November 2, 2018

The Columbia Basin Bulletin

With continued low returns of summer steelhead into the Snake River and its tributaries, the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife this week extended its one hatchery fish bag limit through the end of the year.

The Oregon one fish bag limit was set to expire Oct. 31, but underperforming steelhead runs across the Columbia River basin and numbers of steelhead in the Snake River have not proven strong enough to increase the bag limit, prompting the fish and wildlife agency to retain its one hatchery fish limit.

“Steelhead and salmon runs have been an overall disappointment this year, but we feel we can still offer some opportunity while meeting broodstock requirements and reducing impacts on wild fish,” said Kyle Bratcher, Acting District Fish Biologist in Enterprise, Ore. “Low densities of fish in the river will generally reduce interactions with wild fish but this regulation takes it a step further by reducing fishing effort as fish are caught.”

Snake River steelhead are crossing Lower Granite Dam, the upper of four lower Snake River dams, at less than 35 percent of the 10-year average, ODFW said in a news release Wednesday, Oct. 31.

Some 49,122 steelhead had passed Lower Granite Dam as of Oct. 31; 10,814 of the fish were wild. Last year on the same date the count was 72,327, with 13,877 wild. The 10-year average is 149,971, with 39,708 wild fish.

See the Northeast Zone Fishing Report in the Recreation Report for regulations.

The one bag limit regulation applies to the Snake River from the state line with Washington to Hells Canyon Dam, the Imnaha River, Big Sheep Creek, Grande Ronde River, Catherine Creek, Wallowa River and the Wenaha River.

Idaho Department of Fish and Game is also continuing its one hatchery fish bag limit on the same stretch of the Snake River through the end of December.