Spring chinook angling interest in the lower Columbia increased significantly last week, just not the catch.
Washington and Oregon report a dropping catch rate as the Columbia rose in streamflow.
For the week, there were 14,539 trips with 695 spring chinook caught (581 kept, 114 released) and 162 winter steelhead caught (53 kept and 109 released). That’s about chinook per 21 rods.
Among the spring chinook that were kept, 77 percent were headed for upstream of Bonneville Dam.
For the season, there have been 30,450 angler trips with 972 adult spring chinook kept and 246 released. Approximately 7 percent of the early-season allocation had been caught through Sunday.
The best kept catch rates, so far, for boaters this season have been in the lower river (Cathlamet and estuary) and in the Columbia Gorge, with the poorest kept catch rate in the stretch between the Portland airport tower and the east end of Reed Island near Washougal.
At Bonneville Dam, 536 spring chinook have been tallied through Monday. That compares to the 10-year average of 72 through March 23.
Visibility is reported to be 3.5 feet at Bonneville Dam and 3 feet in the Willamette River at the Morrison Bridge in Portland.
Oregon’s estimate for the lower Willamette River and Multnomah Channel sport catch last week was 585 boaters with eight spring chinook. Muddy water pretty much killed the catch.
Walleye fishing has been excellent at the upper end of The Dalles pool near John Day Dam.
Klineline Pond has been stocked with 1,500 rainbow trout. Kress Lake has been stocked with 20 surplus winter steelhead.
Angler sampling from the Washington (WDFW) and Oregon (ODFW) departments of Fish and Wildlife:
Lower Columbia — Estuary, 218 boaters with 16 adult spring chinook kept and three released. (WDFW)
Cathlamet, 17 boaters and 28 bank rods with no salmon or steelhead. (WDFW)
Tongue Point to Wauna power lines, 46 boaters with two spring chinook kept. (ODFW)
Longview, 173 boaters with five spring chinook kept and one steelhead released; 65 bank rods with four steelhead kept and six released. (WDFW)
Westport, Ore., to Portland, 749 boaters with 32 spring chinook kept plus five wild spring chinook released; 269 Oregon bank rods with six spring chinook and one steelhead kept plus one spring chinook and three steelhead released. (ODFW)
Cowlitz River mouth, 10 boaters with no catch. (WDFW)
Kalama, 183 boaters with three spring chinook kept and one released; 34 bank rods with no catch. (WDFW)
Woodland, 224 boaters with nine spring chinook kept; 30 bank rods with no catch. (WDFW)
Warrior Rock to Kelley Point, 260 boaters with eight spring chinook kept and three released; 137 bank rods with one steelhead kept and two spring chinook released. (WDFW)
Davis Bar to Portland airport tower, 117 boaters with four adult chinook and one steelhead kept plus one adult spring chinook released; five bank rods with no catch. (WDFW)
Troutdale, Ore., 34 boaters with one spring chinook kept. (ODFW)
Camas-Washougal, 48 boaters with one spring chinook kept; 13 bank rods with no catch. (WDFW)
North Bonneville, 147 bank rods with eight spring chinook and two steelhead kept plus four spring chinook released. (WDFW)
Columbia Gorge (downstream of Beacon Rock), 10 boaters with three spring chinook. (WDFW)
Columbia Gorge, five Oregon bank rods with one spring chinook kept.
Mid-Columbia — The Dalles pool, 63 boaters with 188 walleye kept and two released; 18 bank rods with one spring chinook and one steelhead kept; 17 boaters with one oversize and 17 sublegals released; 10 bank rods with no sturgeon; three boaters with two bass kept and 15 released. (WDFW)
John Day pool, 62 boaters with 77 walleye kept and 12 released; two bank rods with no walleye; two boaters with one bass kept and seven released; 17 bank rods and two boaters with no salmon or steelhead; 23 boaters with one legal sturgeon kept and three sublegals released; 11 bank rods with no sturgeon. (WDFW)
Cowlitz — Forty-two boaters with 36 steelhead kept and one released; 32 bank rods with six spring chinook and nine steelhead kept plus one steelhead released. (WDFW)
