"Now is the time to make plans about where to go, where to stay and where to moor your boat," said Joe Hymer, a WDFW fish biologist. "A lot of fishing opportunities will be opening up in the coming days, and a lot of anglers will want to get in on the action."
Summer steelhead fishing has continued to heat up - along with water temperatures - on the mainstem Columbia River and tributaries stretching upstream to the Bonneville Pool. Boat anglers fishing between Rocky Point and Bonneville Dam averaged one fish for every two rods during the week ending July 19. Bank anglers netted a fish for every four rods. The best catch rates were observed from Kalama downstream and in the gorge, where 178 bank anglers pulled in 53 steelhead and released 56 others July 21.
On the Cowlitz River, boat anglers have been reeling in hatchery steelhead from Mission Bar to Blue Creek. As daily steelhead counts continue to climb at Bonneville Dam, success rates have has also picked up at Drano Lake and on the White Salmon River.
In all areas, anglers may retain only hatchery steelhead with a clipped adipose or ventral fin and a healed scar. "The good news there is that the proportion of marked, hatchery fish below Bonneville has increased in recent days," Hymer said.
Rather hold out for sturgeon ? With 2,400 more fish available for harvest under the area guideline, the sturgeon fishery in the Columbia River estuary has been extended for another three days. In a joint action July 21, fishery managers in Washington and Oregon agreed to reopen the fishery Friday through Sunday from July 24-26 between the mouth of the Columbia and the Wauna powerlines near Cathlamet.
That action follows a similar six-day extension approved for mid-July. "Fishing was generally good, but we didn't get the turnout we expected because a lot of anglers decided to fish for salmon off the coast," said Brad James, another WDFW fish biologist. "That left room for some extra fishing days."
Salmon will no doubt loom even larger in anglers' minds by the time that fishery wraps up. Starting Aug. 1, the fall salmon season will open on the Columbia River from Buoy 10 to the Hwy. 395 Bridge in Pasco and on a lot of tributaries in between. More than 700,000 coho are expected to enter the Columbia River this year along with nearly 533,000 chinook, generating high hopes for the upcoming fall salmon fishery.
"This year's coho return to the Columbia is expected to be largest since 2001," Hymer said. "Add an above-average chinook return to that and you have a pretty favorable outlook for fall salmon fisheries."
A major focus of anticipation is the Buoy 10 fishery near the mouth of the Columbia River, where fishery managers are planning for a catch of 10,700 chinook and 119,100 hatchery coho. During the month of August, the daily limit will be two salmon (but only one chinook) or hatchery steelhead or one of each. All salmon other than chinook and hatchery coho must be released. Barbed hooks will be allowed.
The north jetty is open for fishing seven days per week when the Buoy 10 area or Marine Area 1 (Ilwaco) are open for salmon fishing.
The daily adult catch limits are the same for anglers fishing from the Rocky Point/Tongue Point line to Bonneville Dam, where fishery managers are planning for a catch of 15,100 chinook and 1,900 coho. Fishing rules for these and other areas are described in WDFW's Fishing in Washington pamphlet (http://wdfw.wa.gov/fish/regs/fishregs ).
Hymer said fall fishing rules for area tributaries, also described in the pamphlet, reflect both the expected size of this year's coho return and the transition to mark-selective chinook fishing in those rivers. "The rules are basically designed to protect wild chinook, while giving anglers a chance to remove as many excess hatchery fish from spawning areas as possible," he said. "Rules regarding release of wild adult chinook and jacks vary, because some hatcheries began fin-clipping fish earlier than others. So we're still a year or two away from the day when all returning chinook will be marked."
Below is a summary of the new rules that will be in effect on various tributaries to the Columbia River starting Aug. 1:
- Bonus hatchery coho retention: Anglers may retain up to six hatchery adult coho on all lower Columbia tributaries with hatchery programs, including the Cowlitz, Deep, Elochoman, Grays (including West Fork), Kalama, Klickitat, Lewis (including North Fork), Toutle (including Green and North Fork) and Washougal rivers. Last year, the Cowlitz River was the only system with a daily limit of six hatchery adult coho.
- Release all wild chinook: Anglers must release all chinook (adults and jacks) on the Elochoman and Kalama rivers, where mass-marked fall chinook that are two, three and four years old will be returning this year. Very few five and six year-olds are expected, so this regulation provides additional protection for wild chinook adults with a minimal loss of sportfishing opportunity for older unmarked hatchery fish.
- Release wild chinook jacks: This rule will be in effect on the Cowlitz, Toutle (including Green and North Fork), Washougal, Wind and White Salmon rivers, plus Drano Lake. Two and three year-old mass-marked fall chinook will be returning to the Cowlitz, Toutle and Washougal rivers, while two, three, and four year-olds will return to the Little White Salmon National Fish Hatchery. Some strays from various hatcheries also can be found in the Washington tributaries above Bonneville Dam.
- Hatchery chinook strays on the Lewis River: Anglers may retain stray hatchery chinook on the Lewis River and North Fork Lewis through September. While no fall chinook are released from Lewis River hatcheries, some stray tules are found in the system.
- Boat angling restriction on the North Fork Lewis River: This regulation, which applies to the Cedar Creek area, will be delayed until October to give anglers greater access to the large number of hatchery coho expected to return to the river. The restriction on boats will still take effect in time to protect wild fall chinook, which are expected to return in improved numbers but just above the minimum escapement goal.
- Grays and Elochoman rivers open Aug. 1: The starting date for fall salmon fisheries has been moved up to allow anglers to catch early arriving fish, particularly Select Area Bright fall chinook that stray into the Grays River.
Meanwhile, sturgeon fishing has been slow from the Wauna powerlines to Bonneville Dam, and will switch to catch-and-release during August and September. Catch-and-release fishing will open Aug. 1 in the area from Marker 85 to the deadlines below the dam, which has been closed to protect spawning sturgeon.
