Fishing for hatchery steelhead on several Columbia River tributaries, including the Wenatchee and the Methow, will open Wednesday, the state Department of Fish and Wildlife announced.
Also opening are the upper Columbia above Rock Island Dam and the Entiat and Okanagan.
Salmon fishing will also reopen Wednesday from Wells Dam to Brewster, and the Similkameen River will open to hatchery steelhead retention beginning Nov 1.
Jeff Korth, regional WDFW fish manager, said approximately 18,000 adult steelhead are expected to return to the upper Columbia River this year – enough to allow the department to open area steelhead fisheries for the eighth straight season.
However, both wild and hatchery-reared fish are expected to return in significantly lower numbers than in the past two years, requiring additional constraints on those fisheries.
“Allowable impacts on wild steelhead will be tighter this year, so we may have to close earlier than in the past two seasons,” Korth said. Three areas of the Columbia River – Vernita, Priest Rapids and Wanapum – will not open at all for steelhead fishing this fall.
The daily limit on all rivers is two hatchery steelhead, marked with a clipped adipose fin and measuring at least 20 inches in length. Any steelhead with an intact adipose fin must be released unharmed and must not be removed from the water. Anglers must also release any steelhead with one or more round holes punched in their tail fin.
Like last year, anglers must retain any legal hatchery steelhead they catch until they reach their daily limit of two fish. Once they have retained two fish, they must stop fishing for steelhead.
“These selective steelhead fisheries are specifically designed to help maintain a high proportion of wild steelhead on the spawning grounds and enhance recovery of the region’s wild steelhead,” Korth said. “Anglers can play an important role in that effort by removing hatchery fish above the number needed to meet spawning goals.”
Areas that will open to fishing for hatchery steelhead Sept. 28 include:
Mainstem Columbia River: From Rock Island Dam to 400 feet below Chief Joseph Dam. Night closure and selective gear rules apply, except bait is allowed.
Wenatchee River: From the mouth to the Icicle River Road Bridge, including the Icicle River from the mouth to 500 feet downstream of the Leavenworth National Fish Hatchery Barrier Dam. Night closure and selective gear rules apply. Motorized vessels are not allowed.
Entiat River: Upstream from the Alternate Highway 97 Bridge, near the mouth of the Entiat River to 800 feet downstream of the Entiat National Fish Hatchery outfall. Night closure and selective gear rules apply.
Methow River: From the mouth to the confluence with the Chewuch River in Winthrop. Fishing from a floating device is prohibited from the second powerline crossing to the first Hwy 153 Bridge. Night closure and selective gear rules apply.
Okanogan River: From the mouth upstream to the Highway 97 Bridge in Oroville. Night closure and selective gear rules apply.
On the Similkameen River, which opens for hatchery steelhead Nov. 1, the fishery will extend from the mouth of the river to 400 below Enloe Dam. Night closure and selective gear rules apply.
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