Columbia River fishery managers today closed one recreational white sturgeon season and scheduled another.

Higher than expected effort and catch prompted fishery managers to close the sturgeon season planned for Saturday June 17 from the Wauna power lines downstream to the river mouth. Recreational anglers exhausted their harvest quota of 3,000 legal-sized sturgeon during the first five days of this fishery, with about 12,000 angler trips expected.

Fishery managers also set a one-day sturgeon retention season on Friday June 23 in the mainstem Columbia from Bonneville Dam upstream to The Dalles Dam, including adjacent tributaries. Anglers who haven’t met the annual bag limit will be allowed to keep one sturgeon with a fork length of 38-54 inches. Anglers are reminded that sturgeon fishing is prohibited through July within the sturgeon sanctuary from The Dalles Dam downstream 1.8 miles to a line from the Port of The Dalles boat ramp across the river to a marker on the Washington shore.

For more information, visit ODFW’s Columbia Zone Regulations Update Page.