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Sockeye Numbers Skyrocket over Bonneville by Seth Kolshinski The Daily News, June 22, 2023

Pikeminnow fishing has been excellent.

Summer is here, and attention has turned to warm water lakes and ponds, as well as the Columbia River.

Shad fishing continues to produce on the Columbia and Pikeminnow fishing has been excellent. The Columbia opened Friday for sockeye, steelhead, and chinook with mixed success. Sockeye numbers over Bonneville have skyrocketed, and the season is in full swing.

Reminder, please verify the regulations before fishing any body of water, and wear a life jacket.

Lewis report Flows have remained steady for the last few reports at 2900 cfs and the gage height steady at 2.7 feet which has been great for sleds and drift boats allowing them to get around still.

There were a few anglers when I stopped in at the Cedar Creek boat launch on Wednesday fishing for steelhead and chinook without success. We should start to see steelhead catch rates go up quickly in the coming weeks.

Creel reports show 15 bank rods had no catch. Four boats/10 rods kept one steelhead.

Kalama report

I drove up to the Kalama after work on Monday, talking to an angler at what I call the red barn hole. He said fishing has been very slow lately with some chinook being caught higher up, but he hasn't heard of anybody doing any good on early steelhead.

Recent rain gave some good color to the river, but it remains at a lower level similar to past weeks.

Creel reports show 33 bank rods kept one jack. Two boats/four rods kept three Chinook.

Cowlitz report

Last week, Tacoma Power employees recovered 179 spring chinook adults, 52 spring chinook jacks, one winter-run steelhead adult and 84 summer-run steelhead adults over five days of operations at the Cowlitz Salmon Hatchery separator.

During the past week, Tacoma Power employees released 99 spring Chinook adults, 21 spring Chinook jacks and one winter-run steelhead adult into Lake Scanewa in Randle.

Creel reports above the I-5 bridge show 14 bank rods kept one Chinook and released one steelhead. Nine boats/33 rods kept 14 steelhead. Below the bridge, WDFW reports 88 bank rods kept one Chinook, one jack and 11 steelhead. Two boats/four rods had no catch.

Washougal report

Locals on the Washougal have been talking about early summer steelhead being caught in the lower river. There seems to be some fish around, but it's a matter of finding them and getting there before the swimmers come out.

Columbia River

Sockeye, steelhead, and chinook are now open from Astoria Bridge to Bonneville dam. Below Who Song and Larry's has been a great location to target these fish.

I fished at Who Song's and Larry's for about an hour on Wednesday and saw three or four sockeye caught. Pikeminnow fishing has been very good; you can find locations at www.pikeminnow.org/fishing-maps.

Shad fishing is still going great with creel reports stating more than 400 fish caught for 90 people at Bonneville.

Drano Lake and Wind River

Fishing pressure was nonexistent with most people done here until late summer/early fall. As usual, there are fish that stop in here, but it has not been easy fishing.

Warm water lakes and ponds

Bass have started to bed and have become aggressive protecting their beds. Fishing the shallows has been working well for people. Crappie and Bluegill have started to become more prevalent near docks and fallen trees as well.

Related Pages:
Count the Fish Sockeye adult returns from 1977 to the present.