It’s a little bit early for winter steelhead, but catches should pick up beginning soon.
More than 170 winter steelhead returned to the Cowlitz Salmon Hatchery during the four days last week the separator was operating. Sampling of 29 boaters tallied nine steelhead.
Sturgeon catches have dwindled to near zero. Forty-four legal-size fish remain on catch guideline for the Columbia between the Wauna power lines and Bonneville Dam.
Angler checks and related information from the Washington (WDFW) and Oregon (ODFW) departments of Fish and Wildlife:
Lower Columbia — Longview to Portland, 101 boaters with 80 sublegal sturgeon released; seven Oregon bank rods with one sublegal sturgeon released. (ODFW)
Troutdale, 10 boaters with one legal sturgeon kept plus 22 sublegals released. (ODFW)
Camas-Washougal, seven boaters with one legal sturgeon kept and 29 sublegals released. (WDFW)
North Bonneville, 13 bank rods with no sturgeon. (WDFW)
Columbia Gorge (downstream of Bonneville Dam), 14 boaters with one legal sturgeon kept plus 36 sublegals released; 11 Oregon bank rods with two sublegal sturgeon released. (ODFW)
Mid-Columbia — John Day River mouth, 18 boats with four steelhead kept and 10 released; eight bank rods with one steelhead kept. (ODFW)
Cowlitz — Twenty-nine boaters with 11 adult coho and nine steelhead kept plus two adult coho released; 53 bank rods with 11 adult coho kept and four released.
Kalama — Twenty-six bank rods with two steelhead kept plus two adult coho and one jack chinook released. (WDFW)
North Fork Lewis — Fifty bank rods with two adult coho and one steelhead kept plus six adult coho, one jack coho and one steelhead released. (WDFW)
