Columbia River anglers are in a bit of a holding pattern while waiting for the summer steelhead run to build and move upriver.
The Columbia remains high, with the streamflow on Tuesday at Bonneville Dam still 280,000 cubic feet per second (between 7 and 7.5 at the Interstate 5 Bridge gauge).
Summer chinook and sockeye retention remains open upstream of Bonneville Dam although the fish don’t bite well in the pools.
Ocean salmon fishing out of Ilwaco has been good, although shifting to coho and way from chinook.
An estimated 2,364 anglers caught 683 chinook and 2,607 coho for a 1.39 per rod average.
The average at Westport was only a fish per every two rods.
Walleye catches are fair to good in The Dalles pool.
Pikeminnow catch averages include 8.9 per trip at Kalama, 1.3 at Ridgefield, 4.3 at Marine Park. 5.5 at Chinook Landing, 13.1 at Camas-Washougal, 10.9 at Beacon Rock, 6.2 at Bingen, 12.6 at The Dalles, 21.5 at Maryhill State Park and 13.5 at Giles French ramp at John Day Dam..
Angler checks from the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife. There were no Washington side checks available this week.
Lower Columbia — Buoy 10 to Puget Island, 26 boaters with 16 legal, 12 oversize and 27 sublegal sturgeon released.
Tongue Point to Westport, Ore., 44 boats with nine steelhead and one sockeye kept plus two adult summer chinook and six steelhead released; 18 Oregon bank rods with one jack chinook and one steelhead kept plus two steelhead released.
Westport to Portland, 62 boaters with four summer chinook kept plus six adult chinook and two jacks released; 64 bank rods with two steelhead kept.
Longview to Portland, four boaters with 12 sublegal sturgeon released.
Troutdale, 137 boaters with five adult chinook and two jack chinook kept plus three adult chinook and one jack released; eight boaters with one walleye kept.
Columbia Gorge, downstream of Marker 82, four boaters with 12 sublegal sturgeon released.
Columbia Gorge, downstream of Bonneville Dam, 76 boaters with five adult summer chinook kept and two adult chinook released; 35 Oregon bank rods with two adult chinook and one sockeye kept; nine Oregon bank rods with 10 shad kept.
Mid-Columbia — Bonneville pool, two salmon anglers and three shad anglers with no catch.
The Dalles pool, 22 bank rods with one summer chinook salmon kept; four bank rods with five sublegal sturgeon released; six boaters with three oversize and 59 sublegal sturgeon released; 20 boaters with 26 walleye kept and 19 released.
John Day pool, 21 bank rods with one adult summer chinook kept and two released; six boaters with no catch; five bank rods with one sublegal sturgeon released; 12 boaters with three oversize and two sublegal sturgeon released; 12 boaters with six walleye kept.
