Chinook fishing is open again in the lower Columbia River and steelhead catches are building, particularly downstream of Longview.
Chinook catch rates have not been good. The mark rate on chinook last week was 57 percent. The mark rate on steelhead was 86 percent, and several 13- to 14-pound steelhead were observed.
Swift Reservoir opened on Saturday. The Department of Fish and Wildlife sampled 64 anglers with 146 fish kept and 59 released. That’s 3.2 fish per rod caught and 2.28 kept.
Some limits were taken by trollers fishing shallow near the Drift Creek island.
The water level is 10 feet below full pool.
Kokanee fishing continues good at Yale Reservoir and very spotty at Merwin Reservoir.
Goose Lake in the Gifford Pinchot National Forest was stocked recently with 2,000 chunky rainbow trout. Mayfield Lake on the the Cowlitz River has been stocked with 4,000 rainbow trout, with another 4,000 due next week.
Angler checks from the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW) and Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife (ODFW):
Lower Columbia — Tongue Point to Wauna power lines, seven boaters with two chinook released; 20 Oregon bank rods with no catch. (ODFW)
Downstream of Puget Island, 25 boaters with two adult chinook and three steelhead kept; nine bank rods with no catch. (WDFW)
Cathlamet, 25 boaters with two adult chinook and nine steelhead kept plus three adult chinook released; 34 bank rods with 10 steelhead kept and one released. (WDFW)
Westport, Ore., to Portland, 76 boaters with three adult chinook, two jack chinook and six steelhead kept plus one chinook and one sockeye released; one boaters with four shad kept. (ODFW)
Longview, 136 boaters with six adult chinook, one jack chinook and 18 steelhead kept plus five steelhead and six adult chinook released; 64 bank rods with one adult chinook and eight steelhead kept; six boaters with five legal, one oversize and 11 sublegal sturgeon released. (WDFW)
Kalama, 30 boaters with two adult chinook kept; 62 bank rods with three adult chinook and one steelhead kept plus three adult chinook released; six boaters with 22 legal, one oversize and two sublegal sturgeon released. (WDFW)
Woodland, 18 boaters with no catch; 53 bank rods with one adult chinook kept plus one released and one steelhead released. (WDFW)
Warrior Rock to Kelley Point, 33 boaters with four adult chinook released; 51 bank rods with two adult chinook and two adult steelhead kept; three boaters with no sturgeon. (WDFW)
Davis Bar to Portland airport tower, three boaters with no catch; 10 bank rods with one adult chinook kept; five boaters with four legal, two oversize and 35 sublegal sturgeon released. (WDFW)
Troutdale, Ore., 61 boaters with six adult chinook kept and one adult chinook released; two boaters with no shad. (ODFW)
Camas-Washougal, 30 boaters with one jack chinook kept and one adult chinook released; four bank rods with no catch; 13 boaters with six shad kept; four bank rods with no shad. (WDFW)
North Bonneville, four boaters with one jack chinook kept; 78 bank rods with 12 adult chinook kept plus six adult chinook and one steelhead released; 11 boaters with 57 shad kept and 30 released; 369 bank rods with 906 shad kept. (WDFW)
Columbia Gorge (downstream of Bonneville Dam), nine boaters with two chinook kept and one released; 38 boaters with 123 shad kept and one released; 127 Oregon bank rods with 495 shad kept and 55 released. (ODFW)
Cowlitz — Twenty-nine boats with two adult chinook kept; 129 bank rods with 20 adult chinook, seven jack chinook and three steelhead kept. (WDFW)
East Fork Lewis — Five bank rods with no catch. (WDFW)
Kalama — Fifteen boaters with two adult chinook and two steelhead kept; 63 bank rods with two adult chinook and one steelhead kept.(WDFW)
Drano Lake — Eight boat rods with no spring chinook or steelhead. (WDFW)
