Salmon Fishing Closes in Wash. Area 10
Each week we round-up the top fishing news from the Northwest and beyond. Do you have a news tip? E-mail us at news /at/ salmonuniversity.com.
Openings, Closings in Washington
Last weekend Chinook fishing on the Columbia River upstream from the Priest Rapids Dam opened. The fishery will remain open until November 30 and allows anglers to keep up to three adult Chinook with or without hatchery fin clips. Some sections of the river had closed October 15 and one was scheduled to close October 22, however, a higher-than-expected return of Chinook from the Hanford Reach led to the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW) deciding to extend the fishery.
Meanwhile, salmon fishing in Marine Area 10 (the Puget Sound from Seattle to Bremerton) closed Sunday. The closure comes more than three months before its previously scheduled closing dates and, according to the WDFW, is “necessary to meet conservation objectives for wild Chinook.”
OSU Takes Third in FLW College Bass Western Regional
The Oregon State University Bass Fishing club scored a third-place finish in the Western regional championship of the FLW College Bass Series in Clear Lake, California on Sunday. The duo of Zach MacDonald and Zach Martinez landed a combined weight of 30 pounds, 1 ounce to make the top-three finish which qualifies them to advance to the national championship in April in Columbia, South Carolina. The Beavers had earlier qualified two, two-person teams to participate in the Clear Lake event. Chico State University took the first place slot at the western regional.
Data Shows High “Churn Rate” Among Anglers
A recent study by the American Sportfishing Association found that the western United States attracts the most non-resident anglers of any region in the country. According to the study, nonresident anglers comprise 29-percent of the licensed angler population in the west, compared to a low of 19-percent in the Midwest. The study also found that, nationwide, close to half of all licensed anglers (46-percent) do not renew their licenses in any given year. The typical angler buys a license about three out of every 10 years throughout their fishing lifetime. Only about four-percent of anglers purchase a fishing license every year, indicating a higher-than-expected “churn rate,” or the rate at which anglers transition into, and out of, the sport.
Chinook image courtesy Pacific Northwest National Laboratory.
