Spring ends and summer begins Tuesday — at least in the Columbia River fishing world.
The regulations, run tally and catch allocations and allowances start anew on Tuesday with the arrival of the summer chinook period.
The forecast is for 73,000 summer chinook to enter the Columbia, which would be 14 percent above average for the decade. The allocation to lower Columbia sportsmen is 3,227, with 615 allotted for between Bonneville and Priest Rapids dams.
NORTH BONNEVILLE — A hatchery-origin chinook getting caught in the lower Columbia River is nothing unusual.
However, a chinook caught last week near Bonneville was far from the norm. It contained a coded-wire tag indicating it originated at Coleman National Fish Hatchery, which is on a tributary to the Sacramento River in California.
NORTH BONNEVILLE -- A hatchery-origin chinook getting caught in the lower Columbia River is nothing unusual.
However, a chinook caught last week near Bonneville was far from the norm. It contained a coded-wire tag indicating it originated at Coleman National Fish Hatchery, which is on a tributary to the Sacramento River in California.
Not only that, it was a fall chinook.
Not only that, it was a fall chinook.
Daily limits will be six salmon, but no more than two adult salmon or hatchery steelhead, or one of each. Chinook must be fin-clipped, but any sockeye can be kept. The season is scheduled through July 6 downstream of Bonneville Dam.
The gillnetters will fish for summer chinook from 9 p.m. Wednesday until 5 a.m. on June 18. They are projected to catch 1,500 summer chinook out of an allocation of 1,646.
A good sockeye run of 394,000 is forecast, however sockeye are not good biters and mostly are caught incidental to chinook or, especially, steelhead fishing.
Shad counts at Bonneville Dam should be nearing their peak. The cumulative shad tally through Tuesday is 642,088. That compares with a 10-year average of 888,484.
Fishing for shad has been relatively slow.
Swift Reservoir is open for trout fishing. Catches were disappointing on Saturday, but are anticipated to improve. The reservoir is 11 feet below full pool.
Angler checks from the Washington (WDFW) and Oregon (ODFW) departments of Fish and Wildlife:
Lower Columbia — Downstream of Puget Island, 23 boaters with three adult chinook and one steelhead kept plus one chinook released; three bank rods with one steelhead kept. (WDFW)
Tongue Point to Wauna power lines, eight boaters with no salmon or steelhead. (ODFW)
Clatsop Spit to Wauna power lines, 17 Oregon bank rods with two adult spring chinook kept plus two wild steelhead released. (ODFW)
Cathlamet, 14 boaters with one adult chinook and one steelhead kept plus one adult chinook released; 57 bank rods with six steelhead kept and one released. (WDFW)
Westport, Ore., to Portland, 104 boaters with three spring chinook and one steelhead kept plus three spring chinook released; three boaters with two shad kept; 14 boaters with 25 legal, one oversize and four sublegal sturgeon released. (ODFW)
Longview, 132 boaters with two adult chinook and six steelhead kept plus one adult chinook and two sockeye released; 139 bank rods with one adult chinook and 14 steelhead kept plus two steelhead released; six boaters with seven legal and 11 sublegal sturgeon released. (WDFW)
Cowlitz River mouth, seven boaters with two steelhead kept. (WDFW)
Kalama, 64 boaters with two adult chinook and one steelhead kept; 96 bank rods with six adult chinook kept and two released; seven boaters with 15 legal and 17 sublegal sturgeon released; four boaters with no shad. (WDFW)
Woodland, 34 boaters with one adult chinook released and one steelhead kept; 102 bank rods with four adult chinook released and one steelhead kept; five boaters with one legal and 14 sublegal sturgeon released; two boaters with 12 shad kept and 25 released. (WDFW0
Warrior Rock to Kelley Point, 36 boaters with one adult chinook kept and two released; 143 bank rods with two adult chinook and one steelhead kept plus two adult chinook, two jack chinook and one steelhead released. (WDFW)
Davis Bar to Portland airport tower, 24 boaters with one adult chinook released; two bank rods with no catch; 15 boaters with 20 legal, six oversize and 100 sublegal sturgeon released; eight boaters with no shad. (WDFW)
Troutdale, Ore., 113 boaters with nine adult spring chinook and two jacks kept plus three adult spring chinook and one steelhead released; nine anglers with no shad; six boaters with one walleye. (ODFW)
Camas-Washougal, 62 boaters with four adult chinook and one jack chinook kept plus three adult chinook released; eight bank rods with no catch; three boaters with five legal and 20 sublegal sturgeon released; 28 boaters with three shad kept and 10 released. (WDFW)
North Bonneville, 25 boaters with three adult chinook kept and five released; 101 bank rods with 17 adult chinook and one jack kept plus 15 adult chinook released; 31 boaters with 60 shad kept; 181 bank rods with 226 shad kept and one released. (WDFW)
Columbia Gorge (downstream of Bonneville Dam), 52 boaters with seven adult spring chinook and one jack kept plus six adult chinook released; 47 boaters with 80 shad kept. (ODFW)
Columbia Gorge, 39 Oregon bank rods with seven adult chinook kept plus three adult chinook and one jack released; 109 Oregon bank rods with 270 shad kept. (ODFW)
Columbia Gorge (downstream of Marker 82), three boaters with three oversize sturgeon released. (ODFW)
Mid-Columbia — The Dalles pool, eight boaters with two walleye kept and eight released. (WDFW)
John Day pool, 98 boaters with 164 walleye kept and 25 released; 20 boaters with one bass kept and 30 released; 58 boaters with 76 shad kept and 12 released; 75 boaters with two chinook kept; 48 bank rods with 11 chinook kept and seven released. (WDFW)
Kalama — Fifty-nine bank rods with four adult chinook, two jack chinook and six steelhead kept. (WDFW)
North Fork Lewis — Twenty-two bank rods with four steelhead kept and two jack chinook released. (WDFW)
East Fork Lewis — Four bank rods with one steelhead released. (WDFW)
Washougal — Seven bank rods with two steelhead kept. (WDFW)
Drano Lake — One boater and one bank rod with no catch. (WDFW)
Upper Klickitat — Nine boaters with no catch; nine bank rods with five adult chinook kept. (WDFW)
