Hanford Reach Fall Chinook Broodstock Collection Dates Set

The derby is on pause this year but fall Chinook broodstock collection continues as registration for what’s been known in the past as King of the Reach is now open for Coastal Conservation Association members.

This year’s event is being branded as an “Adult Broodstock Collection,” or ABC, and will be held October 25-26, the last Friday and Saturday of the month.

“It’s an amazing experience” said Don McBride, president of the CCA Tri Cities chapter, said in a press release. “Fishing pristine waters and catching dozens of salmon per boat each day with the added bonus of knowing that the fish you catch are benefitting the future of fisheries for thousands of anglers.”

Anglers catch wild fall Chinook and transport them alive to crews that rush them to the Priest Rapids Hatchery for spawning, “essential to meet the hatchery genetic management plan requirements for an integrated hatchery so that the hatchery may continue releasing millions of Chinook salmon,” according to CCA.

The organization has been working with Grant County PUD and WDFW on the effort for more than a decade now, with some years seeing more than a thousand spawners brought in. Almost all of the 7 million salmon raised annually at the hatchery just below Priest Rapids Dam have at least one wild parent, per the org.

As for the competitive derby portion of the collection event, with its tracking of whose boat brings in the most fish for prizes, it is being paused this year as “administrative changes” with the partner agencies are worked through, CCA says.

New WDFW policies around volunteers and PFD use are behind this year’s change.

To sign up, go to 24ABC.givesmart.com. Registrations must be completed by October 22. Boat captains will be required to carry a WDFW collection permit at all times during the event. The fishing area stretches from the old Hanford townsite powerline crossing upstream to the bottom of Vernita Bar a couple miles above the Vernita Bridge.