Summer chinook counts at Bonneville Dam skyrocketed on Tuesday as an abundance of salmon that apparently had been holding in the Columbia River estuary were on the move.
Chinook fishing just upstream of the Megler-Astoria Bridge was excellent last week as warm water in the Columbia appeared to slow salmon entry into the river. Saturday’s flight counted almost 150 boats just upstream of the bridge.
With the weather change on Sunday, the chinook fishing in estuary died, but improved at the mouths of the Cowlitz and Lewis rivers.
Nearly 200,000 sockeye counted at Bonneville Dam, and not harvest by tribal commercial fishermen, have not crossed McNary Dam yet.
Nearly 200,000 sockeye counted at Bonneville Dam, and not harvest by tribal commercial fishermen, have not crossed McNary Dam yet.
Sockeye have been reported in both the lower Wind River and Drano Lake, with some deaths due to suspected disease in the lower Wind.
Sockeye have been reported in both the lower Wind River and Drano Lake, with some deaths due to suspected disease in the lower Wind.
Tuesday’s count of 3,994 adult chinook at Bonneville was the largest count for the date since at least 1939. The old record was 1,434 in July 14 in 1953.
More daily records may be topped this week.
Coded-wire tags from fish caught just upstream of Megler-Astoria Bridge indicate the chinook were largely upper Columbia summer chinook, along with a Willamette River spring chinook and a Snake River spring-summer chinook in the mix.
Angler checks from the Washington (WDFW) and Oregon (ODFW) departments of Fish and Wildlife:
Lower Columbia — Estuary, 10 boaters with eight legal, one oversize and three sublegal sturgeon released. (ODFW)
Megler-Astoria Bridge to Wauna power lines, 103 boaters with 38 adult chinook kept and one coho released. All coho must be released until Aug. 1. (ODFW)
Downstream of Puget Island, 19 bank rods with one adult summer chinook and one steelhead kept; three boaters with one steelhead kept and four released. (WDFW)
Westport, Ore., to Portland, 100 boaters with 10 adult summer chinook, two sockeye and 12 steelhead kept plus two sockeye and eight steelhead released; 22 Oregon bank rods with no catch. (ODFW)
Cathlamet, 14 boaters with five steelhead kept and four released; 61 bank rods with 13 steelhead kept and six released. (WDFW)
Longview, 19 boaters with three steelhead released; 188 bank rods with 23 steelhead, one sockeye and one summer chinook kept plus seven steelhead and two adult chinook released; one bank rod with one legal and two sublegal sturgeon released. (WDFW)
Cowlitz River mouth, six boaters with no catch; three boaters with 15 sublegal sturgeon released. (WDFW)
Kalama, 51 boaters with three adult summer chinook, three sockeye and one steelhead kept; 135 bank rods with four adult chinook kept; two bank rods with two sublegal sturgeon released; one boater with three sublegal sturgeon released. (WDFW)
Woodland, 56 boaters with 14 adult summer chinook and four steelhead kept plus one steelhead released; 74 bank rods with two steelhead released. (WDFW)
Warrior Rock to Kelley Point, nine boaters with no catch; 30 bank rods with six adult summer chinook and one sockeye kept; two boaters with no sturgeon. (WDFW)
Davis Bar to Portland airport tower, 15 boaters with one steelhead kept; 39 bank rods with one adult summer chinook, one steelhead and three sockeye kept plus five steelhead released. (WDFW)
Troutdale, Ore., 75 boaters with five adult summer chinook kept; 21 boaters with 15 walleye kept and three released. (ODFW)
Camas-Washougal, 39 boaters with four adult summer chinook kept; two boaters with three legal and one sublegal sturgeon released; two boaters with no walleye. (WDFW)
North Bonneville, three boaters with no catch; 54 bank rods with one adult summer chinook and two sockeye kept plus four steelhead and one adult chinook released.
Columbia Gorge (downstream of Bonneville Dam), 35 boaters with six adult and one jack chinook kept plus a steelhead released; 30 Oregon bank rods with six adult chinook, four sockeye and one steelhead kept plus one chinook, 51 sockeye and four steelhead released; nine bank rods with 10 shad kept. (ODFW)
Kalama — Thirty-six bank rods with three steelhead kept; eight boaters with three steelhead kept. (WDFW)
Washougal — Six bank rods with no steelhead. (WDFW)
Multnomah Channel — Two boaters with three walleye and two bullheads kept plus two yellow perch released.
