Much of Columbia River closed to salmon fishing

The rare closure of most of the Columbia River to salmon fishing is largely the result of bad weather and bad ocean conditions in 2015.

The Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife on Thursday closed salmon fishing on the main stem of the Columbia River from Buoy 10 upstream to Highway 395 in Pasco.

The Spokesman-Review says the count of fall chinook at Bonneville Dam last week was 105,795 fish. The count is normally about double that.

Fish and Wildlife officials say biologists kept waiting for a big flush of fish to come through the system and raise the season’s numbers. But that never happened.

The closure comes as the fall chinook count at Bonneville Dam hovers around 29 percent below the preseason forecast.

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