WDFW Sport Sampling Results: May 13, 2007 Latest Southwest Washington Sport Sampling Summaries [PDF Format] Salmon/Steelhead Cowlitz River - Bank anglers on the lower Cowlitz are catching some spring chinook while boat anglers near Blue Creek caught some winter run steelhead. Last week Tacoma Power recovered 541 spring chinook adults, 124 jacks, 96 winter-run steelhead and nine summer-run steelhead at the Cowlitz Salmon Hatchery separator during five days of operations. Flows below Mayfield Dam are approximately 5,190 cubic feet per second on Monday, May 14. On Wednesday, May 16 flows will be increased to approximately 6,200 cubic feet per second for a 12-hour period. Currently the water visibility is over four feet. Kalama River - Including fish released, boat anglers averaged an adult spring chinook per every 3 rods while bank anglers averaged one per every 5 rods. Some jacks and summer run steelhead were also observed in the catch. Through May 9, nearly 300 hatchery adult spring chinook had returned to Kalama Falls Hatchery. 52 adults had returned through the same period last year. Lewis River - Boat anglers averaged an adult chinook per every other rod while bank anglers averaged one per about 8 rods when including fish released. Some jacks and summer run steelhead were also observed in the catch. Nearly 1,800 hatchery adult spring chinook had returned to the trap at Merwin Dam through May 8. Last year, 740 adults had returned through the same period. Wind River - Including fish released, boat anglers averaged an adult spring chinook per every 6 rods while bank anglers at the mouth averaged one per every 5 rods. Spurts of fish were reported in the gorge. Through May 13, nearly 100 fish had returned to Carson National Fish Hatchery. No fish had returned through May 11, 2006. Daily counts can be found at http://www.fws.gov/gorgefish/carson/returns.htm. Drano Lake - Boat anglers averaged an adult spring chinook per every 4 rods when including fish released. Lots of jacks were also observed in the catch. Through May 11, a total of 228 adult spring chinook had returned to Little White Salmon National Fish Hatchery. Over 1,300 fish had returned through the same date in 2006. An underwater camera shows fish returning to the hatchery; see http://www.fws.gov/pacific/webcam/ White Salmon River - No catch observed here last week. Klickitat River - Less than 10 adult spring chinook estimated caught last week. Some summer run steelhead were observed in the catch. Flows at Pitt were 2,100 cfs today, slightly below the long-term mean of 2,380 cfs for the date. Lower Columbia mainstem from the Rocky Point/Tongue Point line upstream to the I-5 Bridge - Opens to fishing for hatchery steelhead and hatchery chinook jacks beginning Wednesday May 16. Ringold - From Paul Hoffarth - WDFW Fish Biologist, Yakima - We just concluded the second week of the spring chinook bank fishery at Ringold. Harvest picked up a bit this week. I estimate 21 adult hatchery chinook and 1 jack were harvested. One wild chinook was caught and released. Total for the season is 23 adult, 3 jacks with 4 wild (non-clipped) chinook caught and released. WDFW staff is currently sampling roughly 50% of the effort. Sturgeon Lower Columbia from Buoy 10 to the Wauna powerlines - No catch (including sublegals) from the 5 private boats sampled at the Deep River ramp this weekend. Several charters were observed fishing in the estuary. Lower Columbia from the Wauna powerlines to Marker #85 - Boat anglers are catching some legals near Kalama. Bonneville Pool - Anglers are catching some legals. Through April, an estimated 52 (7%) of the 700 fish guideline had been taken. John Day Pool - No legals were found in the sample. An estimated 124 (75%) of the 165 fish guideline had been taken through April. Walleye and Bass Bonneville Pool - The few boat anglers sampled released nearly 9 bass per rod. Bank anglers were also catching bass. No effort was observed for walleye. John Day Pool - Including fish released, boat anglers averaged 1.3 walleye and 14.5 bass per rod. Bank anglers were also catching bass. Trout Fort Borst Park Pond near Chehalis - Planted with 3,000 catchable size rainbows May 8. Mayfield Lake - 6,375 nearly half-pound rainbows were released from the Friends of the Cowlitz net pen May 4. Sacajawea Lake in Longview - Planted with 2,900 catchable size rainbows May 7. Klineline Pond - Bank anglers averaged over 1.5 trout per rod. Catch was a mixture of rainbows and browns. Shad Lower Columbia below Bonneville Dam - Opens to fishing for shad May 16. Over 13,500 shad had been counted at Bonneville Dam through May 13.