WDFW Sport Sampling Results:
July 29, 2007

Latest Southwest Washington Sport Sampling Summaries [PDF Format]

Salmon/Steelhead

Cowlitz River - Summer steelhead angling has picked up some. Most of the fish are being caught near Mission and Blue Creek.

Last week Tacoma Power recovered 39 spring chinook adults, eight jacks, 162 mini-jacks, 81 summer-run steelhead and two sockeye salmon at the Cowlitz Salmon Hatchery separator during four days of operations.

Tacoma Power employees released 151 spring chinook mini-jacks into Riffe Lake.

River flows at Mayfield Dam are approximately 2,510 cubic feet per second on Monday, July 30. The water visibility is over five feet.

Drano Lake - Boat anglers averaged over ½ steelhead per rod when including fish released. Just over half of the fish caught were released.

White Salmon River - Including fish released, anglers averaged just over a steelhead per every other rod. rod. Nearly 2/3 of the fish caught were kept. Bank anglers at the mouth were catching some summer chinook.

30 boats were counted here Saturday (July 28) morning.

Klickitat River - River was turbid again.

Lower Columbia below Bonneville Dam - Last week we sampled 661 salmonid anglers with 149 steelhead and 3 adult and 2 summer chinook jacks. Overall anglers averaged a steelhead per just over every 4 rods. Over 2/3 of the fish caught were kept. Catches were found throughout the river but some of the highest catch rates were found in the gorge.

Bonneville Pool - Bank anglers are catching some steelhead. Slow for boats.

Sturgeon

Lower Columbia from the Wauna power lines to Marker #85 - Anglers in the Longview area are catching some legals. A few are being caught by boaters in the Camas-Washougal area.

The estimated 46,800 angler trips and 15,900 legal sturgeon kept from the lower Columbia in June were the highest ever for that month since the creel census program began in 1977. Included in the total are 36,600 angler trips and 15,350 legal sturgeon kept from the estuary, also record highs for the month. In contrast, the gorge fishery catch was the second lowest on record.

Bonneville Pool - Boat and bank anglers were catching some legals before the start of the catch and release fishery that began today (Monday July 30).

Walleye and Bass

Lower Columbia below Bonneville Dam - Boat anglers are trying for walleye from Vancouver upstream; however, no catch was observed.

Bonneville Pool - The few boat anglers sampled averaged 11 bass released per rod. Bank anglers were also catching some fish.

Trout

Cowlitz River reservoirs - Rainbows are being caught in Mayfield, but Riffe is very slow. Please note that Tacoma Power will close the new Taidnapam North boat launch on Riffe Lake for chip-sealing of the parking lot from 8 p.m. Tuesday July 31 until Saturday morning August 4.