Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife Fishing in Southwest WashingtonRegional Offices

CONTENTS
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Attention Anglers!
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Youth Fishing
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Creel Surveys

Buoy 10 Daily Creel
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Fish Plants
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Private Fish Plants
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Northern Pikeminnow Sport-Reward Fishery
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Types of Lake Fish
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Fish Management in SW Washington
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Warmwater Fish Research
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Sturgeon and Steelhead Tag Recovery
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Lowland Lakes Map

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SW Washington Regional Office

Buoy 10 Fishing
Useful Links
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Columbia River Maritime Museum
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Web cams near the Astoria Bridge
Astoria-Megler Bridge - South
Astoria-Megler Bridge - North
Road Conditions
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Water temps and salinity
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Astoria weather, marine forecasts, buoy data, and sea temps
Weather
Marine forecasts
Male kokanee from Speelyai Bay, Merwin Reservoir.
Male kokanee from Speelyai Bay,
Merwin Reservoir.

Creel Survey
Contributed by Joe Hymer

May 5, 2008

Latest Southwest Washington
Sport Sampling Summaries

[PDF Format]

Salmon/Steelhead

Overall - For the most part, adult spring chinook catch rates for boat anglers in the Cowlitz, Kalama, Lewis, Wind, and Drano during the first week of May have been the lowest since at least 2001. Catch rates during this time of year can average up to ½ fish per rod.

Cowlitz River - Boat anglers averaged an adult spring chinook per every 23.5 rods while bank anglers averaged one per every 37 rods. Spring chinook and steelhead (winter and summer runs) catches are scattered throughout the river.

Last week, Tacoma Power recovered 248 winter-run steelhead, 11 summer-run steelhead, 12 spring chinook adults, three spring chinook jacks and three cutthroat trout at the Cowlitz Salmon Hatchery separator during five days of operations.

Only 33 adult spring chinook had arrived at Cowlitz Salmon Hatchery through April. Under normal run timing with the forecasted run size there should be in excess of 500 adults to have returned within the first few days of May.

River flows at Mayfield Dam are approximately at 5,030 cubic feet per second on Monday, May 5. Water visibility is 16 feet.

Kalama River - Boat anglers averaged an adult chinook per every 20.5 rods; fishing from the bank is slow. Last year at this time boat anglers were averaging ½ fish per rod. Effort is scattered throughout the river.

No spring chinook had returned to Kalama Falls Hatchery through April.

Lewis River - The North Fork has been a little more productive than the mainstem. North Fork boat anglers averaged an adult chinook per every 7 rods. Boat anglers were averaging about ½ fish per rod this time last year. Overall effort has been lighter than normal.

Through April, a total of 118 hatchery chinook have returned to Merwin Dam trap (100 fish shipped to Speelyai Hatchery for broodstock). Flows below Merwin were 5,670 cfs today which is similar to the long-term mean for this date.

Sea lions have been busy at the mouth.

Wind River - Boat anglers averaged a chinook per about every 10 rods. Slow from the bank. Last year at this time boat anglers were averaging an adult spring chinook per every 5.5 rods. Effort was heavy last Saturday (May 3).

River temperature has been in the low 42-44 degrees Fahrenheit at Shipherd Falls. 6 spring Chinook have been passed above the falls through Friday May 2.

A total of 54 Carson NFH PIT tags spring chinook had crossed Bonneville Dam through May 4. Over half the fish were detected last week.

Drano Lake - Boat anglers averaged an adult chinook kept/released per every 8.6 rods. Bank anglers were catching some fish just inside the lake though it was slow outside on the Columbia side. Boat anglers were averaging an adult chinook per every 3 rods last year at this time.

River temperature at the Little White Salmon NFH was 45 degrees Fahrenheit last week. The Yakama Indian Nation is expecting to fish Drano tomorrow night (Tuesday May 6), the first time this year.

3 sea lions were observed working the mouth of Drano on Saturday May 3.

White Salmon River - No spring chinook are released here but one was found in the sample. Reports of some success in the evenings.

Klickitat River - Light effort. Some reports of spring chinook being hooked but none were found in the sampled.

Flows at Pitt are 2,400 cfs today which is similar to the long-term mean for this date.

Bonneville Pool - Light effort and no catch was observed.

The Dalles Pool - Last week WA and OR sampled 272 anglers (including 28 boats) with 92 adult and 2 jack spring chinook and 1 steelhead. Including fish released, bank anglers averaged an adult chinook per every 2.8 rods while boat anglers averaged one per every 3.4 rods. Overall, 79 (85.9%) of the adult chinook caught were kept.

About 55 boats were counted from RM 212-215 yesterday (Sunday May 4) morning.

John Day Pool - Not sampled.

Bonneville Dam to McNary Dam - Scheduled to remain open for hatchery chinook and hatchery steelhead through Saturday May 10.

Ringold - The Ringold spring chinook bank fishery opened May 1. For the week, 13 adult spring chinook were harvested in the fishery. 81 anglers sampled kept 6 adult chinook and released 2. The average was one chinook per every 46 hours of effort. Flows were moderate with plenty of available beach to fish.

Sturgeon

Lower Columbia below Bonneville Dam - Boat anglers are catching some legals around the Vancouver area. Less than 100 boats were counted during the Saturday May 3 flight. About a third of the boats were found in the Vancouver area.

Starting May 10, sturgeon retention will reopen in the estuary below the Wauna powerlines. After May 10, only sturgeon measuring 45 to 60 inches may be retained daily in that stretch of the Columbia River. The season for this area is scheduled to remain open through June 24 though the actual ending date depends on the 13,143 fish quota being met.

To protect spawning fish, the area from Navigation Marker 85 upstream to Bonneville Dam is closed to fishing for sturgeon from May through July.

Bonneville Pool - Boat and bank anglers are catching some keepers.

The Dalles and John Day pools - Closed for sturgeon retention through the end of the year. In addition, sturgeon fishing is closed from John Day Dam downstream 2.4 miles to the west end of the grain silo at Rufus Oregon and from McNary Dam downstream 1.5 miles to the Highway 82 Bridge from May through July.

Walleye and Bass

Bonneville Pool - Boat anglers are catching some bass. Light effort and catch effort for walleye.


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