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Fishing Report 5/2 by Allen Thomas The Columbian, May 2, 2013

Sturgeon retention in the Columbia River estuary is closed until May 11. When fishing reopens, the minimum size limit will be 41 inches fork length.

All sturgeon fishing is closed now through Aug. 31 from Bonneville Dam downstream for nine miles to a line between navigation Marker 82 on the Oregon shore to a marker upstream of Fir Point on the Washington shore.

Fewer than 100 boats a day are fishing for sturgeon in the lower Columbia, even on Saturdays.

In The Dalles pool, sturgeon fishing is closed through July 31 from John Day Dam downstream for 2.4 miles to the west end of the grain silo at Rufus.

In John Day pool, sturgeon fishing is closed through July 31 from McNary Dam downstream for 1.5 miles to Interstate 82.

Spring chinook effort and catches are building in both Wind River and Drano Lake. The count at Bonneville Dam on Tuesday was 2,350, bringing the cumulative count to 29,094.

Kokanee fishing at Merwin Reservoir has been spotty and poor at Yale Reservoir.

Trout fishing at Swift Reservoir was very good on opening day and should persist for several weeks.

Angler checks from the Washington (WDFW) and Oregon (ODFW) departments of Fish and Wildlife:

Lower Columbia -- Longview to Portland, 144 boaters with 13 legal sturgeon kept plus one legal, one oversize and 299 sublegals released. (ODFW)

Troutdale, 26 boaters with two sublegal sturgeon released; four boaters with no walleye. (ODFW)

Mid-Columbia -- Bonneville pool, 48 bank rods with 12 spring chinook kept. (WDFW)

The Dalles pool, 331 bank rods with 23 spring chinook kept and five released; 23 boaters with six spring chinook kept and one released; four bank rods with no walleye; 28 boaters with eight walleye kept; five boaters with eight bass kept and seven released. (WDFW)

John Day pool, 35 bank rods with three chinook kept and one released; 26 boaters with no salmon; 14 boaters with one walleye kept; 24 boaters with five bass kept and 188 released. (WDFW)

Cowlitz -- Thirty-two boats with three adult spring chinook and one jack chinook kept plus one adult chinook released; 162 bank rods with four adult spring chinook, three jack chinook and four steelhead kept plus one adult chinook and three steelhead released. (WDFW)

Kalama -- Six bank rods and five boaters with no steelhead. (WDFW)

Washougal -- Fifty-seven bank rods with one steelhead kept and one released; 15 boaters with three steelhead released. (WDFW)

Wind -- Two-hundred-forty-seven boaters with 43 adult spring chinook kept. (WDFW)

Drano Lake -- Thirty-four bank rods with four spring chinook kept; 243 boaters with 39 spring chinook kept. (WDFW)

Klickitat -- Ten bank rods with one steelhead kept. (WDFW)