6 days Ago By Bill Monroe
Offshore salmon seasons were tentatively set Tuesday by the Pacific Fishery Management Council after a five-day meeting in San Jose, Calif. Final decisions are up to federal managers and will be announced in May. They will include summer and fall fishing in the Columbia River from Buoy 10 upriver to Pasco, Wash.
While proposed offshore seasons are similar to last year – Oregon wild coho returns are expected to improve – details show differences. Off the mouth of the Columbia River, from Leadbetter Point, Wash., to Cape Falcon (Manzanita), fishing would be open seven days a week from June 25 through Sept.
30 for all salmon, with a guideline of 16,600 Chinook (12,510 in 2024) and a quota of 49,860 marked coho (39,900 in 2024). The daily limit is two salmon, and one Chinook only. South of Cape Falcon to the California border, a hatchery coho season would begin in early June on a quota of 44,000 adults, followed by an any-coho season in September from Cape Falcon to Humbug Mountain (Port Orford).
Chinook retention, hatchery or non, would be allowed through mid-July and again in September and October, although only one per day would be allowed. Managers are constrained by the need to protect fall chinook headed for California rivers. Buoy 10 and Columbia River anglers will have to wait for approval from federal managers, but are also looking at seasons similar to last year.
Details will also be made final and announced in May. – Bill Monroe.
