WDFW Sport Sampling Results:
July 8, 2007

Latest Southwest Washington Sport Sampling Summaries [PDF Format]

Salmon/Steelhead

Drano Lake - 4 boat anglers had no catch.

Lower Columbia below Bonneville Dam - Including fish released, boat anglers averaged a steelhead per every 6 rods while bank anglers averaged one per every 12.6 rods based on mainly completed and incomplete trips, respectively. Nearly 2/3 of the steelhead caught were kept. Some summer run chinook jacks were also caught.

Bonneville Pool - No catch observed for bank anglers. No boat anglers were sampled.

Bonneville Dam counts from June 16 through July 4 total 20,667 adult summer chinook. Passage is typically 50% complete around July 1.

The Technical Advisory Committee (TAC) met July 5 to update the adult summer Chinook and sockeye runs. TAC concluded the sockeye run was on track to meet the preseason forecast of 27,300 fish, but felt the summer Chinook run would not reach the preseason forecast of 45,600 and estimated a river mouth run size of 40,000 fish.
Through July 8, a total of 18,554 steelhead had been counted at Bonneville Dam. This is almost identical to the same time last year. Nearly 1,200 fish were counted at the dam yesterday, the highest daily count so far this year.

Almost 315,000 steelhead destined for above Bonneville Dam are expected to enter the Columbia River in 2007. Last year, the actual return was nearly 330,000 fish.
Through early July, hatchery summer run steelhead returns to the Cowlitz, Kalama, and Lewis hatcheries are less than 1/3 of last year. In specific:

Sturgeon

Lower Columbia from the Wauna powerlines upstream to Marker #85 - Bank and boat anglers are catching some legals in the Longview area.

Bonneville Pool - Boat anglers are catching some legals. An estimated 374 (53%) of the 700 fish guideline had been taken through June.

Walleye and Bass

Bonneville Pool - Bank and boat anglers are catching some bass. No walleye anglers were sampled.

Trout

Mayfield Lake - Planted with 12,085 half pound rainbows from the Friends of the Cowlitz net pens June 30. Also, nearly 2,000 catchable size rainbows were released July 2.

Mineral Lake - Almost 3,000 catchable size rainbows were released July 3.

Shad

Lower Columbia below Bonneville Dam - Effort and catches are light although boat anglers in the gorge continue to catch some fish. Daily counts at Bonneville Dam have been <10,000 fish the past few days.