Salem, Ore.—The ocean salmon recreational fishery between Leadbetter Point, Wash., and Cape Falcon, Ore., will close effective midnight Saturday, when the coho quota for the season is expected to be reached.  This closure includes all salmon and steelhead in the ocean area off the Columbia River, but does not affect any seasons upstream from Buoy 10 inside the Columbia River.

“We’ve had a good season off the Columbia this year.  Catch rates have been consistently on the high side and there has been plenty of days with good ocean conditions,” said Eric Schindler, Supervising Biologist for the ODFW Marine Resources Program.

“Looking towards this weekend, we realized there were not enough fish left on the quota to ensure fishing past this Friday.  But a transfer of 5,000 coho from the Westport Area coho quota to the Columbia Area was enough to allow fishing through Saturday night,” Schindler said.

As of Aug. 19, anglers fishing between Cape Falcon and Leadbetter Point had caught ­­78 percent of the 58,800 coho quota.  Season catch totals through Aug. 19 were 45,734 coho and 1,797 chinook salmon. 

The closure doesn’t affect fisheries south of Cape Falcon or the popular “Buoy 10” salmon fishery inside the Columbia River.