The spring Chinook season kicks off Thursday in the Columbia River above the I-5 Bridge.
The projections are run, the seasons are set, and local anglers are ready to fish.
While the river below the bridge has been open for two months, March is the month when spring Chinook start to show in appreciable numbers.
This is a different kind of March Madness.
If you doubt the popularity of this fishery, just watch the numbers of boats on the Columbia River grow over the next few weeks.
Over 248,000 spring Chinook adults are expected to enter the Columbia River this year; 166,000 of those fish are headed above the Bonneville Dam.
If the run comes in as projected it would be 44 percent stronger than last year’s run, but still 10 percent below the 10-year average. However, the projections are just that: an educated guess as to how many fish will actually return.
“While the runs are building they tend to under forecast,” said Buzz Ramsey of Yakima Bait. “When the runs are dropping they tend to over forecast.”
Ramsey is optimistic that the runs are building, but only time will tell.
Last year the run came in below expectations and that combined with high water and poor river conditions to depress the catch.
However, fishermen and guides alike are expecting better fishing this year. If nothing else it looks as if conditions in the Columbia River may be a lot better this year than last.
Anglers will take all the luck they can get. Spring salmon are a worthy adversary. They are finicky biters and tough fighters. Each one landed is cause for celebration.
“They are the creme de la creme of salmon,” said fishing guide Bill Monroe Jr. of Bill Monroe Outdoors. “They are the best eating, but they are the hardest to catch.”
Columbia River spring Chinook, or “springers” as they are sometimes called, begin to enter fresh water in March although they will not spawn until September or October. They do not feed actively, living instead off of nutrients stored in their flesh.
Since they are in the fresh water so long without food they arrive packed with the rich oils they need to sustain them. These reserves of fats are the reason they are so tasty.
Below Bonneville Dam: Catch guidelines allocate 6,680 upriver fish for a 38-day fishing season below Bonneville Dam from March 1 through April 7. The fishery will be open to both boat and bank anglers from Buoy 10 to Beacon Rock, and to bank anglers only upriver to the dam.
Above the dam: Spring Chinook fishing will also be open March 16 through May 7 from the Tower Island power lines upriver to the Washington/Oregon border near Umatilla. The season will run for 53 days with an initial catch guideline of 900 upriver Chinook. Bank fishing will also be allowed from the dam upriver to the power lines.
In both areas, the daily catch limit will be one adult hatchery Chinook salmon, as part of a two-fish daily limit that can also include hatchery coho salmon and hatchery steelhead.
Springers heading back to Oregon’s Willamette River dominate the early portion of the run. Monroe will target these fish by trolling for them near the mouth of the Willamette.
“They will sometimes keg up around Kelly Point,” said Monroe, who said he often fishes as low as the area near Kalama. “You can also find them along Prescott Beach. That’s a good early season troll.”
Buzz Ramsey of Yakima Bait also starts his season searching for those early Willamette springers near the mouth of the Willamette. “Sometimes those Willamette fish will collect above the I-5 Bridge near the airport,” says Ramsey, “especially if the Willamette is dirty.”
Both Ramsey and Monroe point to trolling downstream with a Fish Flash and a herring as their go-to early season setup. They also fish their offerings right on the bottom.
“Those fish stay out of strong currents,” said Monroe. “They will be up against the bank and close to the bottom.”
In addition to trolling anglers will often anchor off pilings and other structure and fish stationary plugs. This is especially effective on outgoing tides.
Monroe said he will fish for Willamette River fish through the first two or three weeks of March, and then move higher up the Columbia. One of his favorite reaches is the stretch near Multnomah Falls. Just a few years ago anglers would have this area to themselves, but the secret is out and anglers can now expect company.
Ramsey will wait until the later season before he targets this reach.
“If we have a good upriver run the last week of March and the first week of April can be very good up there,” he said.
While only a handful of spring Chinook have been taken so far look for the catch rates and effort to ramp up over the next few weeks. The fishermen are always out there before the fish arrive, but the springers are on their way.
Anglers fishing the Columbia River are required to use barbless hooks, and must release any salmon or steelhead not visibly marked as hatchery fish by a clipped adipose fin. A Columbia River Salmon and Steelhead Endorsement is also required.
Guided trips: Bill Monroe Jr of Bill Monroe Outdoors, (503) 702-4028
