Idaho, Oregon and Washington declare walleye 'incompatible' in the Snake River and urge anglers to keep them

The fish and wildlife agencies of Idaho, Oregon and Washington have adopted a joint policy that declares walleye "incompatible" with salmon and steelhead in the Snake River, Northwest Sportsman reports. The policy covers about 140 miles of river from Lower Granite Dam up to Hells Canyon Dam, and it encourages anglers to harvest the walleye they catch. The policy was presented at an Oct. 14 walleye panel held by the Northwest Power and Conservation Council's Fish and Wildlife Committee.

The numbers have been climbing fast. About 350 walleye have been counted at the Lower Granite Dam trap this year, and biologists think that is only about 5 percent of the fish entering the ladder. The first walleye there appeared in 2016, and the 2025 count was six times the 2022 count. Walleye now range all the way to Hells Canyon Dam and into the lower Grande Ronde and Clearwater rivers.

A work group of more than 40 people is tracking the spread, IDFG's Marika Dobos told the panel. Of 285 walleye fitted with floy tags, anglers have reported 29, or about 10 percent.

The Nez Perce Tribe's Jason Vogel described 56 walleye gillnetted at the mouth of the Tucannon River whose stomachs held PIT-tagged smolts from WDFW, IDFG and ODFW hatcheries. The tribe is considering a gillnet bounty.

Ed Schriever, who chairs the council committee, said he liked that the three states had agreed on a policy statement, and he called for a shared regional understanding of how much walleye eat smolts before deciding what to do and how much to spend. "We all need to work together, or this is going to eat our lunch," he said. He also acknowledged that walleye fishing now has a following in the Northwest and that there would be pushback.

Photo: An angler with a walleye caught in Idaho's lower Salmon River in September 2024. Credit: IDFG, via Northwest Sportsman.

This is a The Gillnet news desk summary, not a reprint.

Source: Northwest Sportsman — Walleye deemed 'incompatible' with Snake salmon and steelhead, threaten recovery (Oct. 23, 2026).