LA GRANDE — A coho salmon fishing season on the Grande Ronde River opened Sept. 1, although state fish biologists don’t expect coho to begin arriving in the river until later this month.

This is the fourth straight year, since coho were reintroduced to the Lostine River in 2017, that enough hatchery fish were projected to return to allow for a fall fishing season on the Grande Ronde.

And now anglers no longer need to wonder whether there will be a season for the seagoing salmon.

“Starting next year, coho fishing regulations on the Grande Ronde River will become permanent from September 1st to November 30th,” said Kyle Bratcher, district fish biologist for the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife in Enterprise.

The river is open for coho fishing from the Washington border to the mouth of the Wallowa River, the same area that was open for the 2022 season. During the first two years, the river was open to the Wildcat Bridge, about 7 miles upriver from Troy.

Starting in 2024, the open area will extend upriver to the Clark Creek Bridge in Elgin, Bratcher said.

“However, I don’t expect good fishing above the Wallowa as not many fish head that way,” he said.

Bratcher said most of the returning coho swim up the Wallowa River to the Lostine, with most of the spawning taking place in the Wallowa.

The daily bag limit for coho is two adult per day, and up to five jack coho salmon, less than 20 inches. The possession limit is 10 jack coho.

The Nez Perce Tribe worked over two decades to reintroduce coho, in the Clearwater Basin of Idaho in the late 1990s and in the Lostine River in 2017, where the fish had been absent for more than 40 years.

Other salmon and steelhead seasons

The fall chinook salmon season on the Snake River is open through Oct. 31. The daily bag limit is three adult chinook, with no limit on jacks. All anglers must use barbless hooks.

Steelhead season is open on the Snake, Grande Ronde, Wallowa and Imnaha rivers through April 30, 2024. Steelhead are beginning to show up in the lower Snake, and should arrive soon in the Oregon tributaries.

“We’re expecting a return similar to last year,” Bratcher said. “While steelhead are not performing as well as we’d like, were still seeing numbers that are sustainable to fish on, and maintain quality catch rates of hatchery fish.”

Anglers can keep up to three hatchery steelhead per day. Wild steelhead must be released immediately.

For all salmon and steelhead seasons in the Snake River and its tributaries, anglers must have a combined angling tag and Columbia Basin endorsement.