The steelhead opener on the lower Columbia River has been postponed indefinitely to avoid accidentally catching Chinook Salmon. This year the Chinook count held promise for the 3rd best return on record – then the bottom fell out.
Forecasts of returning salmon have dropped from the original estimate of 269,000 fish to 180,000 – and recent information suggests the lowered estimate may get lower still.
As of Wednesday, the count of returnees at Bonneville Dam was 74,228.
Shad season appears intact, as Salmon are rarely caught using traditional shad lures and flies.
That “indefinitely” sounds so ugly and problematic. Like howsabout the authorities agree to close it for 3 years then review the progress. The north and south forks of the Salmon River here in Siskiyou County have been closed to all fishing from March ’til November since about 1971. That’s a good long stretch. And so you now get only four months of fishing per year there. I met a guy who bought a little cabin on the bank of the north fork in 1970 , about 8 months before the restrictions were placed – Ouch. I’m not sure they even bother to re-examine data there anymore.
Seems like there’s still a chance the rest of the run is “late” – but given the predicament of the California run, I don’t think so.
“These are the good old days…”