure of 1.732 million is 6.5 times higher than last year’s projected forecast and more than 3.5 times higher than the actual number of coho in the ocean. Last year we caught a significant number of jacks in the estuary- pointing to good ocean conditions and excellent survival rates for these young fish. Let’s just say we are pretty pumped for what lies ahead in 2021!

Recreational Columbia River Salmon fishing to re-open Saturday through the years end

Oregon and Washington will reopen the Columbia River on Saturday, through the end of the year, to all salmon fishing from Buoy 10 to Pasco, Washington.

Daily bag limit will be two adult salmon, coho or chinook, but only one fish can be a chinook. Chinook need not be fin-clipped, but all coho kept downstream of the Hood River Bridge must be hatchery-origin. All steelhead must be released.

Jack salmon can be kept (up to five in Oregon) upriver from Tongue Point. Between there and Buoy 10, no jacks can be kept until Oct. 1.

Oregon, Washington to reopen Columbia River to hatchery chinook salmon, summer steelhead fishing

Summer steelhead and summer chinook seasons will reopen for hatchery fish Thursday on most of the Columbia River, to extend through the end of July. Photo by Bill Monroe

Updated 3:55 PM 7/15/2020

Oregon and Washington will reopen the Columbia River on Thursday to fishing for hatchery chinook salmon and hatchery summer steelhead through the end of July.

The bag limit is two adult hatchery fish per day, but only one can be a summer steelhead. All sockeye salmon must be released.

Anglers may fish between Tongue Point and the U.S. 395 bridge at Pasco, Washington, until July 31.

-- Bill Monroe for The Oregonian/OregonLive

Original article: https://www.oregonlive.com/sports/2020/07/oregon-washington-to-reopen-columbia-river-to-hatchery-chinook-salmon-summer-steelhead.html

Oregonian: States extend Columbia River fishing for hatchery chinook salmon

Updated Jul 08, 2020; Posted Jul 08, 2020

Summer chinook salmon fishing has another weeklong extension, fish managers from Oregon and Washington decided Wednesday. File photo by Steven Nehl/The Oregonian

As fish counts continued to climb at Bonneville Dam, Oregon and Washington biologists met by telephone Wednesday and approved a weeklong extension of angling on the Columbia River for hatchery chinook salmon (adults and jacks), starting Thursday.

Sockeye and summer steelhead fishing will remain closed, although managers said they will meet again next Wednesday afternoon and may consider reopening summer steelhead at that time. They will also discuss additional chinook fishing.

Meanwhile, anglers can keep up to two adult hatchery chinook salmon through Wednesday, July 15, from Tongue Point upriver to Pasco, Washington (some of the area is within Washington, beyond the border). Hatchery jack salmon (12-inch minimum) limit is five per day.

Managers continue to protect sockeye salmon despite a sharp increase in the predicted run, now expected to top 340,000 fish. Endangered Snake River sockeye are mixed with the upper-Columbia numbers.

An additional sockeye protection, a temporary ban on shad fishing, was ordered for waters between Bonneville and The Dalles dams through July 15.

Note: Oregon has also announced fishing closures starting July 15 in thermal sanctuaries off the mouths of Herman and Eagle creeks and the mouth of the Deschutes River.

-- Bill Monroe for The Oregonian/OregonLive