Summer steelhead angling improved in the past week with the best fishing in the estuary and downstream of Longview. But while the catching improved, the keeping did not — only 41 percent of the lower Columbia steelhead were fin clipped.
Oregon certainly found a way to dampen the sturgeon harvest in the lower Willamette by moving it from February to mid-July this year.
Biologists estimate there were 3,001 angler trips Thursday through Saturday with kept catch of 130 sturgeon. The Willamette downstream of Willamette Falls is open again today through Saturday.
The catch guideline is 1,773 sturgeon.
Council Lake on the west side of Mount Adams has been stocked with almost 3,000 rainbow trout.
Salmon catches off the southern Washington-northern Oregon coast have dropped to less than a fish per rod.
The catch average last week for the Columbia River ports was 0.86 salmon per rod with coho being 78 percent of the harvest. Fourteen percent of the quota had been used through Sunday.
Angler checks and related information from the Washington (WDFW) and Oregon (ODFW) department of Fish and Wildlife:
Lower Columbia — Estuary, 82 boat anglers with 43 steelhead kept plus 86 steelhead, three sockeye and two adult chinook released. (WDFW)
Washington estuary, 81 bank rods with 17 steelhead and one sockeye kept plus nine steelhead released; Oregon estuary, 16 bank rods with eight steelhead kept and three released. (WDFW)
Tongue Point to Westport, 49 boaters with 18 steelhead and two sockeye kept plus 16 steelhead and one summer chinook released; 48 Oregon bank rods with 13 steelhead kept and six released. (ODFW)
Cathlamet, 151 bank rods with 18 steelhead kept plus 20 steelhead, two adult summer chinook and one jack chinook released; 137 boaters with 61 steelhead, one jack chinook and one sockeye kept plus 52 steelhead released. (WDFW)
Westport to Portland, 229 boaters with 25 steelhead kept plus 22 steelhead released; 66 Oregon bank rods with one steelhead kept and one chinook released. (ODFW)
Longview, 293 boaters with 56 steelhead kept plus 77 steelhead, seven sockeye and three summer chinook released; 404 bank rods with 30 steelhead kept plus 41 steelhead and one sockeye released; four boaters with five sublegal sturgeon released. (WDFW)
Cowlitz River mouth, six boaters with three steelhead kept and five released. (WDFW)
Kalama, 106 boaters with four steelhead kept and 13 released; 298 bank rods with 23 steelhead kept plus 39 steelhead, one sockeye and one adult summer chinook released; two boaters with no sturgeon released; one boater with eight shad kept; three boaters with no walleye. (WDFW)
Woodland, 228 bank rods with 12 steelhead kept with 24 steelhead and one sockeye released; 141 boaters with 10 steelhead kept plus 22 steelhead, two adult summer chinook and one jack chinook released. (WDFW)
Warrior Rock to Kelley Point, 260 bank rods with 24 steelhead, one sockeye and two jack chinook kept plus 28 steelhead, one sockeye and two adult summer chinook released; 107 boaters with four steelhead and one sockeye kept plus 22 steelhead, one adult summer chinook and one jack chinook released; two boaters with 10 walleye kept and one released. (WDFW)
Davis Bar to Portland airport tower, 22 boaters with two steelhead and two adult summer chinook released; 38 bank rods with three steelhead kept plus three steelhead and one jack chinook released; six boaters with three sublegal sturgeon released.(WDFW)
Troutdale, 15 boaters with one steelhead kept; 12 boaters with one walleye kept. (ODFW)
Camas-Washougal, 53 bank rods with one steelhead and one sockeye kept with five steelhead released; 34 boaters with no catch; 11 boaters with three walleye kept and two released. (WDFW)
North Bonneville, six boaters with three adult summer chinook released; 112 bank rods with four steelhead and one jack chinook kept plus 18 steelhead, one sockeye, two adult summer chinook and one jack chinook released.
Columbia Gorge (downstream of Bonneville Dam), 11 boaters with three steelhead and four summer chinook released; 23 Oregon bank rods with one steelhead and one sockeye kept; four bank rods with no shad. (ODFW)
Mid-Columbia — The Dalles pool, 23 bank rods with one steelhead released; two boaters with no salmon or steelhead; 26 bank rods with one legal sturgeon kept plus 20 sublegals released; 11 boaters with two oversize and 56 sublegals released; 13 boaters with six walleye kept and six released; 14 boaters with nine bass kept and 42 released. (WDFW)
Cowlitz — Fifty-seven boaters with 17 steelhead kept; 53 bank rods with five adult spring chinook, three mini-jack chinook and five steelhead kept plus two mini-jacks released. (WDFW)
Kalama — Spring chinook retention is now open through July 31. The hatchery has met its spawning need. The limit is six salmon, but only two adults.
Lewis — Five boaters with one steelhead kept and one released. (WDFW)
North Fork Lewis — Four boaters with three steelhead kept. (WDFW)
Drano Lake — Four boaters with no steelhead. (WDFW)
