The salmon season setting process is coming into view, and details on the Columbia River spring chinook fisheries, the pilot run of migrating salmon, will be known soon.

The Washington commission was to meet Saturday to decide allocation guidelines for spring chinook, and the Oregon commission will meet Friday to make its decision.

The Oregon state Fish and Wildlife staff has already proposed that its commission allow sport fishing from the Interstate 5 Bridge up to Bonneville Dam six days a week through April 30; allow fishing from Bonneville to McNary Dam daily March 16-May 10; constrain commercial fishing to the area from I-5 Bridge up to Beacon Rock; open commercial select area fisheries mid-February to mid-June; and allow daily sport fishing in the Willamette River.

Early indications are the Columbia River spring chinook return could be a dandy, but after three consecutive years of bad predictions, most in the know are being cautious of what will happen.

The forecast calls for a large return of 269,300 upriver spring chinook, compared with the 86,230 last year (78,500 was the 2007 forecast).

However, the Willamette spring chinook forecast is 34,000 [40,468 last year] and appears to be a poor one.

Tributaries above Bonneville Dam will likely see a big jump in sport catches this spring. The Little White Salmon River [Drano Lake] forecasted return of 36,800 looks like it will smash the current record of 20,000 fish set in 2002. The Wind River return is also expected to be strong.

Washington and Oregon officials will finalize the spring chinook seasons Feb. 15.

The North of Falcon meeting dates have been released, and expectations in Washington's waters look good in some places and lousy in others.

North of Falcon refers to Cape Falcon in northern Oregon, which marks the southern border of active management for Washington salmon stocks.

"I think we'll have a better process, and we [including the tribal constituents] have learned some things from last year, so we're going into this season with more optimism," said Pat Pattillo of the state Fish and Wildlife's intergovernmental salmon policy group. Continued@URL...
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