Fishing report 3/16

Challenging water conditions in the Columbia River for spring chinook fishing have gotten much worse, with the National Weather Service predicting minor flood-level flows through at least Monday.

Streamflows at Bonneville Dam on Wednesday were a hefty 350,000 cubic feet per second. The water temperature is 41.4 degrees and the visibility is about 3 feet. Boaters are encountering lots of debris and floating logs in the Columbia.

The Willamette has about 18 inches of visibility.

State samplers checked a very few spring chinook last week in the lower Columbia and in the Cowlitz, but it’s hard to get excited given the water conditions, Bonneville Dam count (eight spring chinook total) and weather.

• Kokanee fishing is well under way at Merwin Reservoir with a high number of boats out last weekend. Most trollers are putting their offerings about 150 feet or so behind the boat and not using any weight. The reservoir is getting muddy quickly, and dirty water pretty much kills kokanee fishing.

• Three local waters have been stocked with trout.

Battle Ground Lake got 2,000 rainbow, Icehouse Lake in Skamania County got 1,000 rainbow and Klineline Pond at Salmon Creek Park got 1,200 brown trout.

• The walleye catch numbers remain decent downstream of John Day and McNary dams, but high streamflow can make the river dicey.

Angler checks by the Washington (WDFW) and Oregon (ODFW) departments of Fish and Wildlife:

Lower Columbia — Downstream of Puget Island, 15 boaters with one spring chinook kept two bank rods with no catch. (WDFW)

Cathlamet, 11 boaters and two bank rods with no catch. (WDFW)

Westport, Ore., to Portland, 160 boaters with one spring chinook kept. (ODFW)

Longview, 27 boaters and nine bank rods with no catch. (WDFW)

Kalama, 30 boaters and nine bank rods with no catch. (WDFW)

Woodland, 13 boaters with no catch; 49 bank rods with one adult spring chinook kept and three steelhead released. (WDFW)

Warrior Rock to Kelley Point, 134 boaters with one spring chinook kept and one released; 32 bank rods with one spring chinook kept. (WDFW)

Davis Bar to Portland airport tower, seven boaters with no salmon; three boaters with two legal and eight sublegal sturgeon released. (WDFW)

Troutdale, Ore., 64 boaters with no catch. (ODFW)

Camas-Washougal, 11 boaters with no catch. (WDFW)

North Bonneville, three bank rods with no catch. (WDFW)

Mid-Columbia — Bonneville pool, 31 boaters with three legal sturgeon kept and 21 sublegals released; 18 bank rods with 11 sublegal sturgeon released. (WDFW)

The Dalles pool, 22 boaters with with two legal sturgeon kept plus one oversize and 60 sublegals released; 20 bank rods with three legal sturgeon kept plus seven sublegals released; 114 boaters with 131 walleye kept and 27 released; one bank rod with one walleye kept. (WDFW)

John Day pool, 27 boaters with four legal sturgeon kept plus two oversize and three sublegals released; 126 boaters with 146 walleye kept and 65 released; three bank rods with seven walleye kept; one boater with no bass. (WDFW)

Cowlitz — Fifty-one boaters with 18 steelhead kept and two released; 115 bank rods with five adult spring chinook and eight winter steelhead kept plus one cutthroat trout released. (WDFW) Streamflow at Mayfield Dam on Wednesday was a high 13,300 cubic feet per second.

Coweeman — Two bank rods with no catch. (WDFW)

Kalama — Sixty bank rods with five wild steelhead and one wild spring chinook released; 10 boaters with one hatchery steelhead kept and one hatchery steelhead and six wild steelhead released. (WDFW)

East Fork Lewis — Two boaters with no catch; 36 bank rods with one hatchery and one wild steelhead released. Streamflow on Wednesday at Heisson was 6,800 cubic feet per second. Fishing is closed downstream from the Lewisville Park boat ramp starting today through April 15. Fishing upstream of Lewisville Park boat ramp is closed today through June 3. (WDFW)

Merwin Reservoir — Two boaters with seven kokanee. The fish were 11 to 11.5 inches.