ARCHIVED NEWS RELEASE
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inaccuracies.
News release May 22, 2014
OLYMPIA - Spring chinook salmon fisheries on two sections of the Snake River will close for the season after four more days of fishing in each area.
Fishing for spring chinook in the Clarkston area continues today (May 22) and will close an hour past sunset on Sunday (May 25). Below Lower Granite Dam, fishing for spring chinook will be open from Saturday (May 24) until an hour past sunset on Tuesday (May 27).
By then, the catch of spring chinook salmon is expected to reach the harvest allocation limit for the Snake River based on monitored harvest and the most recent estimate of the run size, said John Whalen, WDFW’s eastern region fish program manager.
“These closures will effectively mark the end of the fishing season for spring chinook on the Snake River,” Whalen said.
The section of the river set to close an hour past sunset May 25 is:
- Clarkston area: Snake River from the downstream edge of the large power lines crossing the Snake River (just upstream from West Evans Road on the south shore) upstream about 3.5 miles to the Washington state line. (The state line extends from the east levee of the Greenbelt boat launch in Clarkston northwest across the Snake River to the boundary waters marker on the Whitman County shore).
The section of the river set to close an hour past sunset May 27 is:
- Below Lower Granite Dam: Snake River from the Ilia Boat Launch on the south across to the mouth of Almota Creek upstream about four miles to the restricted fishing area below Lower Granite Dam.
Two other areas of the Snake River below Ice Harbor Dam and Little Goose Dam closed for spring chinook fishing May 14.
When the fishery is open, anglers have a daily catch limit of one hatchery adult chinook - marked with a clipped adipose fin - and five hatchery jacks measuring less than 24 inches.
Barbless hooks are required, and anglers must stop fishing for the day when they reach their daily limit of adult chinook salmon. All chinook with an adipose fin, and all steelhead, must immediately be released unharmed.
For more details, check the rule change on WDFW’s website at https://fortress.wa.gov/dfw/erules/efishrules/erule.jsp?id=1448.