About 13 percent of the lower Columbia River spring chinook allocation had been caught through Sunday, fishing was slow on Monday and closed on Tuesday.
There are relatively few fishing days left until the scheduled closure on April 6. Washington and Oregon officials are set to review catches on Wednesday and it seems like an extension might be likely.
The Columbia River Compact will meet at noon on Monday to consider a tangle net fishery on Monday night or Tuesday.
The count at Bonneville Dam was five spring chinook on Monday, bringing the total to 142 adults and two jacks.
The count through March 25 a year ago was 30 spring chinook. The 10-year average through March 25 is 957.
Several anglers have reported catching spring chinook with smelt in their bellies, so it is likely the huge smelt run in the Columbia River this year is having some effect.
Last week in the lower Willamette, there were an estimated 4,628 boat angler trips with 248 spring chinook caught and 43 released. That is an average of a salmon per 15.9 trips, which is better than in the Columbia.
Kokanee fishing is spotty, but slowly improving, at Merwin Reservoir.
Walleye fishing also is spotty, but not awful, in the Columbia River near John Day Dam.
Angler checks from the Washington (WDFW) and Oregon (ODFW) departments of Fish and Wildlife:
Lower Columbia — Estuary, 37 boaters with four spring chinook kept. (WDFW)
Cathlamet, 60 boaters with seven spring chinook kept and one released; nine bank rods with one steelhead kept. (WDFW)
Tongue Point to Wauna power lines, 62 boaters with no spring chinook. (ODFW)
Longview, 147 boaters with two spring chinook kept; 36 bank rods with no salmon or steelhead; six boaters and four bank rods with no sturgeon. (WDFW)
Cowlitz River mouth, 17 boaters with no salmon or steelhead. (WDFW)
Kalama, 241 boaters with seven spring chinook kept and one released; 34 bank rods with no catch; six boaters with no sturgeon. (WDFW)
Woodland, 251 boaters with 14 spring chinook kept and three released; 77 bank rods with no catch; seven boaters with five legal sturgeon and 15 sublegals released. (WDFW)
Warrior Rock to Kelley Point, 336 boaters with five spring chinook kept and two released; 89 bank rods with two spring chinook kept and one steelhead released; eight boaters with five legal sturgeon released and 19 sublegals released. (WDFW)
Davis Bar to Portland airport tower, 705 boaters with 32 spring chinook kept and 12 released; six bank rods with no catch; three boaters with five sublegal sturgeon released. (WDFW)
Westport, Ore., to Portland, 199 boaters with five spring chinook kept and three released; 183 Oregon bank rods with one spring chinook and five steelhead kept plus one spring chinook and one steelhead released; eight boaters with 31 sublegal sturgeon released. (ODFW)
Troutdale, 220 boaters with two spring chinook kept and one released; two boaters with no sturgeon; one boater with no walleye. (ODFW)
Camas-Washougal, 67 boaters with two spring chinook kept; three bank rods with no catch; two boaters with no sturgeon. (WDFW)
North Bonneville, 94 bank rods with five spring chinook kept and five released; three bank rods with no sturgeon. (WDFW)
Columbia Gorge, downstream of Bonneville Dam, 10 Oregon bank rods with no salmon or steelhead. (ODFW)
Mid-Columbia — The Dalles pool, 38 boaters with one legal sturgeon kept plus one oversize and 69 sublegals released; 24 bank rods with six sublegal sturgeon released; 17 bank rods with no salmon or steelhead; 54 boaters with 26 walleye kept and two released. (WDFW)
John Day pool, 25 bank rods with two sublegal sturgeon released; 38 boaters with five legal sturgeon kept plus three legal, one oversize and 24 sublegals released; seven bank rods with no spring chinook; 62 boaters with six walleye kept and six released; five boaters with seven bass kept and five released. (WDFW)
Cowlitz — Fifty-five bank rods with two steelhead kept and one released; 33 boaters with one steelhead kept. Two spring chinook and 318 winter steelhead returned to Cowlitz Salmon Hatchery last week. (WDFW)
Kalama — Three bank rods with one steelhead released. Salmon fission is closed. (WDFW)
Drano Lake — One bank rod with no catch. Three boats were counted Saturday morning and none on Sunday. (WDFW)
