Boaters in the lower Willamette River averaged a spring chinook per 18 rods last week, so probably not the news to make Clark County anglers want to rush over to Multnomah Channel.
Oregon’s estimate for the week was 4,075 angler trips with 196 spring chinook kept and 31 released in the lower Willamette.
The Willamette water temperature has been 58 degrees with about 6 feet of visibility. That’s the warmest temperature in the Willamette for the date since at least 2004.
The 149 boaters targeting sturgeon released 371 legal-size fish.
Sturgeon retention in the lower Willamette, like in the lower Columbia, is closed.
A one-day Oregon angling license, including a Columbia River endorsement, is $20.
The cumulative spring chinook count through Tuesday at Bonneville Dam is 2,515.
Serious spring chinook anglers normally start at the mouth of Wind River and Drano Lake about the final week of April.
The lower Columbia River was 51.6 degrees, which is the second highest for the date since at least 1989.
• Five local lakes have been stocked with rainbow trout recently.
In Clark County, Battle Ground Lake got 2,050 rainbow and Lacamas Lake received 6,000. In Skamania County, Tunnel Lake got 2,000 fish, Little Ash Lake received 1,000 and Icehouse got almost 1,200 trout.
• Kokanee fishing remains slow in Merwin Reservoir. The parking lot and overflow lot were filled last Saturday. Visibility on the reservoir is about 2.5 feet, but still significantly less than normal.
Angler checks from the Washington (WDFW) and Oregon (ODFW) departments of Fish and Wildlife:
Mid-Columbia — Bonneville pool, five bank rods at the mouth of Drano Lake with one spring chinook kept. (WDFW)
• The Dalles pool, 37 bank rods with one wild spring chinook released; 22 boaters with 37 walleye kept and four released; two bank rods with no walleye; two boaters with 12 bass kept and eight released; eight boaters with seven sublegal sturgeon released; 15 bank rods with no sturgeon.(WDFW)
• John Day pool, 39 bank rods with one spring chinook kept; 147 boaters with 308 walleye kept plus 156 released; three bank rods with 15 walleye kept and 11 released; 12 boaters with 24 bass kept and 169 released; 47 boaters with four legal sturgeon kept, eight legal sturgeon released, four oversize sturgeon released and 54 sublegals released. (WDFW)
Wind — Seven boaters with no catch. (WDFW)
Drano Lake — Four bank rods and 19 boaters with no catch, although a couple of spring chinook were reported caught here last week. (WDFW)
Cowlitz — One-hundred-forty-seven boaters were sampled with 107 steelhead and nine spring chinook kept plus one steelhead released; 176 bank rods with were sampled with 23 steelhead and 11 spring chinook kept plus one steelhead released.
Most of the fish were between the trout hatchery and barrier dam. (WDFW)
