News: Two-rod rule will be re-instated for Willamette spring chinook season

By Bill Monroe  For The Oregonian/OregonLive

Spring chinook anglers will be allowed to use two rods each throughout the Willamette River system, beginning sometime in early February.
 
The Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife will repeat 2017's emergency rule allowing the popular two-rod use "probably within the first full week" of February, said Tucker Jones, the department's Columbia River program manager.

In 2017, managers allowed two rods beginning April 1.

As before, anglers must also purchase the separate two-rod license validation, however. It costs $24.50 and is good in most trout-bearing reservoirs and lakes as well as special areas enacted under emergency rules.

Children younger than 12 don't need the validation to use two rods.
 
Two rods will be good for all species except sturgeon throughout the Willamette system - including Multnomah Channel and all tributaries such as the Santiam and Clackamas river systems.
 
Two-rod usage has proven popular with salmon anglers, both in the lower Willamette River and along the Oregon Coast, where it's also been allowed at times.
 
No adjustments have been decided for fishing on the coast, Tucker said. Those decisions typically come later in the spring or early summer.
 
Jones said the emergency rule will probably be in place for 180 days.
 
"We're trying to get it through the spring chinook season," he said.