WDFW Sport Sampling Results:
June 3, 2007

Latest Southwest Washington Sport Sampling Summaries [PDF Format]

Salmon/Steelhead

Cowlitz River - Light effort. Some summer run steelhead are being caught by boat anglers near Blue Creek.

Last week Tacoma Power recovered 178 spring chinook adults, 64 jacks, 33 summer-run steelhead and eight winter-run steelhead at the Cowlitz Salmon Hatchery separator during four days of operations.

Tacoma Power employees released 38 spring chinook salmon, 27 jacks and eight winter-run steelhead into the upper Cowlitz River at the Lake Scanewa Day Use Site during the week. Four radio-tagged adult spring chinook adults were released into the Cispus River, and a total of 21 spring chinook adults and five jacks were released into the upper Cowlitz River at the Skate Bridge site in Packwood.

River flows at Mayfield Dam are approximately 4,150 cubic feet per second on Monday, June 4. On Wednesday, flows will be increased to approximately 5,000 cubic feet per second for a 12-hour period.

Elochoman River - No report on angling success. The first summer run steelhead of the year returned to the salmon hatchery in late May. 29,000 smolts were released in 2005. The majority of the adult returns from these releases are expected during the 2007 summer season.

Kalama River - More summer run steelhead than spring chinook are being caught. Effort has tapered off.

Lewis River - Some summer run steelhead are being caught in the mainstem Lewis. Effort has tapered off in the North Fork. The spring chinook hatchery escapement goal has been met (950 fish). Over 3,100 fish had returned to the Merwin Dam trap through last week.

Through May, the hatchery summer run steelhead counts at Merwin Dam trap are about 1/3 of the same time last year (118 vs 423 fish).

On the East Fork Lewis, steelhead anglers may fish with bait and the area expanded upstream to 400 feet below Horseshoe Falls (with closures around other falls) under permanent rules which began June 1.

Washougal River - No report on angling success. Bait may be used and the fishing area has been extended up to the Salmon Falls Bridge under permanent rules which began June 1.

Through May, hatchery summer run steelhead returns to Skamania Hatchery are down about 20% from the same time last year (118 vs 144 fish).

Wind River - Effort is light although some spring chinook are still being reported caught. Through June 3, slightly over 1,000 fish had returned to Carson National Fish Hatchery; the escapement goal is 1,200 fish.

Drano Lake - Effort is light. Some adult and jack chinook are being caught. The hatchery escapement goal of 1,500 fish has been met (1,950 fish had returned through May).

Klickitat River - A few bright adult chinook were caught before they had to be released beginning today June 4. Through today, only 64 of the 500 fish hatchery escapement goal had been met.

Lower Columbia below Bonneville Dam - During June 1-3, we sampled 151 salmonid anglers (including 26 boats) with 4 adult and 1 jack spring chinook and 7 steelhead. Some adult chinook released may have been upper Columbia summer chinook based on angler's reports of size (mid twenty pound range) and brightness. All of the steelhead caught were kept.

A Joint State hearing has been scheduled for Tuesday June 5, 2007 at 9:00 a.m. via teleconference. The purpose of the hearing will be to:

• Consider opening the lower Columbia River for Chinook retention in the area above the I-5 Bridge, and
• Consider re-opening the recreational fishery in Zone 6 (Bonneville Dam to McNary Dam) for Chinook retention.

Sturgeon

Ports of Chinook and Ilwaco - During June 1-3, Ilwaco charter boat anglers averaged over ½ legal kept per rod while Chinook and Ilwaco private boat anglers averaged one per every 5 rods.

Deep River/Knappton - During June 1-3 we sampled 38 sturgeon boats with 30 legals kept.

Lower Columbia from the Wauna power lines upstream to Marker #85 - About one in every 10 boat anglers from Camas/Washougal to Longview had kept or released a legal size fish.

Bonneville Pool - Bank and boat anglers are catching some legals.

Walleye and Bass

Bonneville Pool - Bank and boat anglers are catching some bass. No walleye anglers were sampled.

John Day Pool - Boat anglers averaged 1.7 walleye and 13 bass per rod when including fish released. Bank anglers were catching some bass.

Shad

Lower Columbia below Bonneville Dam - Boat anglers from Bonneville to Longview averaged over 3 shad kept/released per rod based on mainly complete trips. Bank anglers in the Camas/Washougal area averaged nearly 2 fish per rod based on mainly incomplete trips.

Nearly a million shad had been counted at Bonneville Dam through June 3, the second largest total on record to date (record was 1.26 million in 2004).

Trout

Recent plants in SW waters:

• Mayfield Lake - 12,000 half-pound rainbows from the Friends of the Cowlitz Net Pens May 26;
• Canyon Creek (Clark County) - 3,500 catchable and 2,000 almost a pound each rainbows May 29;
• Goose Lake - 2,000 browns weighing nearly 3/4 pound each May 30;
• Little White Salmon River - 3,500 catchable size rainbows May 30;
• Bowman and Spring creeks (Klickitat County) - 193 and 2,083 catchable size rainbows, respectively, May 30