Salmon anglers in our region should be aware of a bill in the legislature that will help guarantee salmon and steelhead fishing seasons, when our returns meet the criteria to open. The Salmon Stamp bill would require anglers that fish for salmon and steelhead on the upper Columbia River purchase a special $15.00 stamp for their fishing licenses. The funds generated by the purchase of these stamps would go into a special fund. That fund would be used to pay for fish checking and other scientific data gathering required by the federal fisheries managers, when an unscheduled season could be opened. As an example, if we get enough fish coming back to the Wenatchee River to open a season, but the WDFW doesn’t have the budget to do the fish checking, the fund could be tapped to meet this requirement and open the season. It would be tragic to have enough fish returning to open a sport fishing season, but have it closed because the WDFW couldn’t meet the required data gathering. I would encourage all anglers who fish for salmon and steelhead in our region to support this bill. You get all the details by logging onto FishingMagician.com and clicking on Salmon Stamp on the Home Page.