FISHING -- Anglers fishing in the Buoy 10 area near the mouth of the Columbia River will be required to release any chinook salmon they catch after Friday, Aug. 28, the Washington Fish and Wildlife says.

Following a week of record catch rates and angler turnout, state fishery managers from Washington and Oregon today agreed to close the popular fishery several days earlier than anticipated.

Conversely, ocean anglers out of nearby Ilwaco will be able to retain two chinooks in their two-fish salmon limit starting Saturday.

The total Buoy 10 catch over four weeks of fishing is expected to reach or exceed 35,000 chinook in the 16-mile stretch of the lower Columbia River.

"This year's Buoy 10 chinook fishery got off to a fast start and just kept picking up speed," said Guy Norman, regional director for the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife. "We had hoped to keep the chinook fishery open through Labor Day, but the mounting catch reached the harvest guideline sooner than expected."

The harvest guideline limits impacts on wild fish protected under the federal Endangered Species Act.

However, anglers can still catch and retain hatchery coho and summer steelhead in the Buoy 10 waters, which extend upriver to the Rocky Point/Tongue Point line. Both species are marked as hatchery fish by a clipped adipose fin.

All three species - including chinook salmon - are also still available for harvest upriver from the Rocky Point/Tongue Point line to Warrior Rock and beyond, Norman said.

"This fall season will continue to provide good fishing for chinook in the Columbia River upstream to the Hanford Reach," he said. "If the Buoy 10 fishery is any indication, it should be a great year for salmon fishing."

Here are some factoids on the 2015 Buoy 10 fishery from Joe Hymer, WDFW salmon specialist in Vancouver:

• The Buoy 10 fishery got off to a strong start and effort and catch rates have remained high. Harvest through Aug. 23 included 30,600 chinook and 18,600 coho from 65,300 angler trips.
• Chinook catch through Aug. 23 is the third highest on record since at least 1982 (record 42,100 fish in 1987).
• Actual catch last week (Aug. 17-23) was much higher than projected and likely the highest on record for a single week (nearly 18,300 chinook kept).
• Effort and chinook catch rates during Aug. 24-26 is tracking higher than projected and includes 4,600 chinook mortalities.
• Combining the chinook catch through Aug. 23 with August 24-26, then 35,200 chinook have been caught (including handling mortalities).  It is now the second highest catch on record since at least 1982.
• Chinook mark rates are higher than modeled (46 percent vs. 40 percent) which also contributes to the higher kept catch since the mark selective fishery began on Aug. 24.
• The release mortality rate remains at 19 percent for both chinook and coho.

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