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Spring Chinook Fishing Closed Until Run Update; Steelhead Fishing Opens in Lower Columbia by Staff Columbia Basin Bulletin, May 18, 2018

More than 4,500 spring chinook salmon crossed Bonneville Dam Wednesday, May 16, capping a week in which the late-arriving fish has averaged more than 2,000 per day, bringing the total run to date to 55,618.

That's just 44 percent of the 10-year average on that date (125,145), but it is still 154 percent of the number of fish that had passed the dam last year at the same time (35,999).

Jack chinook are faring worse with just 3,246 past the dam May 16, or 20 percent of the 10-year average of 16,169. Again, passage last year was lower at 2,725 jacks.

The preseason forecasted run of upriver spring chinook is 166,400 fish and, on average, half of the run passes the dam by May 8. Typically, the US v Oregon Technical Advisory Committee updates the run size for the first time in the spring season between April 29 (2015) and May 15 (2017).

However, at a May 14 meeting TAC chose not to update the run size.

"Given the late start of the run at Bonneville Dam, there is too much uncertainty to update the run size yet," said Stuart Ellis of the Columbia River InterTribal Fish Commission and TAC lead this year. "Given the count to date and majority of past observed run timing curves, the run may be less than forecast. However, if the run timing is similar to 2017, the final run size may be close to forecast."

He added that TAC will meet again as more information becomes available.

Over the past ten years, adult runs have averaged around 204,600 (range 115,800 to 315,300). The preseason forecasted run for upriver spring chinook in 2017 was 160,400, but that run was late to arrive and by June 15 when the spring chinook run becomes the summer run, the upriver spring run had totaled just 115,821 fish.

Chinook fishing is closed on the Columbia River, both upstream and downstream of Bonneville Dam due to the low returns of fish and likely will not be reopened until TAC completes its first run size update of the year.

Spring chinook are also arriving at lower Snake River dams: 1,686 had passed Lower Granite Dam on the river, only 7 percent of the 10-year average of 24,874, but far higher than the 234 fish that had passed the dam on the same date last year.

The late chinook run prompted Idaho's Fish and Game commissioners on May 10 to postpone a decision on setting summer fishing seasons on the Clearwater, South Fork of the Salmon and Upper Salmon rivers, according to an Idaho Fish and Game news release.

While spring chinook fishing is currently open on several Idaho rivers, fish have been slow to return, IDFG said.

A few summer chinook bound for the South Fork of the Salmon River have already crossed Bonneville Dam, but it's too early to tell how many more are coming, IDFG said. The preseason forecast is for 107,400 spring/summer chinook, enough of a return to provide for a fishing season. The 2017 spring/summer chinook forecast to the Snake River was 95,800 fish, but the final run tallied only 51,948 fish.

"We're waiting to see what's going on with the fish before opening the summer season up," said Lance Hebdon, IDFG's anadromous fish manager.

Last year, summer chinook fishing opened on the Clearwater, Lochsa and Upper Salmon Rivers, but a season on the South Fork of the Salmon River was canceled because of a smaller-than-expected return.

Angling for hatchery steelhead opened this week, May 15, on the Columbia River from the I-5 Interstate Bridge between Portland and Vancouver downstream to Buoy 10, just west of Astoria. All salmon and steelhead angling is closed from the I-5 Bridge to the Oregon and Washington border.

Some 3,171 steelhead (1,278 of those are wild) have passed Bonneville Dam, also as of May 16. Most of those are winter steelhead, according to Paul Wagner of NOAA Fisheries, who spoke at the May 16 interagency Technical Management Team meeting. That's about 74 percent of the 10-year average of 4,313 (1,422 wild) and about 114 percent of the 2017 run on the same day in 2017 of 2,775 (938 wild).

The 2018 summer steelhead run into the Columbia River is predicted to be 190,350 fish. The 2017 predicted run was 130,700, although the actual run totaled 116,841.

Related Pages:
Daily Spring Chinook Passage At Bonneville Dam Picks Up, But Still Far Below 10-Year Average by Staff, Columbia Basin Bulletin, 5/4/18