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Upper Snake River Opens Sept. 1 for Chinook with Six-fish Daily Limit by Staff Statesman Journal, August 24, 2011

ENTERPRISE - For the second straight year, beginning Sept. 1 the upper Snake River will open to fishing for fall Chinook, and this season with a bonus bag limit of six hatchery fin-clipped adult (24 inches or longer) Chinook a day.

Fishing opens seven days a week, concurrent with the annual Hell's Canyon steelhead fishery.

The open area is from the Oregon-Washington border east of Umatilla to the deadline below Hells Canyon Dam at River Mile 247.

Fishing will remain open until Oct. 31 or a closure is announced.

More than 35,000 fall Chinook salmon are predicted to pass Lower Granite Dam this year, according to Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife fishery managers.

"We recognize that a six-fish bag limit is unusual, but the large amount of hatchery surplus fish available creates a great opportunity for anglers to catch these fish," said Jeff Yanke, the department's district fish biologist in Enterprise.

Anglers can also keep jack Chinook with no daily, possession, or season limits. Only barbless hooks can be used on that stretch of the river.

Be sure to check the "2011 Oregon Sport Fishing Regulations" for additional rules.

Hells Canyon Dam is the farthest that Snake River fall Chinook will travel in Oregon, having migrated more than 800 miles and passed eight dams.