Big changes are in store for salmon and steelhead fishing in the lower Columbia River beginning Tuesday with the arrival of August and the start of fall chinook season.
Among them:
• Buoy 10 season opens between red buoy No. 10 at the mouth of the Columbia River and a line from Tongue Point in Oregon and Rocky Point in Washington. The daily limit through Sept. 4 is two salmon, but only one chinook. Chinook need not have a clipped adipose fin, although coho must.
The Buoy 10 catch expectation is 22,100 chinook and 16,560 coho.
• Fall salmon fishing begins Tuesday upstream of Rocky Point-Tongue Point with varying seasons and bag limits for chinook by river section.
For the stretch between Rocky Point-Tongue Point and the Lewis River-Warrior Rock line, the daily limit is two salmon, but only one chinook from Tuesday through Sept. 7. Chinook need not have a clipped fin, but coho must. From Sept. 8 through 14, both coho and chinook must be clipped.
For the stretch between Lewis River-Warrior Rock and Bonneville Dam, fishing beginning Tuesday has a two-salmon limit including two chinook. Chinook need not be fin-clipped. but coho must.
The catch expectation is 21,890 chinook and 1,040 coho.
• Steelhead retention is closed during all of August from The Dalles Dam downstream to Buoy 10. All steelhead also must be released in August in the Cowlitz from the mouth to Lexington Drive-Sparks Road Bridge, in the Lewis from the mouth to the forks, in the Wind from the mouth to 400 feet below Shipherd Falls and in the White Salmon from the BNSF bridge to the county road bridge. Drano Lake is closed to steelhead retention during August and September.
Three lakes in Klickitat County were stocked last week with rainbow trout. Horsethief Lake at Columbia Hills State Park got 3,516 trout, Rowland Lake got 4,037 and Spearfish Lake near Dallesport received 2,781,
Angler sampling from the Washington (WDFW) and Oregon (ODFW) departments of Fish and Wildlife:
Lower Columbia — Astoria Bridge to Wauna power lines, 19 boaters with no salmon or steelhead. (ODFW)
Cathlamet, 41 boaters with 11 steelhead kept and four released; 41 bank rods with one steelhead kept. (WDFW)
Longview, 48 boaters with one summer chinook and six steelhead kept plus one steelhead released; 154 bank rods with 16 steelhead kept and four released. (WDFW)
Cowlitz River mouth, 26 boaters with three steelhead kept plus one steelhead and one summer chinook released. (WDFW)
Kalama, 43 boaters with one summer chinook and one steelhead kept plus one summer chinook released; 111 bank rods with three steelhead and one summer chinook kept plus four steelhead released; 26 boaters with 25 legal sturgeon, three oversize sturgeon and 46 sublegals released. (WDFW)
Woodland, 62 boaters with four summer chinook and five steelhead kept plus three summer chinook and three steelhead released; 146 bank rods with seven steelhead and one summer chinook kept plus three chinook released; seven boaters with six legal, six sublegal and three oversize sturgeon released. (WDFW)
Warrior Rock to Kelley Point, 69 boaters with two summer chinook kept plus three chinook, one jack chinook and three steelhead released; 53 bank rods with four steelhead kept and two released. (WDFW)
Davis Bar to PDX airport tower, 50 bank rods with four steelhead kept plus four steelhead and two summer chinook released. (WDFW)
Troutdale, Ore., 122 boaters with six adult summer chinook and five steelhead kept plus eight adult chinook, one jack chinook and 11 steelhead released; 40 boaters with 28 walleye kept and one released. (ODFW)
Camas-Washougal, 25 boaters with two summer chinook kept plus three summer chinook and two steelhead released; nine boaters with four walleye kept and five released. (WDFW)
North Bonneville, two boaters with no catch; 79 bank rods with seven adult summer chinook, one jack chinook and six steelhead kept plus four steelhead, eight adult chinook and one jack chinook released. (WDFW)
Mid-Columbia — Bonneville pool, four boaters with two steelhead kept and five released. (ODFW)
The Dalles pool, 25 boaters with 76 walleye kept and 20 released; seven Oregon bank rods with three walleye kept and five released. (ODFW)
John Day pool, 225 boaters with 1,022 walleye kept and 453 released. (ODFW)
Cowlitz — Downstream of Interstate 5, 12 bank rods and six boaters with no catch. Upstream of I-5, 172 boat rods with 57 steelhead kept plus two steelhead and six cutthroat trout released; 82 bank rods with 12 adult spring chinook and nine steelhead kept plus two adult spring chinook, one jack chinook and two cutthroat trout released. (WDFW)
Swift Reservoir — Three trollers with 15 trout kept and three landlocked coho released.
