WDFW Sport Sampling Results:
September 6, 2005
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Southwest Washington |
Salmon/Steelhead -
Elochoman River - No report on angling success. Some fall chinook and early stock hatchery coho are beginning to return. Through August, a total of 8 adult chinook and 4 adult coho had returned to the Elochoman Salmon Hatchery.
Toutle River - Effort and catches were reported light. Fall chinook are beginning to return to the North Toutle Hatchery. 42 adults were reported through August. No coho had returned yet.
Cowlitz River - During the past week, Tacoma Power employees recovered 110 spring chinook adults, eight spring chinook jacks, 25 fall chinook adults, four fall chinook jacks, 206 summer-run steelhead, 25 cutthroat trout, five coho salmon and one sockeye salmon adult during five days of separator operations at Tacoma Power’s Cowlitz Salmon Hatchery.
Tacoma Power employees released 79 spring chinook adults, five jacks and two coho salmon 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 85 steelhead adults and ten cutthroat trout downstream to the Interstate-5 boat launch; they recycled 120 steelhead, seven cutthroat trout and one sockeye salmon to the Massey Bar boat launch, and they recycled 32 steelhead adults and two cutthroat trout to the Olequa boat launch.
During the week 20 fall chinook adults, three jacks and three coho salmon were released into Mayfield Lake at Ike Kinswa State Park boat launch. In addition, three cutthroat trout were released into Bear Canyon on the Tilton River and three cutthroat trout was transported for release into the upper Cowlitz River basin.
River flows at Mayfield Dam are currently at 3,510 cubic feet per second on Tuesday, September 6. Water visibility at Mayfield Dam is over 14 feet.
Kalama River - No report on angling success. Early stock hatchery coho are beginning to return with 3 adults counted at Kalama Falls Hatchery through August.
Lewis River - No report on angling success. Some early stock hatchery coho are beginning to return to the facilities. Through August, a total of 43 adults had returned to Lewis River Salmon Hatchery and Merwin Dam.
Wind River - Boat anglers are catching some steelhead. Under recent emergency regulations, all wild coho must be released.
Drano Lake - Boat anglers using down riggers are catching fall chinook and steelhead. Effort is declining.
White Salmon River - Bank anglers are catching fall chinook. A lot of bank angling effort but numbers of boats have decreased. Under recent emergency regulations, all wild coho must be released.
Klickitat River - No catch was found during sampling.
Yakima River - Very little effort and no harvest for the first 4 days of the season.
Buoy 10 - Chinook catch rate declined about ½ from the previous week while coho increased by about the same rate. Last week anglers averaged a chinook per every 6.4 rods and a coho per every 4.5 rods. Both species catch rates are down slightly from the same time last year.
An estimated 600 boats were counted during last Saturday's September 3 flight.
Through August, an estimated 7,800 chinook and 3,900 coho have been landed during 39,400 angler trips.
WDFW/ODFW Field Sampling DataWeek 32 Aug 1-7 Week 33 Aug 8-14 Week 34 Aug 15-21 Week 35 Aug 22-28 Week 36 Aug 29- Sep 4 * Week 37 Sep 5-11 * Week not completed Lower Columbia from the Tongue Point/Grays Point line to Bonneville Dam - Effort and catches are increasing. Nearly 800 boats were counted on Wednesday August 31 and almost 1,900 last Saturday. The weekday count is nearly identical to 2004. During the same weekend day last year, 1,500 boats were counted on the lower Columbia.
On Saturday, approximately half of the boats were found between the mouths of the Cowlitz and Lewis rivers.
From Sept. 1-4, we sampled nearly 2,900 salmonid anglers (including 1,000 boats) with 833 adult chinook kept and 55 released. Including fish released, boat anglers averaged an adult chinook per every 3 rods while bank anglers averaged one per every 7.5 rods based on mainly complete and incomplete trips, respectively. Boat catches were evenly spread from Vancouver downstream; largest bank catches were found at Kalama and Longview.
Chinook catch rates remained low during the majority of August with an estimated 2,000 Chinook kept during August 1-30. Catch rates have since improved dramatically. Last week's catch rates were very similar to the same period last year.
At Bonneville Dam, 23,500 adult fall chinook were counted on Saturday September 3. From August 1 through yesterday (Sept. 5) a total of 135,800 adult fall chinook had been counted. This year's total to date is nearly identical to the recent 10-year average.
The approximate 50% passage date at Bonneville Dam for upriver bright Chinook is September 7th. The Technical Advisory Committee (TAC) plans to meet September 9th to review the fall Chinook run status.
Bonneville Pool - Effort is increasing at the mouths of the Washington tributaries.
Sturgeon -
Lower Columbia below Bonneville Dam - Very light effort during the current catch and release only fishery.
Walleye -
Lower Columbia below Bonneville Dam - Very light effort with only a few boats found near Ives Island last Saturday.
Trout -
No report.