Cowlitz River
- Anglers are catching some spring chinook and steelhead scattered
throughout the river. Some chinook jacks and sea-run cutthroats are
also being caught.
Kalama River
- Some spring chinook and steelhead are being caught. No spring
chinook but a few summer run steelhead had returned to Kalama Falls
Hatchery through April 23.
Lewis River -
Effort is increasing, in particular on the main Lewis. 31 boats
were counted at the mouth during the Saturday April 26 flight. Some
spring chinook and steelhead are being caught. Through April 23, almost
as many summer run steelhead (15) as spring chinook (17) had been trapped
at Merwin Dam.
Washougal River
- No report on angling success. The first 8 summer run steelhead
of the year had been reported at Skamania Hatchery as of April 23.
Wind River -
Boat anglers averaged a spring chinook per every 14.6 rods. Fishing
from the bank is slow.
Drano Lake -
Including fish released. boat anglers averaged a chinook per every 12.8
rods. Some fish are being caught by bank anglers outside the mouth of
Drano.
A new fee schedule
is now in effect for Drano Lake:
| Daily Launch
Fee for Wind River or Drano Lake |
$5.00 |
Annual Pass
for Wind River and Drano
(purchased Jan. 1 - June 30) |
$55.00 |
Annual Pass
for Wind River and Drano
(purchased Jul. 1 - Sept. 30) |
$40.00 |
Annual Pass
for Wind River and Drano
(purchased Oct. 1 - Dec. 31) |
$25.00 |
Annual Pass
for Wind River and Drano Lake
for Skamania County residents 70 years or older |
$25.00 |
There is a
$75 fine for illegal parking. Skamania Sheriff patrols are very
active there and at Wind River!
Klickitat River
- Light effort and catches.
Bonneville Pool
- Light effort and catch. 4 WA bank anglers from The Bridge of the
Gods downstream wer e counted during the Saturday April 26 flight. 6
bank anglers counted at Cascade Locks during that flight and 3 during
the Friday April 25 flight.
The Dalles Dam
- Including fish released, bank anglers averaged a chinook per every
5.6 rods while boat anglers averaged one per every 9.3 rods. Between
RM 212-215 + the Deschutes mouth, 45 boats were counted on the morning
of Saturday April 26.
Some spring chinook
are being incidentally caught by boat anglers targeting walleye. Drano
Lake has been so slow many anglers are headed to below John Day.
John Day Pool
- Not sampled.
The Technical
Advisory Committee (TAC) met on April 24 to review the upriver spring
Chinook run. TAC did not update the run because variability in run timing
prevents an accurate projection with the data available to date. TAC
felt that the early part of the run is late but it is too early to determine
whether the mid-point of the run is also late, or if the run is smaller
than projected.
Based on these preliminary
estimates, the recreational fishery downstream of Bonneville Dam has
used 87% of 0.965% in-season (pre-run update) maximum impact guideline
for this fishery, leaving an estimated 0.123% total impacts remaining.
This translates to a handle of approximately 3,300 upriver fish assuming
the preseason forecast of 269,300 is accurate.
Any reduction in
the actual upriver run size would decrease the number of fish that remain
available for this fishery, and may affect harvest in other fisheries.
For instance, if the upriver run size is =235,000 fish, the maximum
impact guideline available for below Bonneville recreational fisheries
will have already been used. If the run size is smaller, impacts available
for other ongoing fisheries will be affected.
Staff believes a
precautionary approach is warranted and recommends that further mainstem
recreational and commercial fisheries downstream of Bonneville Dam be
delayed until there is more confidence in the actual return.
