Spring chinook fishing ramps up beginning Saturday when the Columbia River between Interstate 5 and Bonneville Dam opens.
More than 100 rods, including 26 boats, were sampled last weekend with no salmon downstream of I-5. A few spring chinook have been caught in the commercial fishery inside Youngs Bay.
Sturgeon retention is open again in the Bonneville pool of the Columbia River Gorge and continues through March 9.
No smelt were caught on Saturday’s opener in the Cowlitz River, but the commercial boats landed 8,867 pounds on Monday from the lower Columbia.
The cool water that hindered smelt movement much of February appears to be gone. Seals and sea lions have been observed feeding this week as far up the Columbia is County Line Bar.
There was no bird or marine mammal activity that would indicate smelt were present Monday in the Cowlitz.
It has not been determined if additional time for dipping will be allowed.
Commercial dipping in the Columbia is allowed from 7 a.m. to 2 p.m. Mondays and Thursdays through March 6.
Angler checks by the Washington (WDFW) and Oregon (ODFW) departments of Fish and Wildlife:
Lower Columbia — Oregon side, 48 bank rods with no salmon or steelhead. (ODFW)
Longview, six boaters and 17 bank rods with no salmon or steelhead. (WDFW)
Kalama, two boaters and nine bank rods with no catch. (WDFW)
Woodland, 12 bank rods and six boaters with no catch; four boaters with one legal sturgeon and six sublegals released. (WDFW)
Warrior Rock to Kelley Point, 12 bank rods and 27 boaters with no catch. (WDFW)
Interstate 5 to Kelley Point, 12 boaters with no fish. (WDFW)
Mid-Columbia — Bonneville pool, five boaters with six sublegals released; 14 bank rods with three sublegals released. (WDFW)
The Dalles pool, 24 boaters with six walleye kept. (WDFW)
John Day pool, 17 boaters with four walleye kept. (WDFW)
Washougal — Twelve boaters with one hatchery steelhead kept plus three hatchery and six wild steelhead released; 20 bank rods with two hatchery steelhead released. (ODFW)
Cowlitz — Seventeen anglers with no salmon or steelhead.(WDFW)
