Salmon/Steelhead
Toutle River - Bank anglers are doing best in the North Fork Toutle, averaging about ½ adult coho per rod.
Cowlitz River - Hatchery coho are being caught around the mouth of the Toutle while sea-run cutthroats are being caught at the trout hatchery. In the upper Cowlitz, anglers are catching coho in Packwood while effort and catch was low in the Cispus.
Last week, Tacoma Power recovered 267 fall Chinook adults, 145 jacks, 2,871 coho salmon adults, 559 jacks, one spring Chinook adult, one mini-jack and two cutthroat trout during six days of operations at the Cowlitz Salmon Hatchery separator.
During the week Tacoma Power employees released 775 coho salmon, 96 jacks and one spring Chinook adult into the upper Cowlitz River at the Skate Creek Bridge over the Cowlitz River in Packwood, Washington and 287 coho adults and 23 jacks into the Cispus River. A total of 257 fall Chinook adults, 138 jacks, and 15 coho salmon were released at the Ike Kinswa State Park boat launch in Mayfield Lake.
River flows at Mayfield Dam are approximately 6,880 cubic feet per second on Monday morning, September 29.
Kalama River - Some hatchery coho are being caught. Adult chinook must be released.
Lewis River - Lots of effort around the salmon hatchery last weekend with bank anglers catching some hatchery coho, mainly adults but also some jacks.
Klickitat River - Bank anglers are catching chinook and some coho.
Lower Columbia below Bonneville Dam - Last week we sampled 129 anglers (including 54 boats) with 20 adult and 5 jack chinook and 11 adult and 14 jack coho. Overall, boat anglers averaged an adult chinook per every 6 rods based on completed trips. Boat anglers at the mouth of the Cowlitz are mainly catching adult coho while those in the Longview area are catching coho jacks.
No catch was observed from the bank and effort is low with just 24 WA anglers counted during the Saturday September 27 flight. However, nearly 300 boats were counted with the majority found upstream from the mouth of the Lewis except for a pod of 27 boats at the mouth of the Cowlitz.
Bonneville Pool - Boat anglers are catching adult chinook. Most of the effort has been off the mouth of the Klickitat with 30 boats counted there yesterday (Sunday September 28).
Hanford Reach - Anglers averaged 1 Chinook for every 18 hours of fishing, or one per every 0.8 boats. Best success came from the Vernita area were effort was highest.
An estimated 980 adult and 227 jack fall chinook were harvested this past week from an estimated 1,407 angler trips. A total of 2,841 chinook (2,121 adult 720 jacks) and 9 coho have been harvested this season. Harvest is 20% higher in 2008 than 2007.
Summer steelhead may be retained up to the Old Hanford Town Site (Wooden Power Lines) starting October 1. Fish must be adipose and right ventral fin clipped to be kept.
Sturgeon
Lower Columbia from the Wauna power lines upstream - Effort and catches are increasing. Boat anglers from Longview upstream averaged a legal kept per every 4.6 rods while bank anglers just below Bonneville averaged one per every 8.6 rods based on mainly completed and incomplete trips. Boat catches were spread throughout the river.
During the Saturday September 27 flight, nearly 150 boats and 258 WA and 219 OR bank anglers were counted. Heaviest effort was in the gorge but scattered all the way downstream to the Wauna power lines.
