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Still a Fair Mix of Salmon and Steelhead to Catch in Columbia River Region by Mark Yuasa Seattle Times, October 3, 2012

Here is the Columbia River regional fishing summary provided by Joe Hymer, a state Fish and Wildlife biologist in Vancouver:

Salmon and Steelhead

. . .

Buoy 10 - A hatchery coho per rod at times last week. Effective October 1, the salmonid daily limit increases to 6 fish of which 2 may be adult salmon or hatchery steelhead or one of each. Salmon minimum size is 12 inches. Release all salmon other than chinook and hatchery coho.

Lower Columbia below Bonneville Dam - Last week we sampled 497 salmonid anglers (including 135 boats) with 87 adult and 33 jack fall Chinook, 8 steelhead, 10 adult and 5 jack coho. Overall, 84 (97%) of the adult Chinook, 4 (50%) of the steelhead, and 4 (40%) of the adult coho were kept.

Still quite a few salmonid anglers last Saturday. Over a third of the 305 boats were observed in the airport to Washougal section during the Sept. 29 effort flight count.

Effective October 1, up to two adult fall chinook (adipose fin clipped or not) may be retained from the Warrior Rock Lighthouse, through Red Buoy #4, to the orange marker atop the dolphin on the Washington shore downstream. The salmonid daily is 6 fish of which 2 may be adult salmon or hatchery steelhead or one of each. Salmon minimum size is 12 inches. Release all salmon other than chinook and hatchery coho.

Bonneville Pool - Boat anglers at the mouths of the White Salmon and Klickitat are catching fall chinook and some coho and steelhead.

The Dalles Pool - Boat anglers are catching some fall chinook.

For those that may have missed it, the 110,771 fall chinook jacks counted in August and September 2012 at Bonneville Dam are the third highest for that period since at least 1960. The highest count was 163,186 fish in 1986.