Washington and Oregon have scheduled a joint state hearing at noon today to discuss salmon and steelhead fishing in the Columbia River. Since fishing is closed, most likely the states will reopen it, at least for coho and steelhead.
The North Fork of the Lewis, Kalama and Cowlitz rivers are providing almost all the action for salmon anglers as the 2016 fishery continues to wane.
Swift Reservoir remains open through the end of the month and will keep yielding rainbow trout and landlocked coho. The reservoir is within 15 feet of full pool, so no problem launching boats.
Walleye continue to offer action downstream of John Day Day in the upper The Dalles pool of the Columbia River.
Angler sampling by the Washington and Oregon departments of Fish and Wildlife:
Lewis — Four bank rods with no catch. (WDFW)
North Fork Lewis — Forty-two boaters with 13 adult chinook and 14 adult coho kept plus five adult chinook and three adult coho released; 33 bank rods with three adult coho kept plus three adult coho released and one adult chinook released. (WDFW)
East Fork Lewis — Four bank rods with four wild steelhead and one wild fall chinook released. (WDFW)
Kalama — Thirty-four boaters with 17 coho kept and one released; 109 bank rods with six coho kept plus two coho, one chinook and two steelhead released. (WDFW)
Cowlitz — Twenty-two boaters with three adult coho kept, one adult coho released and three adult chinook released; 175 bank rods with 12 adult chinook, 34 adult coho, seven jack coho and seven cutthroat trout kept plus 15 adult chinook, two jack chinook, four adult coho, seven jack coho and two cutthroat trout released. (WDFW)
Mid-Columbia — Bonneville pool, seven boaters with nine legal, four oversize and 14 sublegal sturgeon released; four bank rods with no sturgeon. (ODFW)
The Dalles pool, six boaters with one legal, one oversize and three sublegal sturgeon released; 15 boaters with nine walleye kept and seven walleye released. (ODFW)
John Day pool, 17 boaters with seven legal, four oversize and 13 sublegal sturgeon released; 30 boaters with 61 walleye kept and 32 released. (ODFW)
