Coastal salmon fishing is good-news, bad-news situation
The Statesman Journal
July 28, 2010
Special regulations go into effect Sunday for anglers pursuing fall Chinook salmon on coastal rivers and streams.
"This year's predicted returns for coastal fall chinook are a mixed bag," said Ron Boyce, the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife's Ocean Salmon/Columbia River Program manager. "We expect overall numbers to be much better than last year, but some streams on the North Coast will continue to have weak runs."
In general, there are only minor adjustments to the permanent bag limits for Chinook on rivers from the Alsea River south to the California border.
But many of the area and low-flow closures in place in 2009 will be continued, and there will be additional area closures for the Siuslaw.
On the South Coast, the bag limit for most rivers will be two salmon or steelhead a day, 20 for the season.
Rivers from the Yaquina River north will have tighter bag limits and area closures.
The bag limit for wild (non fin-clipped) fall Chinook will be one a day, 10 fish in aggregate for the season with other Northwest Zone waters.
The exceptions will be the Nestucca and Nehalem rivers, which will have a one-fish-a-day limit and will share an aggregate annual limit of two fish.
There also will be significant area closures in the Nehalem and Nestucca basins.
Department fish managers, pending approval from federal officials at NOAA Fisheries, also have adopted three wild coho fisheries for 2010 on the Siletz and Coquille rivers and on Tenmile Lakes.
Those are in addition to the longstanding wild-coho fisheries on Siltcoos and Tahkenitch lakes.
For a rundown of all the coastal fall Chinook and coho regulations, click here.