Chinook angling the lower Columbia River is in the period where the spring run is waning and the summer run is not here yet.
It’s not hopeless, by any means, but catch rates are mediocre.
The water between Beacon Rock and Bonneville Dam opens for boaters beginning Saturday.
Chinook and steelhead angling reopens today between Bonneville Dam and the Washington-Oregon state line, east of Umatilla, Ore.
The shad run is off to a bit of a slow start.
The count at Bonneville through Tuesday was 28,874 compared to a 10-year average for the date of 122,417.
Goose Lake in the Gifford Pinchot National Forest has been stocked with 6,000 cutthroat trout and 3,000 rainbow trout recently.
Earlier in May, the 54-acre lake got 1,850 brown trout.
Angler checks and related information from the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife:
Lower Columbia — Westport, Ore., to Portland, 105 boaters with eight adult spring chinook, one jack chinook and three steelhead kept plus five adult chinook released; 105 Oregon bank rods with two adult chinook kept and one released.
Troutdale, Ore., 48 boaters with one adult spring chinook kept plus six adult chinook released; two boaters with no shad; five boaters with one walleye.
Columbia Gorge (downstream of Beacon Rock), 39 boaters with six adult spring chinook and one jack kept plus five adult chinook released; 24 boaters with eight shad kept.
Columbia Gorge, 39 Oregon bank rods with five adult spring chinook and three jack chinook kept plus one adult chinook released; 42 bank rods with 20 shad kept.
Mid-Columbia — John Day pool, 115 boaters with 331 walleye kept and 41 released; 48 boaters with 10 legal sturgeon kept plus three legal, four oversize and 28 sublegals released.
Lower Willamette — Downstream of St. Johns Bridge including Multnomah Channel, 1,599 boaters with 357 spring chinook kept and 43 released.
Bass-walleye — More than 700 smallmouth bass were caught incidentally this week in the northern pikeminnow sport reward program.
The highest bass catch was reported at Columbia Point (210) near Tri-Cities, while Giles French boat ramp just below John Day Dam was the No. 2 spot (166).
The total bass catch downstream of Bonneville Dam was 46 between nine registration stations.
Giles French had the best walleye catch (30) followed by Columbia Point (13). The only walleye reported in the lower Columbia was one at Washougal.
