Salmon (& some shad) passing the fish counter station at Bonneville
Better than expected returns of Chinook salmon to the Columbia River prompted fishery managers from Oregon and Washington to reopen salmon season below Bonneville Dam on May 15.
“For the first time since 2007, we have a run update that is going to let us open a late-spring Chinook season,” said Chris Kern, assistant manger of ODFW’s Columbia River Fisheries Program. “This also allows us to get an early start on fishing for summer steelhead between the I-5 Bridge and Bonneville. That area doesn’t usually open until June 16.”
The daily bag limit will be two adult salmon/steelhead in combination, of which only one may be an adult chinook. Chinook salmon and steelhead must be adipose fin-clipped to be retained; the fin clip requirement does not apply to sockeye. Fishing from boats will be allowed from the Tongue Point/Rocky Point line near Astoria upstream to Beacon Rock, approximately five miles downstream from Bonneville Dam. Bank fishing will be permitted all the way up to Bonneville Dam.
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Reilly with some Oregon chrome
Dang, with California’s salmon and steelhead fisheries limping along and Alaska’s king fishing not looking so hot, you’ve got to love what’s coming out of Oregon and Washington’s Columbia River Basin! Looks like another banner season of summer steelhead fishing is on tap! Check out the latest DAM COUNTS
Something good’s up with the Columbia River. I’m not sure if it has to do with those spring pulse flows to flush out smolts that they’ve been doing recently…good ocean conditions…or a combination thereof, but the river’s been stuffed with fish the past couple years. If you’ll recall, the summer run steelhead numbers were through the roof in 2009 and the coho run was also massive. Now you can add sockeye to the list.
So far this year, over 350,000 sockeye salmon have made it over Bonneville Dam, three times the amount predicted by biologists and a modern-day record. And the run’s not over yet. Read more HERE
Think maybe I'll call in sick tomorrow!
If you weren’t already wasting enough time at work on the internet, here’s a great way cracker off a few more hours! The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers operates a
live fish cam in the fish ladder at Bonneville Dam on the Columbia River. The camera refreshes every few seconds and you can watch salmon, steelies and shad passing over the dam. Be careful…it gets addictive!
If nothing happens to be going by when you’re watching, check out this
video from the fall Chinook run.
