CLACKAMAS, Ore.—The lower Willamette River is open to retention for spring Chinook and steelhead seven days per week as of 12:01 a.m. today.
The daily adult bag limit is two hatchery salmonids for the lower Willamette River (including Multnomah Channel and the Gilbert River) and the lower Clackamas River (up to the Highway 99E Bridge).
The increased opportunity (up from fishing three days a week, one fish daily bag limit) is thanks to the increasing rate of passage of spring Chinook, according to Tucker Jones, ODFW’s Ocean Salmon and Columbia River Program manager.
“Recent counts at Willamette Falls lead us to believe we are going to make spring Chinook escapement goals,” said Jones.
Other previously adopted regulations for this area remain unchanged. The two-rod angling validation remains in effect through July and the use of barbed hooks is allowed when angling for salmon, steelhead, or trout.
The Gilbert River remains closed to sturgeon angling, including catch and release, and angling is restricted to artificial flies and lures only, with no angling with bait allowed through June 15. Northwest sturgeon guides will have to service their client by fishing further up river in sections of the columbia open to sturgeon fishing trips.
All other permanent regulations in the 2017 Oregon Sport Fishing Regulations pamphlet remain in effect.
Additional information is available on the ODFW website at the following link http://www.dfw.state.or.us/