BY ANDY WALGAMOTT, NORTHWEST SPORTSMAN MAGAZINE
Columbia summer and fall salmon and steelhead anglers can begin to further firm up their fishing plans for the big river and Washington-side tributaries with a handy-dandy tentative schedule graphic out from WDFW late last week.
The two-page “cheat sheet” distills what came out of PFMC/North of Falcon negotiations last month into an easier-to-read format that outlines river stretch, Chinook, coho, sockeye and steelhead season dates, and daily limits during the subperiods of the fishery.
It’s part of a broader effort by Region 5 staff to make Columbia fisheries information more accessible to the public.
Final federal approval for 2026 seasons is still pending but should be available soon.
“Fisheries are tentative and subject to change in-season based on catches, run updates, and other
circumstances,” the WDFW document states. “The final 2026 preseason plan for summer and fall salmon and steelhead fisheries will be available in May on WDFW’s Columbia River reports, forecasts, returns, and fishery plans webpage.”
There’s something very different being offered in this fall’s mainstem salmon fishery – wild coho in the bag limit for much of the Lower Columbia and Columbia Gorge pools during the first half of October.
“Expanded retention of any coho in the lower Columbia River, from west Puget Island upstream to the Highway 395 Bridge in Pasco, is new for 2026,” confirmed Ryan Lothrop, WDFW’s Columbia River fisheries manager. “In most years, coho fisheries have been constrained by ESA-listed Lower Columbia River natural coho (LCN) and variable returns, which has limited non-mark-selective opportunity to areas upstream of the Hood River Bridge.”
“With strong interest from anglers, we revisited the concept this year,” he added. “Preseason modeling indicates natural coho impacts are not a major in-river constraint in 2026, which gives us room to expand the fishery while staying within conservation limits and without affecting Chinook fisheries or other opportunities.”
WDFW is quick to note that this particular opportunity may not occur every year, as it depends on coho runs and available Endangered Species Act impacts.
As for the rest of the schedule, here’s what else that table lays out.
Buoy 10, perhaps the highest interest Columbia fishery (at least when springers aren’t running), will open for fall Chinook August 1-September 2, with any Chinook in the bag August 1-9, then hatchery only August 10-24 before switching back to any Chinook August 25-September 2. Hatchery coho can be retained there August 1-December 31.
Upstream from the estuary between west Puget Island and the Lewis mouth/Warrior Rock area, any Chinook may be retained August 1-September 2, and then fishing is scheduled to close until October 1, when it reopens for any coho – hatchery or wild – through October 15.
Above there from the Lewis/Warrior line all the way to the Highway 395 bridge in Pasco, any Chinook may be kept August 1-September 15, then the river closes for the rest of September before similarly reopening October 1-15 for any coho.
The PDF also lines out salmon limits and seasons in a host of Southwest Washington tributaries, the mainstem Columbia sockeye season (June 23-July 5 below 395), and the now usual rolling closures for steelhead from the mouth to Tri-Cities and Washington-side terminal fisheries.
