Angling in the lower Columbia River is mostly a steelhead show until August, with sportsmen doing a lot of releasing of wild fish.
Washington’s sampling of fishermen noted only a 36 percent mark rate on summer chinook and a 43 percent rate on steelhead last week.
Steelhead angling is under way at Drano Lake for Columbia Gorge anglers.
Sturgeon retention is open again Friday and Saturday in the Bonneville pool of the mid-Columbia River. This is the final scheduled period.
Last week, 197 legal sturgeon were caught. That brought the catch to 75.4 percent of the guideline. Catches averaged a fish per 4.2 boat rods and one per seven bank rods.
Angler checks from the Washington (WDFW) and Oregon (ODFW) departments of Fish and Wildlife:
Lower Columbia —Fishing Clatsop Spit to Wauna power lines, 10 Oregon bank rods with one steelhead kept and two released. (ODFW)
Tongue Point to Wauna power lines, 23 boaters with 16 steelhead and one adult chinook kept plus one adult chinook and 13 steelhead released. (ODFW)
Estuary, 30 boaters with two steelhead kept plus one steelhead and one adult summer chinook released; six bank rods with three steelhead kept plus four steelhead and one adult summer chinook released. (WDFW)
Westport, Ore., to Portland, 61 boaters with five steelhead kept plus one chinook and five steelhead released; 28 bank rods with one adult chinook and one steelhead kept plus two steelhead released. (ODFW)
Cathlamet, 72 boaters with 21 steelhead kept and 10 released; 58 bank rods with nine steelhead and one adult summer chinook kept plus one adult summer chinook and three steelhead released. (WDFW)
Longview, 96 boaters with eight steelhead, two adult chinook and one jack chinook kept plus one adult chinook and 18 steelhead released; 278 bank rods with 36 steelhead and one sockeye kept plus eight steelhead released; two boaters with one oversize and three sublegal sturgeon released. (WDFW)
Kalama, 103 boaters with one adult chinook, 21 steelhead and four sockeye kept plus two adult chinook, one jack chinook and 23 steelhead released; 175 bank rods with eight steelhead kept plus 12 steelhead, one adult chinook and one jack chinook released; two boaters with five legal and four sublegal sturgeon released. (WDFW)
Woodland, 67 boaters with two adult chinook, eight steelhead and one sockeye kept plus three adult chinook and 12 steelhead released; 121 bank rods with seven steelhead, one jack chinook and one sockeye kept plus eight steelhead, one adult chinook and one jack released. (WDFW)
Warrior Rock to Kelley Point, 79 boaters with eight steelhead and one sockeye kept plus 10 steelhead and four adult summer chinook released; 124 bank rods with 10 steelhead, one jack chinook and one sockeye kept plus 12 steelhead released; one boater with two sublegal sturgeon released. (WDFW)
Davis Bar to Portland airport tower, 14 boaters with three steelhead and one sockeye kept plus two steelhead released; 83 bank rods with one adult summer chinook, one jack chinook, seven steelhead and seven sockeye kept plus eight steelhead released. (WDFW)
Troutdale, 46 boaters with one adult chinook kept plus three steelhead released. (ODFW)
Camas-Washougal, 29 boaters with one steelhead and one sockeye kept plus eight steelhead and two adult chinook released; 26 bank rods with one adult chinook and three steelhead released; six boaters with two walleye kept. (WDFW)
North Bonneville, 181 bank rods with six adult chinook, one jack chinook, 31 steelhead and one sockeye kept plus one sockeye, four adult chinook, two jack chinook and 96 steelhead released. (WDFW)
Columbia Gorge (downstream of Bonneville Dam), 62 boaters with five steelhead and two sockeye kept plus nine adult chinook, two sockeye and 16 steelhead released; 24 Oregon bank rods with one adult chinook, one sockeye and two steelhead kept plus two adult chinook and six steelhead released. (ODFW)
Mid-Columbia — Bonneville pool, 148 boaters with 33 legal sturgeon kept plus two legal, 13 oversize and 618 sublegals released; 22 bank rods with three legal sturgeon kept plus one oversize and 49 sublegals released; 16 boaters with no salmon or steelhead; nine boaters with 13 bass kept. (WDFW)
The Dalles pool, two boaters with one walleye released: 13 boaters with nine bass kept and 24 released. (WDFW)
Cowlitz — Seventy-eight boaters with 53 steelhead kept and one released; 35 bank rods with 12 adult spring chinook and one steelhead kept plus one chinook released. (WDFW)
Drano Lake — Four boaters with five steelhead kept and four released. (WDFW)
