Headlines

A camera just placed in the fish ladder at Keno Dam on Oregon’s upper Klamath River captured the first video of a salmon in the facility since the removal of four downstream dams. It follows on salmon observed in the ladder last year, and for ODFW “(reminds) us of their resiliency as they return to…

Washington fishery managers have posted a survey (included below the news release) on sturgeon angling and conservation as they ask fishermen about “participation and preferences on possible rule changes, including season timing, area closures, limited-entry permits, gear restrictions, and retention or catch-and-release fisheries”

Washington anglers and hunters, and fish and wildlife will benefit from $67 million in outdoor recreation and habitat conservation grants announced by the state Recreation and Conservation Office today.

Northern pikeminnow anglers will get 12 extra days to turn in fish at seven stations on the Columbia-Snake system, Sport-Reward Fishery managers announced today.

Mid-September 2025 fall Chinook, coho and steelhead catch stats for the Lower Columbia, select Southwest Washington tributaries and the Hanford Reach.

Along with holding a two-day retreat, later this week the Washington Fish and Wildlife Commission will consider four land transactions in Pend Oreille, Okanogan and Douglas Counties, review WDFW’s Resident Native Trout Harvest Policy, and hold a public hearing on new permanent regulations for coastal steelhead rivers.

With “well below average” conversion rates on Snake fall Chinook being seen so far this season, WDFW is closing retention on wild kings but keeping hatchery fish open on several stretches of the river.

Four more days of salmon fishing opportunity are coming to the Columbia from the mouth of the big river upstream to the Tri-Cities, WDFW and ODFW managers decided this morning.

WDFW catch stats for fall Chinook and coho on the Hanford Reach stretch of the Mid-Columbia show 2025’s fishery is off to a much slower start than 2024 and 2023 due to slow fish passage over downstream dams that is likely due to higher water temperatures.

Starting this Thursday, September, 18, the general marine species daily bag limit off the Oregon Coast is being reduced to three from four to “reduce the risk of an early season closure” after good conditions and fishing in mid- to late summer saw monthly catch projections exceeded in August.

Federal hatcheries in the Columbia River system can’t catch a break. A handful in the gorge lost a third of their staffers this year while the usual suspects are suing yet again over alleged violations at Mitchell Act facilities.

Mid-September 2025 fall Chinook, coho and steelhead catch stats for the Lower Columbia, Buoy 10 and select Southwest Washington rivers.

A WDFW investigation leads to the sentencing of a 54-year-old Skagit County woman who pled guilty to a felony count of unlawful wildlife trafficking after she purchased black bear gall bladders, livers and paws as well as other wildlife parts from undercover game wardens.

The Oregon Fish and Wildlife Commission had a pretty busy day today, opening the Coquille for the first fall Chinook fishery since 2021 (hatchery only), approving tweaks to the 2026 fishing regs including opening spearfishing in all rivers for bass and walleye and standardizing the kokanee limit, and requiring an ocean endorsement to fish for…

With Lake Roosevelt sturgeon season set to open next week, WDFW is again advising anglers of an annual state-tribal survey of young diamondsides coming up in late September and early October.

Backcountry Hunters and Anglers reacts to the federal Department of the Interior’s proposal to rescind the Public Lands Rule for BLM ground, which affirmed “conserving public lands is a legitimate and important use, on equal footing with energy development, timber harvest, grazing, and recreation” and was overwhelmingly supported in public comment.

Early September 2025 fall Chinook, coho and steelhead catch stats for the Lower Columbia, Buoy 10 and select Southwest Washington tributaries.

Litigation over Columbia River hydropower operations impacts on salmon and steelhead that had been paused appears to be headed back to court as Northwest fish and fishing interests, including a recreational angling organization and four tribes, along with two states, are asking a federal judge to lift a longterm stay on what had been a…

ODFW says that spaces are open at several upcoming free youth pheasant hunts around Oregon, a good chance to get young hunters on their first birds.

Thanks to a “strong comeback,” the whitetails of the Lower Columbia River are on the verge of a federal delisting proposal.

Washington Coast Chinook are “most likely at low risk of extinction,” according to a federal status review, potentially lowering the odds of an eventual Endangered Species Act listing for the population.

Get out your calendars –– the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife set tentative razor clam dig dates from October 6, 2025, through January 6, 2026

The 7th Annual Rogue River Pikeminnow Roundup offers anglers a chance to win fishing gear, clothes, gift cards and more for removing Umpqua pikeminnow, which prey on and compete with the Southern Oregon system’s native salmon, steelhead and trout.

The Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife talks about the loss of legislative funding for the Salmon River Hatchery and how production on the system as well as with other Chinook, coho, steelhead and trout programs will be impacted as fish are moved around in the coming years.

When the Oregon Fish and Wildlife Commission meets September 11-12 in Ontario, it will take up mule deer and sage grouse management, recreational sportfishing regulation changes, and more. Here are details.

Late August 2025 fall Chinook, coho and steelhead catch stats for Buoy 10, the Lower Columbia and select Southwest Washington tributaries.

ODFW and the Oregon Hunters Association are again teaming up to encourage deer and elk hunters to get their harvests checked for chronic wasting disease; those who submit tests will be put in to a drawing for a Weatherby rifle.

ODFW details plans for the joint state-tribal Qapqápa Wildlife Area, an 11,438-acre project near La Grande that’s brought together the agency, Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation, Oregon Department of Forestry, Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation and current property owners at the Harry A. Merlo Foundation.

Ahhh, yes, Labor Day, that moment of the year when all news stops. Right? Wrong.

WDFW is reminding Washington deer, elk and moose hunters about new rules in place this fall big game season that are meant to limit the spread of chronic wasting disease.

Catch stats this week show the best days of the season in terms of keepers at Buoy 10, where any Chinook and hatchery coho as well as hatchery steelhead are open for retention.

The Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife is conducting a 10-week sea survey of black, blue and deacon rockfish populations, fishery stocks that are “incredibly important to our coastal identity and economy.”

After closing salmon fishing on the ocean between Cape Falcon and Leadbetter Point earlier this month, state and federal managers say there are enough coho left in the quota to open for one more day, Saturday, August 30.

WDFW and the Wenatchee Sportsman Association are hosting a National Hunting and Fishing Day event for youths and families Saturday, September 13 at the North Central Washington Gun Club featuring casting and archery practice, shotgun and air rifle shooting, and more.

Late August 2025 fall Chinook, coho and steelhead catch stats for the Lower Columbia, Buoy 10 and select Southwest Washington tributaries.