Spring chinook catches were not awful last week, given that the Columbia was near flood stage with only 18 inches of clarity.
Washington and Oregon estimate there were 11,537 fishing trips in the lower Columbia with 1,049 spring chinook kept and 208 released. About 3,000 jack chinook were caught along with almost 400 steelhead.
Bank rods did better than boaters in this ultra-high water.
The salmon bite has gone south in the past few days though. Sockeye and shad likely will be behind schedule with these high streamflows so there’s a bit of a hiatus in opportunity now.
Expect no improvement in water conditions in the Columbia anytime soon. The Northwest River Forecast Center projects the streamflow, which was 489,000 cubic feet per second at Bonneville Dam on Wednesday, will creep to about 520,000 cubic feet per second on Saturday.
Kokanee fishing has turned off at Merwin Reservoir. State samplers checked an average of 1.3 kokanee per rod last weekend.
Angler checks from the Washington (WDFW) and Oregon (ODFW) departments of Fish and Wildlife:
Lower Columbia — Estuary, six bank rods with no catch. (WDFW)
Tongue Point to Puget Island, 27 boaters with four adult spring chinook, 15 jack chinook and five steelhead kept plus two steelhead released; 63 boaters with six legal sturgeon kept plus two sublegal and two green sturgeon released. (ODFW)
Tongue Point to Jones Beach, 90 Oregon bank rods with two adult spring chinook, 10 jack chinook and three steelhead kept plus two steelhead released. (ODFW)
Cathlamet, four boaters with no salmon or steelhead; 28 bank rods with two adult chinook, three jacks and one steelhead kept plus one steelhead released, (WDFW)
Longview to Portland, 18 boaters with one adult spring chinook and three jacks kept plus one jack released. (ODFW)
Longview, 145 boaters with five adult spring chinook, four jack chinook and seven steelhead kept plus two adult and two jack chinook released; 117 bank rods with two adult spring chinook, three jacks and four steelhead kept; five boaters and two bank rods with no sturgeon. (WDFW)
Kalama, 51 boaters with five adult spring chinook and four jacks kept; 129 bank rods with one adult spring chinook, three jacks and three steelhead kept plus two jack chinook released; seven boaters with no sturgeon; six bank rods with one legal sturgeon kept plus one oversize and five sublegals released. (WDFW)
Woodland, 26 boaters with four adult spring chinook and four jacks kept plus three jacks and a legal sturgeon released; 120 bank rods with six adult spring chinook, 16 jacks and one steelhead kept plus five jack chinook and two steelhead released. (WDFW)
Warrior Rock to Kelley Point, 97 boaters with eight adult chinook and nine jacks kept plus one adult and one jack released; 165 bank rods with two adult and 11 jack chinook kept along with two adult chinook, three jacks and a steelhead released; one boater with two sublegal sturgeon released. (WDFW)
Davis Bar to Portland airport tower, 16 boaters with one jack chinook kept. (WDFW)
Troutdale, 49 boaters with one adult spring chinoo and four jacks kept; six boaters with one legal sturgeon kept and four sublegals released. (ODFW)
Camas-Washougal, 26 boaters with two adult spring chinook released; 37 bank rods with one adult and one jack spring chinook kept plus one jack released; seven boaters with one oversize and 14 sublegal sturgeon released; two boaters with no walleye. (WDFW)
North Bonneville, 381 bank rods with 23 adult spring chinook, 135 jacks and one steelhead kept plus 12 adult and 35 jack chinook released; six boaters with two shad kept; three bank rods with no shad. (WDFW)
Columbia Gorge, downstream of Beacon Rock, four boaters with no chinook. (ODFW)
Mid-Columbia — The Dalles pool, 38 bank rods with two legal sturgeon kept and 18 sublegals released; eight boaters with one legal sturgeon kept and three sublegals released; seven boaters with four walleye kept and four released; two boaters with eight bass released; eight bank rods with one bass kept and seven released. (WDFW)
Cowlitz — Twenty-seven boaters with four adult and two jack spring chinook kept; 180 bank rods with 15 adult and four jack chinook kept plus one steelhead released. (WDFW)
Kalama — Three boaters with no salmon or steelhead; 24 bank rods with three jack chinook kept. (WDFW)
Lewis — Four bank rods with no catch. (WDFW)
North Fork Lewis — Five bank rods with no catch. (WDFW)
Washougal — Thirty-four boaters with three steelhead kept; 52 bank rods with no steelhead. Backwater from the Columbia has inundated the Washougal as far upstream as Sandy swimming hole. (WDFW)
Wind — At the mouth, 125 boaters with 31 adult spring chinook and eight jacks kept plus five adult chinook released; six bank rods with no salmon or steelhead. In the gorge, three bank rods with three adult spring chinook. (WDFW)
Drano Lake — Three bank rods with no catch; 221 boaters with 61 adult and 15 jack chinook kept plus four adults released. (WDFW)
Klickitat — Fifty bank rods with 11 adult chinook, six jack chinook and one steelhead kept plus three adult chinook released. (WDFW)
Merwin Reservoir — Sixteen boaters with 22 kokanee kept and three released. (WDFW)
