Fall chinook retention opens on Monday with the debut of August, while sturgeon fishing in both the estuary and between Wauna and Marker 82 shifts to catch-and-release only.
At Buoy 10, angling will be open Monday through Aug. 28 with a two-salmon limit, but only one chinook. Fishing at Buoy 10 is for coho only beginning Aug. 29.
State biologists are predicting a catch of 10,950 chinook and 7,000 hatchery coho at Buoy 10 this summer.
Upstream of Rocky Point-Tongue Point, the lower Columbia is open chinook and hatchery coho starting Monday. The limit is two salmon or steelhead, but only one chinook through Sept. 9.
Beginning Sept. 10, chinook retention will be allowed only upstream of the Lewis River, but two adult chinook may be kept. Beginning Oct. 1, two adult chinook also can be retained downstream of the Lewis River mouth.
July may prove to be a record high for steelhead handle in the lower Columbia River.
Washington alone has sampled almost 1,600 steelhead. Assuming a 10 percent sample rate, that’s 16,000 fish with a few days to go. The record is 16,000 in July 2009, said Joe Hymer of the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife.
Sturgeon fishing has improved in the estuary. Seven out of every 10 charter anglers got a legal fish last week, while for private boaters the average was a legal sturgeon per 3.7 rods.
Boaters in The Dalles pool are doing well for walleye and smallmouth bass. Walleye fishing in John Day pool is good, too.
During July, Goose Lake in the Gifford Pinchot National Forest has been stocked with 6,200 brown trout, 6,000 cutthroat trout and 500 large rainbow trout.
Angler checks from the Washington (WDFW) and Oregon departments of Fish and Wildlife:
Lower Columbia — Buoy 10 to Puget Island, 617 boaters with 230 legal sturgeon kept plus 11 legal, 54 oversize and 465 sublegals released; three charter anglers with two legal sturgeon kept plus one oversize and one sublegal released. (ODFW)
Ilwaco, Chinook ramps, 64 charter anglers with 38 legal sturgeon kept plus seven legal, 22 oversize and 34 sublegals released; 317 private boaters with 65 legal sturgeon kept plus three legal, 32 oversize and 90 sublegals released. (WDFW)
Knappton, Deep River ramps, 95 private boaters with 41 legal sturgeon kept plus three legal, 11 oversize, two green and 63 sublegals released. (WDFW)
Knappton to Chinook, 14 bank rods with no sturgeon. (WDFW)
Estuary, 27 boaters with 32 steelhead and one jack chinook kept plus one adult chinook and one jack released; 109 bank rods with 11 steelhead kept and two released; two bank rods with no sturgeon; seven boaters with four legal sturgeon kept. (WDFW)
Cathlamet, 25 boaters with three steelhead kept and three released; 86 bank rods with 17 steelhead and one jack chinook kept plus 12 steelhead released; one boater with one legal sturgeon kept. (WDFW)
Longview, 116 boaters with 32 steelhead kept and 20 released; 546 bank rods with 88 steelhead and one jack chinook kept plus 58 steelhead released; 22 bank rods with two legal sturgeon kept plus one oversize and three sublegals released; 20 boaters with two legal sturgeon kept and 37 sublegals released. (WDFW)
Longview to Portland, 130 boaters with 11 steelhead kept plus 16 steelhead and one summer chinook released; 69 Oregon bank rods with eight steelhead and one jack chinook kept plus seven steelhead and one summer chinook released. (ODFW)
Kalama, 75 boaters with 19 steelhead and one jack chinook kept plus 10 steelhead and five adult summer chinook released; 258 bank rods with 32 steelhead kept plus 44 steelhead and four adult summer chinook released; 14 boaters with one oversize and 16 sublegal released; one boater with no walleye. (WDFW)
Woodland, 48 boaters with two steelhead kept plus 10 steelhead and one adult chinook released; 176 bank rods with 17 steelhead and two jack chinook kept plus 13 steelhead and one jack chinook released; two boaters and seven bank rods with no sturgeon. (WDFW)
Warrior Rock to Kelley Point, 15 boaters with two steelhead kept and two released; 200 bank rods with 23 steelhead and two jack chinook kept plus 32 steelhead and one adult summer chinook released; four boaters with four sublegal sturgeon released; three bank rods with one sublegal sturgeon released; two boaters with one walleye kept. (WDFW)
Davis Bar to Portland airport, two boaters and two bank rods with no steelhead; one boater with no sturgeon. (WDFW)
Troutdale, 108 boaters with four steelhead and two jack chinook kept plus 12 steelhead and four summer chinook released. (ODFW)
Camas-Washougal, 19 boaters with one steelhead kept plus five steelhead and two adult summer chinook released; 26 bank rods with four steelhead and two jack chinook released; 11 bank rods with no sturgeon; one bank rod with no shad; one boater with no walleye. (WDFW)
North Bonneville, 17 boaters with four steelhead released; 217 bank rods with 40 steelhead and one jack chinook kept plus 90 steelhead and four adult summer chinook released; three boaters with two sublegal sturgeon released; eight bank rods with five shad kept. (WDFW)
Columbia Gorge (downstream of Bonneville Dam), 78 boaters with 11 steelhead and one jack chinook kept plus 49 steelhead and one summer chinook released; 78 Oregon bank rods with six steelhead kept plus 10 steelhead and one summer chinook released. (ODFW)
Mid-Columbia — The Dalles pool, 25 bank rods with three oversize and 21 sublegals released; four boaters with one legal sturgeon kept plus two oversize and 19 sublegals released; 10 boaters with no salmon or steelhead; 66 bank rods with six steelhead and six summer chinook kept plus three steelhead released; 21 boaters with 58 walleye kept; six boaters with six bass kept and 25 released; one bank rod with one bass kept. (WDFW0
John Day pool, 73 boaters with 171 walleye; nine boaters with five bass; 18 boaters with 11 sturgeon released; 27 boaters with 106 shad kept.
