Southwest Washington Fishing Reports
2002 Report Archive
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WDFW Sport Sampling Results for April 15-21 , 2002
Sport Sampling Summaries - PDF Format

Salmon/Steelhead

• Cowlitz River - Water came up last Tuesday and fishing slowed down. Water was very turbid below the mouth of the Toutle early last week. Flows were beginning to drop over the weekend. Spring chinook and winter plus summer run steelhead are being caught throughout the river.
• During the past week the separator at Tacoma Power's Cowlitz Salmon Hatchery recovered 775 adult steelhead, five spring chinook adults and one jack during four days of separator operations.
• Between April 16 and April 19, Tacoma Power employees transported a total of 403 steelhead adults for release into the Cispus River above the mouth of Yellowjacket Creek. On April 17, a total of 60 steelhead adults were transported to the Tilton River and released at Gust Backstrom Park in Morton.
  During the past week Tacoma Power employees recycled 492 steelhead adults downstream to the Olequa boat launch between April 15 and April 19. At total of 157 winter-run steelhead adults were transported to the Cowlitz Trout Hatchery for broodstock.
• River flows at Mayfield Dam are approximately 9,200 cubic feet per second on Monday, April 22. Water visibility is over four feet.
• Lewis River - Producing some spring chinook and winter plus summer steelhead. Flows below Merwin Dam were 5,110 cfs this afternoon.
• Wind River - Boat anglers averaged a spring chinook per every 6.8 rods last week. A few fish are also being caught from the bank at the mouth of the river. Around 60 boats were counted on Sunday (April 21) morning. Some spring chinook have been counted in the trap at Shipherd Falls the last couple weeks.
• Drano Lake - Boat catch was identical to Wind River with a spring chinook per every 6.8 rods last week. Some fish also being caught off the bank. Nearly 70 boats were counted each day last weekend.
• White Salmon River - Effort and catches are low. Flows at Underwood were 1,490 cfs this afternoon, which is nearly the same as the mean (1,540 cfs) for this date.
• Klickitat River - A few spring chinook being reported caught as well as some steelhead being released. Flows at Pitt were 2,480 cfs this afternoon, also nearly the same as the mean (2,420 cfs) for this date.
• Lower Columbia below Bonneville Dam - Fishing improved from the bank but slowed from boats last week. Bank anglers averaged a spring chinook kept or released per every 5.6 rods. Boat anglers averaged a spring chinook kept or released per every 12.2 rods. Overall, about 57% of the fish caught were adipose fin clipped.
• Slightly over 800 salmonid boats were counted from Bonneville Dam downstream on both Saturday and Sunday. Boats were spread throughout the lower river. In addition, about 600 bank anglers on the Oregon side and 300 on the Washington side were counted each day. On the Washington side, effort was highest just below Bonneville Dam.
• Daily counts at Bonneville Dam reach a new season high with 7,753 adult spring chinook yesterday (April 21). Through April 21, a total of 50,186 adult spring chinook had been counted. The 10 year average is 51,318. In 2001, over 250,000 fish had been counted through the same period.
• The upper Columbia adult spring chinook run size will be updated tomorrow. In addition, sport fishery options are expected to be discussed at a public meeting to be held at the WDFW Vancouver Region 5 office tomorrow (April 23) at 10 AM.
• At Bonneville Dam, flows have decreased to 250,000 cfs. Flows were up to 360,000 in the middle of last week. Water visibility is currently around 2 feet.
• Upper Bonneville Pool - No salmonid catch was observed there last week.
• The Dalles Pool - A few spring chinook and steelhead are being caught.
• John Day Pool - Some steelhead are being caught by bank anglers. Still no in-sample catches of spring chinook.
• Ringold - High flows and migrating tumble weeds kept most anglers off the water at Ringold last week. No fish were found in the sample.
  

Sturgeon

• Lower Columbia below Bonneville Dam - Some legals being caught by boat and bank anglers in the Longview area. Also some legals are being caught by bank anglers just downstream from Bonneville Dam. Nearly 300 sturgeon boats were counted last Saturday (April 20). Nearly 200 of the boats were found in the gorge area.
• Bonneville Pool - A few legals are being caught by bank anglers.
• The Dalles and John Day pools - Slow for legal size fish last week.
  

Walleye and Bass and other warmwater fish

• Bonneville Pool - Some bass are being caught by boat anglers. No effort was found for walleye last week.
• The Dalles Pool - Boat anglers averaged a walleye kept per rod last week. Bank anglers are catching some bass.
• John Day Pool - Some bass are being caught. No in-sample effort for walleye was observed last week.
  

Trout

• Klineline Pond - 30 bank anglers kept 16 catchable and 3 triploid rainbows. Quite a few of the fish from the kid's derby were uncaught and were released into the pond. Fishing was reported to be excellent today.
  
  

Trout

• Recent releases of catchable size rainbows:
  • Kress Lake near Kalama - 3,100 fish
  • Lake Sacajawea in Longview - 3,000 fish
  • Silver Lake near Castle Rock - 3,300 fish