Icicle River is open to spring Chinook fishing

    A pleasant surprise was revealed when the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife discovered the Leavenworth National Fish Hatchery met its broodstock collection goals - Icicle River has been okayed for spring Chinook salmon fishing from June 15 to July 31.
    "Historically, it (Icicle River) opens most years. But the last couple of years, actually the last three years, had pretty low broodstock. Last year it didn't open up and the year before that it opened about the same time this year, around mid-June," said Travis Maitland, District 7 biologist.
    The area open for fishing extends in two different locations, according to an announcement from Washington Department of Fish and Wildlifie. One area is from the closure signs located 800 feet upstream of the mouth of the river to 500 feet downstream from the Leavenworth National Fish Hatchery Barrier Dam. Another area is from the shoreline markers where Cyo Road overlaps the Icicle River at the Sleeping Lady Resort down to the Icicle Peshastin Irrigation Footbridge.
    "We like to see the hatchery achieve its broodstock collection goal. They like to get at least 1,000 fish and minimum 850," said Maitland.
    With 100 spring Chinook available for harvest, this is an opportunity for those in the area to participate in salmon fishing this summer season. There are some rules in place to be aware of before trekking down to Icicle River.
    "If somebody catches a fish with a adipose fin, it has to be released. By and large, I'd say 99 percent of the spring Chinook returning to Icicle are clipped, marked as hatchery fish," said Maitland.
     A restriction has been set to release all salmon other than the hatchery Chinook. According to WDFW announcement, hatchery Chinook can be recognized by a missing adipose fin with a healed scar in the location. If the Chinook caught still has an intact adipose fin then it must be released unharmed. Also, a capacity on the daily limit was set to one hatchery Chinook that is a minimum 12 inches.
    "There's not a lot of people out there. We let folks know there aren't very many fish left to harvest. We wanted to be up front about that so anglers could make an easier decision if they wanted to invest the time and the effort to go out there," said Maitland. "At the same time, we know there's anglers that still want a crack at a chance at it, no matter what the case."
    This opportunity will be closed on July 31 by sunset, leaving a roughly one and half month window to participate.
    "There were a few fish caught this last weekend and they were in really good shape still," said Maitland.