WDFW Sport Sampling Results:
August 22, 2005
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Latest
Southwest Washington |
Salmon/Steelhead -
Grays River - Opens to fishing for hatchery coho beginning September 1.
Elochoman River - Opens to fishing for fall chinook and hatchery coho beginning September 1.
Mill, Abernathy, Germany, and Coal creeks - Lower portions of these streams will be closed to all fishing in September and October to protect spawning fall chinook.
Cowlitz River - Anglers are catching summer run steelhead with catches scattered throughout the river. Some fall chinook are also being caught.
During the past week, Tacoma Power employees recovered 217 spring chinook adults, 24 spring chinook jacks, three fall chinook adults, 220 summer-run steelhead, 16 cutthroat trout and one coho salmon adult during five days of separator operations at Tacoma Power’s Cowlitz Salmon Hatchery.
Tacoma Power employees released 202 spring chinook adults and 19 jacks into the Cispus River at the 2810 Road site above the mouth of Yellow Jacket Creek during the week.
During the week Tacoma Power employees recycled 81 steelhead adults, four cutthroat trout and one sockeye downstream to the Interstate-5 boat launch, and they recycled 124 steelhead adults, eight cutthroat trout and one sockeye salmon to the Massey Bar boat launch. During the week three fall chinook adults and two cutthroat trout were released into the Tilton River. Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife employees transported two cutthroat trout to the upper Cowlitz River basin during the week.
River flows at Mayfield Dam are currently at 2,580 cubic feet per second (cfs) on Monday, August 22. Water visibility at Mayfield Dam is 14 feet.
Lewis River - Summer run steelhead are being caught with catches scattered throughout the river.
Wind River - Some summer run steelhead are being caught at the mouth. Effort remains light with only a half dozen boats observed last Saturday (Aug. 20) morning.
Drano Lake - Including fish released, boat anglers averaged 3/4 steelhead per rod. Some fall chinook are also being caught. Effort remains pretty high with approximately 110 boats observed last Saturday morning.
White Salmon River - Boat anglers are catching summer run steelhead while bank anglers at the mouth are catching some fall chinook, particularly in the evening. About 55 water craft were found here last Saturday.
Nearly 120,000 steelhead counted to date at Bonneville Dam have not crossed The Dalles Dam. Many fish are probably seeking relief in the cooler water of the tributaries until the mainstem Columbia cools from its above average of 72 degrees.
Buoy 10 - Washington and Oregon boat anglers averaged a salmon per every 10 rods. Most of the catch were chinook. Sampling from the two states showed 1,341 anglers with 130 chinook and 9 coho. During the same period last year, anglers averaged slightly better than ½ fish per rod.
WDFW/ODFW Field Sampling DataWeek 32 Week 33 Week 34 Week 35 Week 36 Week 37 Week 38 Lower Columbia below Bonneville Dam - Boat anglers averaged a chinook/steelhead per every 6 rods based on completed trips while bank anglers averaged one per every 11 rods based on mainly incomplete trips when including fish released. Approximately 73% of the steelhead caught were kept. Best steelhead catches were from the mouth of the Cowlitz downstream. More fall chinook are appearing in the catch, in particular at the mouth of the Cowlitz and near Kalama.
Salmonid boat effort more than doubled from the previous week. During last Saturday's flight, 300 boats were counted compared to 115 during the Saturday August 14 flight. Nearly 1/3 of the boats counted last Saturday were observed at the mouth of the Cowlitz.
Fall chinook dam counts are increasing. Over 2,500 adult fall chinook were counted at Bonneville Dam yesterday (August 21).
Bonneville Pool - Some fall chinook are being caught at the mouth of the Washington tributaries. Effort is slowly increasing with most (10) boats counted off the mouth of the Klickitat last Saturday.
Sturgeon -
Lower Columbia below Bonneville Dam - Light effort during the current catch and release only fishery. Only 20 boats were counted on the entire river last Saturday.
Walleye -
Lower Columbia below Bonneville Dam - Most of the effort (6 boats last Saturday) were found from the I-5 Bridge upstream.
Trout -
Mayfield Lake - Bank anglers are catching some rainbows.
Mineral Lake - Reported to be producing better than average catches of rainbows. Bonus plant of 2,000+ half-pound rainbows scheduled in early September.
High Mountain Lakes - Fishing is reported to be good and predicted to become better as the cooler fall weather arrives.
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