Cowlitz River – For spring chinook, boat anglers are doing better downriver while bank anglers are doing better near the barrier dam.
Last week, Tacoma Power recovered 422 spring Chinook adults, 236 jacks, 37 winter-run steelhead and 71 summer-run steelhead during five days of adult fish collection at the Cowlitz Salmon Hatchery separator. During the week, Tacoma Power employees released 142 spring Chinook adults, 124 jacks, and 30 steelhead into Lake Scanewa above Cowlitz Falls Dam, and six steelhead, 102 spring Chinook adults, and 90 jacks into the upper Cowlitz River at the Skate Creek Bridge.
River flows at Mayfield Dam are approximately 7,190 cubic feet per second on Tuesday, May 26. Water visibility is seven feet.
Kalama River – No report on the steelhead fishing. Through May 20, just eight adult spring Chinook had returned to the hatchery. The goal is 500.
Lewis River – No report on the steelhead fishing. A total of 176 adult spring Chinook were on-hand through May 21. The goal is 1,250.
East Fork Lewis River from the mouth to 400 feet below Horseshoe Falls (except closures around various falls) and the Washougal River from the mouth to Salmon Falls Bridge – Under recently adopted permanent rules, these areas will be open to fishing with bait for hatchery steelhead beginning the first Saturday in June (which is June 6 this year). In previous years, they had opened June 1.
Wind River – Including jacks and fish released, boat anglers averaged a Chinook per every 3 rods while bank anglers in the gorge averaged a fish per rod. About 40% of the catch were jacks.
From Charlie Cochran WDFW Technician: There have been 80 adult and 28 jack chinook PIT tag detections at Bonneville Dam from Carson National Fish Hatchery (CNFH) as of May 21. Applying the CNFH tag rate produces estimates of 6,183 adult and 2,515 jack chinook through this date. For comparison, the estimated run size on this date in 2008 was 5,455 and the final estimate was 5,951 adults at Bonneville Dam.
The in-season projected adult return for 2009, based on early, average and late timing data from 2000-2008, are 6,200, 6,298, and 6,498, respectively. The pre-season forecast to the mouth of the Wind was 6,900 fish.
The PIT tag interrogation system at Shipherd Falls were downloaded May 21. There have been a total of nine adults from tag releases at CNFH detected in the ladder. Applying the tag rate produces an estimate of 696 CNFH adults past Shipherd Falls. This is an increase of 387 since the last download on May 13. There have also been four jack chinook from CNFH releases detected in the ladder producing an estimate of 359 jacks.
Through May 26, a total of 191 fish had returned to CNFH. The goal is 1,200.
Drano Lake – Boat anglers averaged nearly 2/3 spring Chinook per rod while bank anglers averaged one per every 6 rods when including jacks and fish released. About 60% of the catch were jacks. Closed Wednesdays through June 10.
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, 74 Little White Salmon 2006 brood PIT tags have been detected at Bonneville Dam through May 25. Applying the 74 PIT tags detected/1.6% smolt PIT tag rate = 4,625 Little White Salmon spring chinook jacks have crossed Bonneville Dam through May 25.
The Little White Salmon National Fish Hatchery had 1,510 fish as of May 21. Goal of 1,000 has been attained. Trap has been closed since Friday May 8.
White Salmon River – Light effort and no catch observed.
Klickitat River - Including jacks and fish released, bank anglers from Fisher Hill Bridge downstream averaged nearly 2/3 fish per rod. Nearly 70% of the catch were jacks. Some steelhead were also in the catch.
Under permanent rules, the Klickitat River from the Fisher Hill Bridge downstream will open 7 days per week beginning June 1. The salmon daily limit will be 6 fish of which no more than 2 may be adults. Two hatchery steelhead may also be retained. Release wild chinook.
The section from 400 feet upstream from # 5 fishway upstream to boundary markers below the Klickitat Salmon Hatchery will open to fishing for Chinook jacks and hatchery steelhead beginning June 1 under permanent rules. Again, release wild chinook.
A total of 5,000 PIT tags were put into the 2005 and 2006 brood spring Chinook releases from Klickitat Hatchery. Through May 25, a total of 10 four-year-old Klickitat Hatchery PIT tags have been detected at Bonneville Dam. The total 2005 brood smolt release from Klickitat Hatchery was approximately 630,000 fish. Using the 10 PIT tags recovered at Bonneville Dam/5,000 PIT tagged Klickitat Hatchery smolts released = smolt to adult survival rate of 0.20%. Applying this survival rate to the entire release, then approximately 1,250 Klickitat Hatchery four-year-olds have crossed Bonneville Dam to date. This year’s pre-season forecasts were 1,700 four and 300 five year-old hatchery and wild fish returning to the mouth of the Klickitat.
Hatchery: No report. Goal 500. 3 adults have been counted at Lyle Falls through May 5.
Yakima River – From Paul Hoffarth WDFW Biologist: River was high and turbid all week. Very low effort for all species. Only 5 anglers interviewed fishing for salmon during the three days sampled. No salmon reported by the salmon or non-salmon anglers interviewed.
TAC met today and updated the upriver spring/Snake River summer Chinook run size to 160,000 (+ 5,000) adults returning to the mouth of the Columbia this year. The pre-season forecast was 298,900.
