the film forum library tutorial contact

No Shortage of Effort for Columbia Chinook by Staff The Columbian, March 25, 2009

Initial reports from Wednesday's spring chinook reopening upstream of the Hayden Island powerlines were mixed, not a bust, but not great either.

There was a bit of a bite near the airport tower and downstream of Interstate 5, but success near the bridge was slow.

There were lots of boats as fishing begins the four-day a week schedule (Wednesdays through Saturdays) between Hayden Island powerlines and Bonneville Dam.

Fishing downstream of the Hayden Island powerlines will be open three days a week (Thursdays through Saturdays).

Oregon's aerial count of the Columbia on Saturday tallied 1,400 boats compared to 900 for the same Saturday in 2008.

Spring chinook still aren't moving much over Bonneville Dam. The count through Tuesday is 82 spring chinook. That compares with 99 a year ago and a 10-year average of 1,440.

The gillnet fleet will fish from 1 to 11 p.m. Sunday between the Hayden Island powerlines and Beacon Rock. They are projected to catch about 1,000 spring salmon.

Angler checks and other information from the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW) and Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife (ODFW):

• Lower Columbia - Estuary, 183 boaters with 14 spring chinook kept and one released. (WDFW)

• Estuary, 45 boaters with two spring chinook kept. (ODFW)

• Cathlamet, 57 boaters with three spring chinook and one steelhead kept plus one chinook released. (WDFW)

• Longview, 273 boaters with 10 spring chinook kept and two released; 33 bank rods with no catch; 11 boaters with no sturgeon. (WDFW)

• Longview to Portland, 177 boaters with 15 spring chinook kept and six released; 187 Oregon bank rods with one winter steelhead kept and one spring chinook released; five boats with 12 sublegal sturgeon released. (ODFW)

• Kalama, 89 boaters with one spring chinook released; 22 bank rods with no spring chinook or steelhead; 21 boaters with six sublegal sturgeon released. (WDFW)

• Woodland, 66 boaters with eight spring chinook kept; 32 bank rods with no steelhead or salmon. (WDFW)

• Lewis River mouth to Kelley Point, 252 boaters with 48 spring chinook kept and 17 released; 82 bank rods with no catch; two boaters with 15 sublegal sturgeon released. (WDFW)

• Kelley Point to Portland Airport tower, 762 boaters with 71 spring chinook and one steelhead kept plus 22 spring chinook and one steelhead released; five bank rods with no catch. (WDFW)

• Portland upstream of Hayden Island, 616 boaters with 53 spring chinook kept and 13 released. (ODFW)

• Troutdale, 251 boaters with 10 spring chinook kept and two released. (ODFW)

• Camas-Washougal, 201 boaters with 14 spring chinook kept and one released. (WDFW)

• North Bonneville, 10 boaters with one adult chinook kept; 139 bank rods with four chinook kept and two chinook released; five bank rods with no sturgeon. (WDFW)

• Columbia Gorge (downstream of Bonneville Dam), 26 boaters with two spring chinook; eight Oregon bank rods with no salmon or steelhead.

• Mid-Columbia - Bonneville pool, 11 boaters with five legal sturgeon kept plus two legal, one oversize and 34 sublegal sturgeon released; 35 bank rods with two sublegal sturgeon released; six boaters with one legal walleye kept and one released. (WDFW)

• The Dalles pool, nine boaters with four legal sturgeon kept, plus one oversize and 13 sublegal sturgeon released; 37 bank rods with four legal sturgeon kept plus four oversize and six sublegal sturgeon released; eight boaters with one walleye kept. (WDFW)

• John Day pool, 78 boaters with eight legal sturgeon kept plus two oversize and 88 sublegals released; 39 bank rods with eight sublegal sturgeon released; 10 bank rods with one steelhead released; 47 boaters with six walleye kept and one released; nine boaters with 20 bass released; two bank rods with no bass. (WDFW)

• Cowlitz - Downstream from Olequa, 25 bank rods with five winter steelhead kept. (WDFW)

• Kalama -Seven bank rods with one wild steelhead released. (WDFW)

• Lewis - Twenty-three boaters with one wild steelhead released; two boaters with no catch. (WDFW)

• North Fork Lewis - Eleven bank rods with one spring chinook kept, one boater with one wild steelhead released. (WDFW)

• Klineline Pond - Sixty-eight anglers with 55 rainbow trout kept and 13 released. The pond was planted in mid-March with 2,200 rainbows. (WDFW)

• Lacamas Lake - The land was planted in mid-March with 3,000 half-pound brown trout. (WDFW)

Related Pages:
Proposal Would Curb Columbia River Gillnetters by Joseph Frazier, Associated Press, The Oregonian, 3/26/9