BY ANDY WALGAMOTT, NORTHWEST SPORTSMAN MAGAZINE
Updated, 10:08 a.m., Tuesday, February 26, 2026 in the second and final paragraphs.
Thursday’s keeper sturgeon day on The Dalles Pool is a go after colder water kept catch rates relatively low on last Saturday’s opener.
Columbia River fishery managers report that an estimated 83 diamondsides were harvested on February 21, bringing the guideline for the season to 48 percent full, which should provide more than enough room for the midweek day. And on Tuesday morning, they also announced a conference call to possibly consider another opener.
Dennis Schwartz was among the sturgeon anglers who hit the water Saturday, and he reported slow fishing and a water temperature of 39 degrees. He said fishermen aboard seven other boats he talked to back at the dock had brought nothing in, though the buddy he fished with caught his first keeper in more than two decades.
To riff off of the recently concluded Winter Olympics, Saturday was a bronze medal day for anglers and a gold medal one for sturgeon managers, who this season purposefully moved the retention fishery on both The Dalles and Bonneville Pools from January 1 to the deepest, coldest part of winter, at least in terms of water temps.
The past couple seasons have seen hot fishing at the start of the year, thanks to the Columbia River running warmer than usual, prompting managers’ new approach to use February’s colder water to tamp down catch rates and try to extend the opportunity.
The guideline for The Dalles Pool is 275 43- to 54-inch fork-length sturgeon. Fifty were kept on the February 16 opener, and Saturday’s 83 brings the harvest on the season to 133.
Downstream and upstream of there, both the Bonneville and John Day Pools are closed for sturgeon retention for the year. Nearly 80 percent of the former reservoir’s guideline of 1,275 fish was caught in one day, February 16, while the latter’s guideline of 105 lasted nine days at the start of the year.
Catch-and-release fishing remains open on all three impoundments. Thursday’s weather forecast for The Dalles Pool is for sunny skies but a bit windy by midday and through afternoon.
Stay tuned. The Columbia River Compact will meet Wednesday morning at 10 a.m. to consider, among other fisheries, “Non-treaty The Dalles Pool recreational white sturgeon.”
