BY ANDY WALGAMOTT, NORTHWEST SPORTSMAN MAGAZINE
Buoy 10 anglers will be able to keep a third hatchery coho starting Saturday, September 12, after Columbia salmon managers approved the inseason modification during a teleconference today.
The rule change will be in effect in the waters from the buoy marking the mouth of the big river upstream to the west end of Puget Island through the end of October. Chinook remain closed here.
Managers also OKed three 10-hour Chinook-directed commercial fishing periods in the Lower Columbia’s Zones 4 and 5 – essentially, Warrior Light up to Bonneville Dam, or the upper Dead Zone as anglers know it, so be advised, king killers – for September 10, 17 and 20.
Not all recreational fishermen on this afternoon’s call were in favor of the coho proposal as written because of concerns over potential wild fish mortalities from released fish.
One sportfishing advisor who did support it also noted “extremely low” mark rates – i.e., hatchery-clipped coho – being reported there, while an avid angler advocated for the bag limit to remain at two coho but with one of those a wild fish. The latter fisherman said boats at the buoy – where he had just spent three weeks – were having to cycle through up to five dozen fish just to cull out a dozen hatchery keepers.
In making their decision today, Tucker Jones and Charlene Hurst, ODFW and WDFW’s director representatives, respectively, leaned on staff testimony that mark rates were two hatchery coho for every one wild released from August through the end of Chinook season, which wrapped up September 2, though has been closer to 50-50 in the days since then.
A fact sheet out ahead of the meeting also stated, “The Buoy 10 coho fishery is tracking below expectations for unclipped coho mortalities as compared to the preseason plan, while handle rates have remained high … Unclipped coho mortalities would not likely exceed an additional 400 fish, resulting in the total
for the Buoy 10 fishery being approximately 75% of the preseason expectations.”
It is also not expected to have any measurable impact to impact rates for tule or Snake River wild fall Chinook.
Elsewhere, the fact sheet provided more details on a 2026 recreational fall salmon season that has fueled 180,000 angler trips so far and was termed “pretty impressive, and everything seems to be moving on track” by Jones.
Down at Buoy 10, estimates through September 7 show 33,341 Chinook kept and 25,011 released, 44,660 coho kept and 22,392 released, and 50 released steelhead from around 108,700 angler trips.
From western Puget Island upstream to Warrior Rock, preliminary estimates through September 2, when these waters closed for salmon fishing, show 7,279 Chinook kept and 681 released, 225 coho kept and 101 released, and 210 steelhead released from about 35,300 angler trips.
From Warrior Rock to Bonneville Dam, where the initial fishery is open through September 15, preliminary estimates through September 6 show 6,840 Chinook kept and 966 released, 249 coho kept and 164 released, and 77 steelhead released for 24,200 angler trips.
And from Bonneville upstream to Tri-Cities, where fishing also runs through September 15 before a pause, preliminary estimates through September 6 show 3,817 Chinook kept and 588 released, 45 coho kept and six released, and four steelhead kept and 57 released for 13,300 angler trips.
While Jones did say he was a little “squeamish” about this year’s fall Chinook return, the fact sheet shows that the US v. Oregon Technical Advisory Committee met earlier this week and had enough information to update the runsize to the good.
A total of 657,000 are now expected back to the mouth of the Columbia this year, up just over 20,000 fish from the preseason forecast of 636,500. Most of the increase is due to higher expected returns of Bonneville Pool hatchery and pool upriver bright stocks.
The upriver bright forecast – Chinook bound for the Hanford Reach and Snake River – stayed steady at 270,900.
One curiosity is the large lag in passage numbers between Bonneville and The Dalles Dams. Some 296,997 have been counted at the former but only 78,509 at the latter.
It’s not all good news from TAC. The A-run steelhead forecast continues to be downgraded and is now at 54,900, including 17,700 unclipped fish, sharp drops from 87,900 and 33,100 predicted earlier this year.
As for those Zones 4 and 5 commercial Chinook fisheries mentioned above, they will begin as early as 8 p.m. tomorrow and were supported by netters, though a lower river fish buyer tried to get the director representatives to push back the September 17 fishing period to earlier next week for better marketing of fresh salmon to stores.
Staffers from the DFWs said the reason for the dates chosen was because they were trying to avoid overlapping the three Chinook gillnet openers with the start of coho tangle net fisheries next week and otherwise force netboats to choose one harvest or the other.
Models suggest the comms could catch up to 16,500 adult Chinook. Managers say there will be enough time to assess catches, and they have also scheduled another teleconference for next Tuesday, September 15, at 2 p.m.
