Buoy 10 fishery opens Monday

Published 5:42 am Friday, July 29, 2016

The Buoy 10 summer coho and Chinook salmon fishery at the mouth of the Columbia River opens Monday.

Thousands of anglers will descend on the region over the next few weeks, with a return of nearly one million fall Chinook salmon predicted. Fishing typically starts slow and builds to a fever pitch as August moves along and migrating salmon move eastward up the river.

This year, the state Department of Fish and Wildlife lowered the steelhead bag limit to one per day from the mouth of the Columbia to Pasco to help protect the endangered species destined for the Snake River. This restriction will be in effect Monday through Dec. 31 from Buoy 10 to the Bonneville Dam; Sept. 1 through Dec. 31 from Bonneville Dam to McNary Dam; and Nov. 1 through Dec. 31 from McNary Dam to the Highway 395 Bridge in Pasco.

The state also changed regulations regarding retention of hatchery Chinook on mark-selective fishing days downstream of Bonneville Dam. Fish caught on those days may have a clipped adipose or a left-ventral fin, but must have a healed scar at the location of the clipped fin. 

Open dates, bag limits and other regulations for Columbia River salmon seasons vary by location on the river and can be found on the state Department of Fish and Wildlife’s website at http://tinyurl.com/yeqz8tn