April 20, 2008

Latest Southwest Washington Sport Sampling Summaries [PDF Format]

Salmon/Steelhead

Cowlitz River - On the lower river bank anglers are catching some steelhead while boaters are catching spring chinook. The first five spring chinook of the year returned to the salmon hatchery as of April 16.

Kalama River - Some spring chinook and steelhead are being caught.

Lewis River - Light effort and catch in the mainstem Lewis. 8-10 boats were counted at the mouth during the two mainstem Columbia flight counts. No report on angling success for the North Fork.

East Fork Lewis River from the mouth upstream to the top boat ramp at Lewisville Park and Washougal River from the mouth to the Mt. Norway Bridge at Vernon Road - Opened to fishing for hatchery steelhead April 16. Selective gear rules will be in effect through May.

Wind River - Some spring chinook are being caught though none were found in the sample. 16 boats were counted yesterday morning (Sunday April 20). Interestingly, 3 spring chinook have already been handled at the Shipherd Falls trap.

Salmonid daily limit has been increased to 2 fish. In addition, the river upstream from Shipherd Falls will open for salmon and hatchery steelhead May 1.

Drano Lake - Effort and catch is increasing. Boat anglers averaged an adult chinook per every 8.2 rods. Bank anglers are also catching some fish. There were 40 boats here yesterday morning.

Klickitat River - We sampled our first spring chinook of the year here last week.

Lower Columbia below Bonneville Dam - Closed to fishing for salmon, steelhead, and shad. I-5 Bridge downstream to the Rocky Point/Tongue Point line will re-open for hatchery steelhead and hatchery chinook jacks beginning May 16. Shad angling re-opens May 16 from Bonneville Dam downstream.

From the Hayden island west powerline towers upstream to Bonneville Dam we sampled 3,141 anglers with 1,097 adult and 22 jack chinook plus 2 steelhead. Including fish released, boat anglers averaged an adult chinook per every 2.6 rods while bank anglers averaged one per every 7.4 rods based on mainly completed and incomplete trips, respectively. Best fishing was in the gorge where anglers averaged nearly 2 adult chinook kept/released per boat.

953 (87%) of the adult chinook caught were kept (note: released includes two hatchery fish). Two of the 864 fish sampled were lower river stock based on Visual Stock Identification.

During the Saturday April 19 flight, 1,414 salmonid boats and 198 WA and 117 OR bank anglers were counted.

Bonneville Pool - No catch was found in the sample.

The Dalles Pool - Washington and Oregon sampled 93 anglers (including 11 boats) with 21 adult chinook. Including fish released, bank anglers averaged an adult chinook per every 3.9 rods while boat anglers averaged one per every 6.2 rods. 18 (85.7%) of the fish caught were kept. 4

On the Oregon side there are reports of 5-6 fish/day caught daily from the bank with a couple days of 8-10 fish. On Saturday April 19, none of the boats sampled in Oregon saw any fish caught.

Sturgeon

Lower Columbia below Bonneville Dam - Light effort and catch. Nearly 2,700 angler trips in March produced an estimated catch of just 40 fish.

Effective May 1-9, all sturgeon must be released downstream from the Wauna power line crossing near Cathlamet. Starting May 10, sturgeon may be retained 7 days/week and the minimum size increases to 45" in this area. Maximum length remains 60 inches. The season for this area is scheduled to remain open through June 24 though the actual ending date depends on the quota being met.

The management target for the estuary fishery in 2007 was 15,274 white sturgeon not to exceed 16,274. Below Wauna an estimated 19,131 white sturgeon were caught from 50,071 angler trips which exceeded the management target. This leaves approximately 2,900 fewer white sturgeon available for the 2008 recreational fishery in the estuary. The 2008 guideline will be 13,143 fish.

Bonneville Pool - Bank anglers are catching some legals.

Walleye and Bass

The Dalles Pool - Boat anglers are catching some of both species. No bank angling effort was observed.

Trout

Klineline Pond - Including fish released, bank anglers averaged over 3 trout per rod. Mixture of catchable size rainbows and browns plus larger triploid rainbows.

From April 10-15, planted with 186 three pound brood stock and 256 triploid rainbows averaging 1.4 pounds each. In addition, any of the 10,000 rainbows averaging over a half-pound each not caught during the Kids Fishing Derby were also released into the pond.

• Horseshoe Lake in Woodland - Planted with 608 triploid rainbows averaging 1.4 pounds each April 16.
• Battleground Lake - Planted with 5,022 catchable size and 256 triploid rainbows averaging 1.4 pounds each April 14-16.
• Lacamas Lake - Planted with 7,000 half-pound browns April 14.
• Maryhill Pond in Klickitat County - Planted with 400 catchable size rainbows April 14