Some steelhead available for harvest on Snake River

steelhead

Those fishing on the Snake River west of Clarkston can keep some hatchery steelhead beginning Saturday.

The Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife says anglers will be allowed to harvest steelhead that measure less than 28 inches from the section of river beginning at its mouth and extending upstream to the Idaho-Washington state line at Clarkston.  Until now that stretch was only open to catch-and-release steelhead.  The rule change will mean anglers fishing from the mouth of the river to Couse Creek will be under the same size restrictions and bag limits.

The agency changed the rule thanks to the return of adequate numbers of A-run steelhead, both wild and hatchery-origin adults.  The rule change is designed to allow anglers to keep the more abundant A-run steelhead, while protecting B-run steelhead that are returning in much smaller numbers.

Earlier this year, fisheries managers in Idaho, Washington, and Oregon shut down all steelhead harvest on the Snake River and some of its tributaries due to low numbers of returning fish.  (Lewiston Tribune)

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