Boats are bringing in limits of halibut on the coast

By Bob Brown | For The Olympian • Published May 08, 2008

BONNEVILLE POOL: Light effort and no catch have been observed.

THE DALLES POOL: Last week, Washington and Oregon sampled 272 anglers (including 28 boats) with 92 adult and two jack spring chinook and one steelhead. Including fish released, bank anglers averaged a chinook every 2.8 rods while boat anglers averaged one every 3.4 rods.

BONNEVILLE DAM to McNARY DAM is scheduled to remain open for hatchery chinook and hatchery steelhead through Saturday.

RINGOLD: The Ringold spring chinook fishery opened May 1. For the week, 13 adult spring chinook were harvested. Eighty-one anglers sampled kept six chinook and released two. The average was one chinook every 46 hours of effort.

STURGEON

LOWER COLUMBIA below BONNEVILLE DAM: Boat anglers have been catching some legals in the Vancouver area. Less than 100 boats were counted Saturday. About a third of the boats were found in the Vancouver area.

Starting Saturday, sturgeon fishing will be open in the estuary below Wauna power lines. After Saturday, only sturgeon measuring 45 to 60 inches can be retained in that stretch of the Columbia. The season for this area is scheduled to remain open through June 24 though the actual ending dated depends on the 13,143 fish quota being met.

To protect spawning fish, the area from Navigation Marker 85 upstream to Bonneville Dam is closed to fishing for sturgeon now through July.

THE DALLES and JOHN DAY pools are closed to sturgeon retention through the end of the year. In addition, sturgeon fishing is closed from John Day Dam downstream 2.4 miles to the west end of the grain silo at Rufus Oregon and from McNary Dam downstream 1.5 miles to the Interstate 82 Bridge through July.

LAKES

OFFUT: Boat and bank angling has been very good. Both anglers are catching limits of trout from 10 inches to three pounds. The bait of choice for boat anglers has been a Wedding Ring/worm combination while bank anglers are using rainbow Power Bait. A few anglers also have been using Spin-N-Glo. The bite has been good throughout the day.