Sockeye season closes on Hanford Reach, Upper Columbia

It’s curtains for the sockeye salmon season on the Hanford Reach and the Upper Columbia River.

Anglers have met the maximum recreational harvest allocation for sockeye in that part of the Columbia drainage, prompting the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife to close the season for the summer.

The season had been open four days a week since July 16 with a limit of two sockeye instead of four. Fishery managers limited fishing days and tightened bag limits in an effort to stretch the season out after the run forecast dropped drastically.

A new projection on Monday downgraded the run size even further, putting the sockeye run at 167,500, according to WDFW. The allowable harvest for sockeye was set at 11,275 fish.

Chris Donley, WDFW’s fish program manager for the eastern region, said Monday morning that anglers had hit the harvest threshhold, forcing fishery managers to close the season.

That means no more sockeye salmon fishing from the I-182 bridge at Richland upstream and through the Brewster pool.

A summer chinook salmon season remains open Wednesdays through Saturdays on the stretch from Rocky Reach Dam to Wells Dam. Anglers can keep one adult hatchery chinook.

WDFW officials are monitoring that fishery closely and will move to close it once harvest targets are reached.

Anglers will be able to target sockeye salmon at Lake Wenatchee starting on Wednesday thanks to good return forecasts for that drainage.

The season, which is scheduled to run through Aug. 31, includes a daily limit of four sockeye that are at least 12 inches long. Selective gear rules are also in effect, meaning no bait and only barbless single point hooks.