BIll Monroe: Surprise uptick of summer chinook and sockeye salmon expand July fishing in Oregon and Washington

A surprise uptick of summer chinook and sockeye salmon at Bonneville Dam prompted Oregon and Washington to reopen some July chinook fishing from the dam to Astoria and expand sockeye retention throughout the river’s jointly shared waters.

Anglers will be allowed to keep hatchery chinook salmon July 1 to 13 from the Astoria-Megler Bridge upriver to Bonneville Dam. Barring any changes, chinook fishing will then close below the dam until Aug. 1 fall seasons begin.

Hatchery chinook fishing upriver from the dam continues through the end of July.

Sockeye salmon, up to two per day, will be allowed through the end of July during all previously approved seasons, which include hatchery summer steelhead fishing downriver from the dam and hatchery summer steelhead and hatchery chinook fishing upriver from the dam.

The daily bag limit remains two fish per day, but now one or two can be sockeye salmon. Sockeye aren’t fin-clipped so any sockeye is legal.

The summer chinook pre-season prediction was bumped up more than 10,000 adults, from 56,300 to 66,800 and the sockeye prediction, originally forecast at 198,700 is now expected to be 426,000.

Summer steelhead numbers are also up at the dam, which could lead to limited Deschutes River fishing later.

– Bill Monroe

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