Reaching a length of 8 feet or more, white sturgeon are a great challenge for Oregon anglers of all experience levels. They relocate unexpectedly, change their bait preferences and fight hard regardless of whether you hook them in a deep pool or a tidal flat. They are even more challenging for the public agencies that manage them.

The law of supply and demand applies to the delicious meat of these prehistoric fish, not the ability to legally pursue them purely for sport. If you just want to catch a sturgeon and perhaps snap a quick pic of it in the water before you release it, opportunity is abundant.

The white sturgeon is widespread in Oregon, ranging from the ocean to the Willamette River and up the Columbia and Snake river. Lots of places in the Willamette and Columbia offer year-round catch-and-release fishing. Always check the regulations to make sure you have the right paperwork (license, combined angling tag and Columbia River Endorsement) and which locations are open.

As with much fishing, a boat comes in handy for pursuing these giants. As they are often found in deep swirling waters, safety is paramount. When in doubt, go with a more experienced captain before you take your own boat out.

Bank anglers also catch their share, using heavy line and weights big enough to hold bait on the bottom. You need stout gear just to cast and manage your bait, let alone fight a fish bigger than you are.

Bait can be almost anything you could find on the bottom of the river, estuary or bay: herring, smelt, clams, sand shrimp and squid have tempted many a sturgeon to bite. It is not difficult to find good bait and a spot open to catch and release.

If you want to eat one of these delicious fish, the plot thickens considerably. This is where supply and demand come into play for fishery managers. The word has been out for many, many years—sturgeon meat is excellent when smoked or prepared any number of other ways for the table. So, the supply of people wanting to eat them has long outstripped the supply.

But why would the meat of such a widespread fish be in short supply? For starters, they are slow to mature. A sturgeon can live to be 100 years old, which is great. However, they reach sexual maturity as late as about 25 years old or about 6 feet long. They spawn every 2-8 years. Many other gamefish begin to reproduce far younger, spawning annually, leading to more juvenile fish and higher bag limits.

Even sturgeon that have reached the age of reproduction don't always find favorable spawning conditions. As broadcast spawners, they depend on the right water velocity, temperature and turbidity, which doesn't always occur. If females are too stressed, they may fail to spawn, reabsorb the eggs and then wait 3-5 years before attempting again.

Sea lions have had an impact too, by taking advantage of manmade pinch points. These marine mammals are known to target salmon and steelhead near fish ladders on the Willamette and Columbia rivers. They are also known to eat sturgeon. And while ODFW has lethally removed some of these predators from the rivers, federal law keeps that limited.

Fishery managers in Oregon have long used "retention" seasons to offer some opportunity for anglers to take a sturgeon home. These have included limited days, low bag limits and restrictive size categories for keepers. This is all in the name of conserving the species while allowing some level of harvest for the table. In recent years, due to population issues, the only retention opportunity in the Columbia has been early in the year and in areas upstream of Bonneville Dam.

Even with all the caveats, the high demand to retain sturgeon has led to seasons stopping unexpectedly when quotas are reached early. This in turn has led to frustration for some sturgeon anglers who missed out completely because they were not on the water early enough in the season. Retention seasons on the Columbia upstream of Bonneville have traditionally opened on January 1, which means many sturgeon anglers have the day off and can help bring in the catch quota swiftly.

Because Oregon and Washington share the Columbia River, the states are meeting Nov. 13, 2025 at 2 p.m. to discuss sturgeon regulations and lay out a new approach for 2026. (Subscribe to Columbia River fact sheets and action notices for more information on Compact meetings.)  ODFW and WDFW fishery managers are developing new approaches to season structures to spread out retention opportunity beyond the people who can get there closest to opening day. Starting in 2026, sturgeon anglers should not expect the traditional New Years Day opener in all sections of the Columbia upstream of Bonneville.

Challenging to catch and even more challenging to manage, the white sturgeon is one of the iconic fish of the Pacific Northwest. Every angler owes it to themselves to fight one of these behemoths at least once. Eating one is just a bonus on top of the memories of a fight that will last a lifetime. 

More information on sturgeon fishing 

Retention or catch-and-release?

One of the first things to consider when planning a sturgeon trip is whether you want to take a fish home with you.

• During "retention seasons" anglers can keep one fish a day and two a year (statewide) – within prescribed size categories. Popular retention seasons on the Columbia River above Bonneville Dam have fairly small harvest quotas so seasons are very short.
• "Catch-and-release" fishing is allowed in most locations year-round. Anglers can enjoy the same excitement of hooking and landing a hard-fighting fish—but they must release the fish when the fight is over.

Sturgeon fishing in Columbia and Willamette rivers

The lower Columbia and Willamette rivers support the most productive white sturgeon population in the world—though opportunities to keep a fish are limited as the population continues to rebuild. Fish in the lower Columbia and lower Willamette can move back and forth between the two rivers and are managed together. Some things to know about sturgeon fishing in these rivers:

• For gear, fish a large enough weight to hold your bait on the bottom. Popular baits include sand shrimp, nightcrawlers, smelt, pickled herring (rollmop), squid, and anchovy. Single point, barbless hooks are required. During the winter, sturgeon seem to hold in deeper areas and are less active. As water temperatures warm, fish will become more active and move to shallower water in search of food.
• Slot size limits prescribe the minimum and maximum length for a fish you can keep during retention seasons. They have been in place since the 1950s and help protect juvenile and breeding-size fish (6-feet and larger). See regulations for size limits. Fork length is measured in a straight line from the tip of the nose to the fork in the caudal fin (tail) with the fish laying on its side on a flat surface, with the tape measure/ruler positioned flat under the fish.
• Anglers need a fishing license and Combined Angling Tag to fish for sturgeon, even for catch-and-release fisheries, plus the Columbia River Basin Endorsement when fishing in the Columbia and Willamette systems.

NOTE: There are also catch-and-release fisheries in other Columbia River tributaries and in the Northwest and Willamette zones and on the Rogue and Umpqua rivers in Southwest Zone, but these are lesser opportunities than the Columbia and Willamette.

Columbia River

Catch-and-release open year-round

Catch-and-release sturgeon fishing in the Columbia is an often overlooked opportunity. It's open year-round except for some seasonal closures May 1-Aug. 31 in sensitive areas to help protect spawning fish. (See the Fishing regulation booklet for details.)

So, if you miss the short sturgeon retention seasons, you can still enjoy sturgeon fishing as a fun and challenging activity. There is a relatively productive fishery from June to July around Astoria. In 2024, there were about 2,200 catch-and-release trips in the lower Columbia from March-October. The fishery averaged 2-3 sturgeon released per trip.

Legal size in Bonneville Pool is different

The legal size (e.g. keeper size) in Bonneville Pool is 38-inch minimum and 54-inch maximum fork length, compared to a 43-inch minimum in all other pools and in the Willamette River.

This is due to the population size structure and growth rates observed in Bonneville Pool. There just aren't many fish in the 43-54 size slot in this population.

Don't eat fish from Bonneville Dam to Ruckel Creek It is recommended that anglers release any sturgeon caught from the Bonneville Dam to one mile upstream at Ruckel Creek (lower part of Bonneville Pool) due to high levels of PCBs —or just don't fish there during retention seasons. The Oregon Health Authority advises against consumption of sturgeon caught in this area as well as bass, carp, catfish, sucker, yellow perch, bluegill, crappie and any other resident fish species. (Migratory fish like salmon, steelhead, shad caught in this area are still considered safe to eat.) See factsheet about the advisory. The health risk is due to the Army Corps of Engineers using the east end of Bradford Island as a landfill from the 1940s to the early 1980s, according to Oregon DEQ. Pregnant women and children should limit their consumption of sturgeon and other resident fish caught in other parts of the lower and middle Columbia River due to the presence of PCBs and mercury. See OHA advisory.

Lower Columbia retention closed for the foreseeable future

Fishery managers don't expect to open sturgeon retention in the lower Columbia River until ongoing recruitment issues resolve and the population rebuilds.

The lower river used to be an extremely popular sturgeon fishery. But abundance of juvenile fish has declined since 2010, along with the number of legal-size fish needed to sustain a retention fishery. Biologists estimate overall sturgeon numbers below Bonneville Dam have declined by nearly 80 percent since 2010.

Fishing did not cause this decline. Rather, evidence suggests fewer adult white sturgeon are spawning successfully now than they were 15 years ago. Potential reasons include:

• Predation, mainly by Steller sea lions, which are now being lethally removed at Bonneville Dam and Willamette Falls.
• The presence of marine mammals pushing sturgeon out of their preferred spawning areas.
• Changes in food sources (fish and other shellfish).
• Contaminants impacting reproductive potential.

However, since white sturgeon can go back and forth between freshwater and the ocean, it's possible they are not being observed in the lower river because they are in coastal estuaries or elsewhere.

ODFW's sturgeon research program, in partnership with WDFW, monitors population status in the Columbia River and is working to understand issues related to recruitment and to improve them.

Willamette River

Catch-and-release year-round

Catch-and-release fishing is allowed all year both above and below Willamette Falls in Oregon City. There is a relatively big fishery beginning in the fall months and continuing into the spring on the lower Willamette. In 2024, there were about 1,700 sturgeon angler trips from March-June averaging 2-3 sturgeon released per trip.

Retention allowed in upper river

Sturgeon retention is allowed year-round above Willamette Falls upstream to the mouth of the Coast Fork, though angler interest and harvest is much lower than in the Columbia River reservoirs.

Factors that complicate sturgeon fisheries management

Unlike salmon and steelhead that live for 3-5 years, sturgeon can live to be 100 years old and don't reach sexual maturity until they are about 25 years old or about 6-feet long.

Because sturgeon live so long, management actions taken today can have an impact for decades to come and the impacts of these decisions may not be apparent for a decade or more. Data gaps exist and fishery managers continue to seek resources to investigate and address recruitment problems and other issues facing sturgeon.

A known issue is that sturgeon need certain conditions for spawning and, like other native fish populations, dams conflict with those needs. Sturgeon are broadcast spawners, which means the females do not lay eggs in a gravel nest. Instead, males and females get near each other and release eggs and sperm that mix together in the water current. Eggs are extremely sensitive and need certain conditions to survive, including the right substrate to settle on and the right water velocity, temperature, and turbidity. Sturgeon can wait for these ideal conditions to spawn.

Spawning can be stressful for females in particular as they expend so much energy to produce and mature eggs in their body cavity. Too much stress and a female may not spawn but just reabsorb eggs. When this happens, it will be 3-5 years, or more, before the fish attempts to spawn again.

Several sturgeon spawning sanctuaries have been created on the Columbia River to help protect spawning females. No sturgeon fishing is allowed in these areas from May 1 to Aug. 31. See the fishing regulations for details.

Despite some concerning trends, it's worth remembering that sturgeon have been around since dinosaurs roamed the earth during the Jurassic Period (100-200 million years ago). Populations in the Columbia and Willamette rivers are still well above conservation thresholds and the Columbia River system remains a stronghold for this species.