Buoy 10 salmon season opens Monday

Fishing at Buoy 10 — the water between red Buoy No. 10 at the river mouth and the Rocky Point-Tongue Point line upstream — opens on Monday and scheduled to stay open through Labor Day, which is Sept. 5.

New this year is a regulation that chinook retention on Sundays and Mondays will be limited to adipose or left ventral fin-clipped hatchery fish.

In 2015, catches were so good, that chinook fishing shifted to hatchery-only fish on Aug. 24 and closed to retention on Aug. 29.

This year’s two-day-a-week ban on wild chinook retention is an attempt by Washington and Oregon to keep the season open through Labor Day.

“That fishery has just kept growing,’’ said Ron Roler, Columbia River policy coordinator for the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife. “The rule change is designed so that the guy who decides to fish later in the season isn’t penalized.’’

A year ago, a record 1,305,000 adult fall chinook entered the Columbia River. The forecast for this year is 960,200 chinook, down 26 percent but still a huge run.

Although Buoy 10 angling started good and then got better in 2015, there’s no guarantee the exceptional catches will be the rule this year.

“It’s impossible to really know what’s going to happen,’’ Roler said. “Traditionally, the first 10 days or so haven’t been that productive.’’

In 2015, summer chinook fishing in late July was very good just upstream of the Astoria Bridge.  There was a fleet of anglers already fishing the area when the waters downstream of the bridge opened Aug. 1.

Warm water in the Columbia River tended to hold the chinook in the estuary in 2015 and that early group of anglers at Buoy 10 were the fortunate beneficiaries.

“The effort will be higher than last year, but the catching will be drastically slower,’’ Moxley predicts. “The run will be slower in arriving due to the cooler air and water temperatures this summer. The fish won’t be there in the first week.’’

Good chinook tides at Buoy 10 don’t arrive until Aug. 9 this year.

The best tides for chinook tend to be high tide near daybreak with a soft exchange to low tide during the morning hours. Tides with a difference of 5 feet or less from high to low are best.

On Monday, the morning opens with a flood tide with low water at 6:25 a.m. and high at 1:03 p.m.

The first good chinook tide is Aug. 9, when high water is at 5:55 a.m. and low is at 11:21 a.m. with an exchange of only 4.2 feet.

A year ago, the water temperature at Bonneville Dam was 72.3 degrees. On Wednesday, the temperature was 69.7 degrees.

Moxley said he thinks the chinook will move through Buoy 10 more quickly this year.

A run of 322,600 coho is forecast for the Columbia River. That’s not a great number, but much better than the return of 171,400 in 2015.

Moxley said coho fishing at Buoy 10 will be better than a year ago.

“I know it sounds crazy, but I think early coho will double the prediction,’’ he said. “Sockeye and steelhead have come back better than expected. The sockeye are more than three times the forecast. A lot of fish with two-year ocean residency are doing well. Who’s to say the coho won’t?’’

Guide Bill Monroe Jr. of Gresham, Ore., also said he expects “a considerably tougher year down there.’’

In 2015, the Columbia was not only warm, but notably lower, keeping fish in the estuary, he said.

“I think the semi-cooler water is going to be a different show for this year’s Columbia chinook,’’ Monroe said.

He noted that while bright fall chinook returns look strong, the forecast for coho is lackluster.

“I’d say the fishing will be like other years, in the usual spots, with the usual gear and bait offerings, but it all may be a bit later than last year’s good start.’’

Monroe also urged anglers to not underestimate the need for safety at Buoy 10.

“The Columbia is mighty,’’ he said. “If you go prepped in the wrong way, with the wrong gear and wrong boat for the wrong conditions, it’ll go wrong.’’