Starting today (Sept. 28), the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW) will open a selective fishery for hatchery steelhead on the upper Columbia River above Rock Island Dam, and on the Wenatchee, Icicle, Entiat, Methow, and Okanogan rivers.Salmon fishing will also reopen Wednesday from Wells Dam to Brewster, and the Similkameen River will open to hatchery steelhead retention beginning Nov 1. The steelhead fisheries will remain open until further notice, while the salmon fishery will run through Oct. 15.
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.
E-Mail
Print
