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Hearing planned on Lake Roosevelt fall sturgeon season

Nate Tillotson, a fish tech with Idaho Fish and Game, poses with a white sturgeon in the Snake River during a study conducted on the fish. Washington fishery managers plan to change the Lake Roosevelt sturgeon fishery to a fall fishery in 2023, a move designed to protect wild adult sturgeon. (Courtesy of IDFG)
By Michael Wright michaelw@spokesman.com(509) 459-5508

A fall season for white sturgeon in Lake Roosevelt is getting closer to becoming a reality. 

The Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife is holding a virtual hearing on Aug. 22 on a proposed sturgeon fishing season on Lake Roosevelt that would begin in mid-September and close at the end of November.

The hearing is the final step before the season goes to the Washington Fish and Wildlife Commission for approval. The commission is scheduled to take it up on Sept. 5. 

Sturgeon fishing had been open on the lake from mid-June through September since 2018. WDFW officials closed that season this year because of concerns about the impact of high water temperatures on fish that are caught and released. 

Instead, they’re proposing a fall season, which would mean cooler water temperatures and a better chance of survival for fish that are caught and released.

The two-and-a-half month season would begin Sept. 16 and end Nov. 30.

Anglers would be limited to catching one sturgeon per day, and an overall limit of two per season. There would also be a harvest slot limit – anglers would only be allowed to harvest fish that are between 53 inches and 63 inches long. The length is measured from the tip of the snout to the fork of the tail.

Staci Lehman, a WDFW spokesperson, said the proposal didn’t garner much opposition at public meetings held earlier this year, and that she expects the season will be approved.

She added that the recent sturgeon fishing closure on the Columbia River between the Dalles Dam and Priest Rapids Dam illustrate the reasoning behind shifting Lake Roosevelt to a fall season.

WDFW closed sturgeon fishing in that area on July 29 after at least two dozen fish were found dead, and officials pointed to high water temperatures as the main culprit. The last similar die off came in 2015. 

A news release announcing the hearing on the Lake Roosevelt fall season said WDFW expects more changes to the season will be needed to help vulnerable parts of the lake’s sturgeon population. 

The hearing on Aug. 22 will be livestreamed on Zoom.