A pair of October staples — sturgeon fishing near Bonneville Dam and trout fishing at Swift Reservoir — were on the disappointing side last week.
But a couple of other October fisheries — trolling for coho at the mouth of the Klickitat and for steelhead in Oregon’s lower John Day River — were pretty good.
The commercial fleet fished for 14 hours on Wednesday from Woodland downstream to the mouth of the Columbia River, which will not help catches for trollers working the mouth of the Cowlitz this weekend.
Several anglers have reported poor catches at Swift for the past few weeks. The reservoir is near full pool now, as opposed to the normal fall drawdown, but that should not affect the bite.
Trolling for coho at the west end of Lady Island also has been poor recently, according to reports.
Angler checks from the Washington (WDFW) and Oregon (ODFW) departments of Fish and Wildlife:
Lower Columbia — Cathlamet, three bank rods with no salmon or steelhead. (WDFW)
Longview, one boater and three bank rods with no salmon or steelhead. (WDFW)
Longview to Portland, 43 boaters with four adult chinook and one adult coho kept plus three adult coho released; 200 boaters with 14 legal sturgeon kept plus 102 sublegals released. (ODFW)
Cowlitz River mouth, eight boaters with one steelhead kept. (WDFW)
Kalama, 14 boaters with three adult chinook kept; 64 bank rods with 11 adult chinook, one jack chinook and three adult coho kept plus three adult coho released; 29 boaters with six legal sturgeon kept plus one oversize and 17 sublegals released; one bank rod with no sturgeon.
Woodland, 19 boaters with one adult chinook, one jack chinook and one adult coho kept; 22 bank rods with two adult chinook and two adult coho kept; four boaters with no sturgeon; four bank rods with one sublegal sturgeon released. (WDFW)
Warrior Rock to Kelley Point, 37 boaters with 10 adult chinook and four adult coho kept plus one adult coho released; 24 bank rods with four adult chinook, one jack chinook and three coho kept; eight boaters with three legal sturgeon kept plus eight sublegals released. (WDFW)
Troutdale, 20 boaters with one coho released; 15 boaters with 25 sublegal sturgeon released; six boaters with three walleye kept. (ODFW)
Camas-Washougal, 18 boaters with one adult chinook kept and one adult coho released; eight bank rods with no salmon or steelhead; 52 boaters with two oversize and 81 sublegals released; two bank rods with no sturgeon; seven boaters with three walleye kept. (WDFW)
North Bonneville, 12 boaters with no salmon or steelhead; seven bank rods with one adult chinook kept; 17 boaters with two legal sturgeon kept plus one oversize and six sublegals released; 291 bank rods with 19 legal sturgeon kept plus 46 sublegals released. (WDFW)
Columbia Gorge (downstream of Bonneville Dam), 38 boaters with 18 adult fall chinook, seven jack chinook and four coho kept plus one coho released; 18 Oregon bank rods with two fall chinook; 105 boaters with five legal sturgeon kept plus one legal, 11 oversize and 328 sublegals released. (ODFW)
Mid-Columbia — Bonneville pool, 149 boaters with adult adult chinook and 109 coho kept plus one adult coho released. (WDFW)
John Day backwater, 50 boats with eight adult chinook, one jack chinook, two adult coho and eight steelhead kept plus 12 steelhead released. (ODFW)
Cowlitz — Twenty-three boaters with one adult chinook and 13 adult coho kept plus nine adult coho released; 69 bank rods with five adult coho and one jack coho kept plus three adult coho released. (WDFW)
Kalama — Four boaters with one adult coho kept and one jack coho released; 84 bank rods with two adult chinook, one jack chinook, 23 adult coho, two jack coho and six steelhead kept plus 23 adult chinook, nine adult coho and two steelhead released. (WDFW)
Lewis — Eighteen boaters with five adult coho kept and six adult coho and two jack coho released; 11 bank rods with five adult coho kept and five adult coho released. (WDFW)
North Lewis — Twenty-one boaters with 10 adult chinook, one jack chinook and five coho kept plus two adult chinook, one jack chinook and five adult coho released; 189 bank rods with three adult chinook, one jack chinook, 37 adult coho and one steelhead kept plus four adult chinook, two jack chinook, 19 adult coho and two jack coho released. (WDFW)
Wind — Two boaters with no catch. (WDFW)
White Salmon — Twelve boaters with two adult coho kept and nine adult coho released. (WDFW)
Swift Reservoir — Two boaters with three rainbow trout kept and two landlocked coho salmon released.
