Cowlitz River - Spring Chinook are being caught by bank anglers at the barrier dam while boat anglers are catching steelhead from I-5 upstream.
A total of 2,038 spring Chinook adults had returned to the Cowlitz Salmon Hatchery through May 27. The goal is 1,250.
Cowlitz summer run steelhead hatchery returns through late May are similar to last year. A total of 312 hatchery summer run steelhead had returned to the salmon and trout hatcheries compared to 349 by this time last year. The 2008 total return to the hatcheries were just over 8,400 fish.
Flows below Mayfield Dam were very high (12,000 cfs) this morning.
Kalama River – No report on steelhead angling success though Kalama summer run steelhead hatchery returns are off to a little stronger start compared to last year. Through May 27, a total of 84 hatchery fish had returned to Kalama Falls Hatchery compared to 10 at the same time last year. The 2008 total return to the hatchery was just over 1,800 fish.
Through May 28, just 39 adult spring Chinook had returned to Kalama Falls Hatchery. The goal is 500. Based on the 2001 through 2007 average return to date, the hatchery goal may not be met.
Lewis River – No report on steelhead angling success though Lewis summer run steelhead hatchery returns through late May are similar to last year. Through May 27, a total of 116 hatchery fish had been trapped at Merwin Dam compared to 183 at the same time last year. The 2008 total return to the trap was just over 7,800 fish.
Including today’s trapping, 645 adult spring Chinook are on-hand at Merwin Hatchery. Up to 1,250 adults are needed. Based on the 2004 through 2008 average return to date, the hatchery goal may not be met. The good news is there are lots of jacks this year.
Flows below Merwin Dam were 4,900 cfs this morning, just over the long term mean for this date.
Wind River – The fishery at the mouth is fading fast. It appears most of the fish are headed upstream.
From Charlie Cochran, WDFW Technician: There have been 82 adult at 30 jacks detected at Bonneville Dam from Carson National Fish Hatchery (CNFH) PIT tag releases as of May 27. Applying the CNFH tag rates produces estimates of 6,338 adult and 2,695 jack Chinook passing Bonneville through this date. For comparison, the estimated run size on this date in 2008 was 5,792 adult chinook and 851 jacks and the final estimates in 2008 were 5,951 adult and 851 jacks.
The in-season projected adult return for 2009, based on early, average and late timing data from 2000-2008, are 6,356, 6,366, and 6,416 respectively. Cumulative detections at Bonneville Dam of tagged chinook from CNFH were 100% by this date for all years except 2006 and 2008. Therefore the in-season projections will not change significantly from this point on though the run size estimate could still increase with further detections.
There have been a total of 12 tagged adults from CNFH detected passing the PIT tag interrogation system at Shipherd Falls through the morning of May 28th. This is an increase of three tags since the last download on May 21st. Expanding the detections by the CNFH tag rate produces an estimate of 928 adults which is an increase of 231 since May 21st. There have also been five PIT tagged jacks detected, producing an estimate of 449 past the fish ladder. These estimates assume that the tag interrogation system is 100% efficient.
546 spring Chinook had returned to Carson National Fish Hatchery thru June 1. The goal is 1,200.
Drano Lake – Since early last week, the effort and catch has waned. The majority of the catch were jacks. Anglers are reminded the first two Wednesdays in June will be closed to fishing.
Based on data from the Fish Passage Center site, 14,938 of the 934,438 (1.6%) 2006 brood Little White Salmon National Fish Hatchery spring Chinook were PIT tagged. Based on the DART web site, 77 Little White Salmon 2006 brood PIT tags have been detected at Bonneville Dam through May 27. Applying the 77 PIT tags detected/1.6% smolt PIT tag rate = 4,800 Little White Salmon spring chinook jacks have crossed Bonneville Dam through May 27.
A total of 1,510 spring Chinook had returned to Little White Salmon National Fish Hatchery through May 21.The goal of 1,000 fish has been attained.
Klickitat River – Bank anglers from Fisher Hill Bridge downstream were catching a mixture of adult and jack spring Chinook and some steelhead. Some of the adult Chinook sampled were brighter than those caught the previous week.
Beginning today, from Fisher Hill Bridge downstream is open 7 days per week and the salmon daily limit is 6 fish of which no more than 2 may be adults. In addition, the upper river from 400 feet above #5 fishway upstream to boundary markers below Klickitat Salmon Hatchery is open for hatchery steelhead and Chinook jacks. Wild chinook must be released.
From Joe Zendt Yakama Fish Biologist: 136 hatchery adults, 8 wild adults, and 16 hatchery jacks had been counted at Lyle Falls through May 22. The updated mark-recapture population estimate is 1,730 fish (95% CI: 835 to 4538) with 95% being hatchery fish. Klickitat Salmon Hatchery returns as of May 29 were 42 total fish. The hatchery goal is 500.
Klickitat River flows near Pitt were 3,100 cfs this morning, about a third higher than the long-term mean of 2,340 cfs for this date. The river also has some color.
TAC met today and reviewed the upriver spring Chinook/Snake River summer Chinook run size. No change was made from the May 26 update which was 160,000 adults + 5,000 fish. As a result, the hatchery steelhead, Chinook jack, and sockeye fishery from the I-5 Bridge downstream remains closed until further notice but no later than June 16.
