Lake Roosevelt white sturgeon retention is open Sept. 16–Nov. 30

Lake Roosevelt’s white sturgeon keep window is open. Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife’s sturgeon creel page lists a retention season Sept. 16 through Nov. 30, 2026, from Grand Coulee Dam to the Canadian border. Legal fish are 55 to 63 inches fork length. Daily limit is one. The statewide annual limit is two. Catch Record Card required — CRC code 549. Night fishing is closed.

After you keep the daily fish, you are done for that day: no catch-and-release on Roosevelt once the daily limit is in the boat. After the annual two are kept, you stop fishing for sturgeon. Other statewide sturgeon rules still apply — single-point barbless hook and bait, and fish you are not keeping go back immediately. WDFW tightened the Roosevelt slot in spring 2025 from 53–63 to 55–63 inches fork to protect weaker year-classes that were released smaller.

This is a Roosevelt retention opener, not a lower-Columbia keep. Downstream of Bonneville Dam, recreational sturgeon remain catch-and-release, and the 2026 Bonneville, The Dalles, and John Day pool keep seasons already closed on their guidelines. Confirm the live WDFW pamphlet, emergency rules, and the Fish Washington app before you keep a sturgeon.

Photo: Rick Swart / Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife (white sturgeon, via WDFW).

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

Source: WDFW — White sturgeon (Lake Roosevelt sturgeon regulations).