Franklin Connection - Serving Franklin County, WA

IWACO — The state will open white sturgeon season on the lower 40 miles of the Columbia River beginning May 11.

State Department of Fish and Wildlife employees are working with their counterparts in Oregon to allow fishing for white sturgeon from May 11 through June 4 at the mouth of the river to the Wauna powerlines.

Adjacent Washington tributaries will also be open for sturgeon fishing those days.

Sturgeon fishing closes at 2 p.m. daily.

Fishermen may keep white sturgeon measuring 44-50 inches from the tip of their nose to the fork in their tail, officials said. The limit is one per day and two per season.

Only single-point barbless hooks are allowed.

Fisheries managers said up to 1,920 white sturgeon will be allowed to be harvested below Bonneville dam.

"There are fewer legal-size fish to retain in this year's fishery, but we worked hard to develop a season that offers meaningful opportunity for anglers to catch some of these remarkable fish while still keeping us within our conservation guidelines," state sturgeon manager Laura Heironimus said. "We continue to focus efforts on conserving mature spawning adults to help rebuild the sturgeon population in the Columbia River."