Cowlitz
River - Boat anglers from the I-5 Bridge downstream continue
to catch a mix of fall chinook, coho, and summer run steelhead.
During the past week Tacoma Power and the Washington Department of Fish
and Wildlife recovered 240 summer-run steelhead, 189 fall chinook adults,
ten fall chinook jacks, 77 adult spring chinook salmon, 27 adult coho
salmon, one coho jack, and six cutthroat trout at the Cowlitz Salmon
Hatchery separator during four days of operations.
Tacoma Power employees
released 46 spring chinook adults, ten coho adults, and one jack into
the Cowlitz River at the Franklin Bridge site in Packwood, Washington.
In addition, they released 82 fall chinook adults, seven jacks, and
16 coho adults into Mayfield Lake at Ike Kinswa Park, 157 summer-run
steelhead and two cutthroat trout were recycled downstream to the Interstate-5
boat launch, and 233 summer-run steelhead were recycled downstream to
the Massey Bar boat launch.
River flows at Mayfield
Dam are approximately 3,380 cubic feet per second on Monday, September
11. Water visibility is approximately 14 feet.
Toutle River
- No report on angling success. 162 adult fall chinook but
no coho had returned to the hatchery through Sept. 6
Kalama River
- Fall chinook and coho are present in the lower river.
North Fork
Lewis River - Anglers near the salmon hatchery are catching
some coho.
Washougal
River - Fall chinook are present in the lower river.
Drano Lake
- Boat anglers are catching some larger B-Run steelhead up
to 18 pounds plus fall chinook.
Klickitat
River - Fall chinook are present in the lower river and effort
has been heavy at times.
Buoy 10
- Through September 10 an estimated 38,000 anglers have kept
1,700 Chinook and 3,600 coho. Typically, the Buoy 10 fishery is nearly
complete by the end of Labor Day weekend. Season projections (through
December) include 2,000 Chinook, including 460 Upriver Bright (URB)
fall chinook.
Lower Columbia
below Bonneville Dam - Last week we sampled 3,713 salmonid
anglers (including 1,407 boats) with 870 adult and 14 jack fall chinook
kept and 20 adults and 1 jack released, 36 adult coho kept and 9 released,
and 17 steelhead kept and 3 released.
Adult chinook catches
were spread throughout the river. Overall, boat anglers averaged a fish
kept every 3.9 rods while bank anglers averaged one per every 10.9 rods
based on mainly completed and incomplete trips, respectively.
1,734 salmonid boats and 238 WA and 66 OR bank anglers were counted
during the Saturday September 9 flight. In 2005, the peak count of almost
1,900 boats was found on Saturday Sept. 3.
Below Bonneville Dam Chinook catch:
- August 31-September
6 (actual)= 9,750
- September 7-10
(projected) = 3,350 [Cumulative = 13,100]
- September 11-15
(projected) = 2,400 [Cumulative = 15,500]
Coded Wire Tag data
indicates URBs represent 53% of the catch. Based on the preseason run
size and sport catch projections through September 15, Lower Columbia
River sport impacts would total 3.27% of the run, or 79% of the sport
allocation.
The joint staff
recommends a hearing, or checkpoint on Wednesday September 13 to review
salmon stock status and update the sport fishery.
- Bonneville Dam
counts of fall Chinook total 159,060 fish through September 10, including
137,300 brights and 21,760 tules. Based on the 5-year average, 56%
of the brights and 63% of the tules are over by this date.
- The Technical
Advisory Committee (TAC) met this morning to review salmon and steelhead
runs. TAC concluded that the Upriver Bright fall chinook run was a
few days late and left the preseason forecast of 249,100 fish in place.
Bonneville Pool Hatchery (BPH) stock (mainly Spring Creek Hatchery
returns) was downgraded to 38,300 fish, compared to the preseason
forecast of 51,800 fish.
Bonneville
Pool - Boat anglers are catching fall chinook off the mouths
of the Washington tributaries. About 20-30 boats were found off the
White Salmon and Klickitat rivers.
Hanford
Reach - Effort and catch has increased. Catch was a fish
per every 6.9 boat anglers. Weather has still been warm and water
temps are in the high 60's.
