SW WA, Lower Columbia, Hanford Reach Fishing Report (9-12-22)

THE FOLLOWING FISHING REPORTS WERE FORWARDED BY LAUREN HOLMES AND PAUL HOFFARTH, WDFW

Preliminary Washington Columbia River mainstem and tributary sampling summary September 5-11, 2022

Fishery Reports: 

Mainstem Columbia River 

Sturgeon: 

Sec 1 (Bonneville) – 28 bank anglers kept one legal and released eight sublegal sturgeon.

Sec 2 (Camas/Washougal) – 7 boats/16 rods had no catch. 

Sec 3 (I-5 area) – Three bank anglers had no catch. 

Sec 4 (Vancouver) – 6 boats/14 rods released three sublegal sturgeon. 

Sec 5 (Woodland) – 34 boats/102 rods kept 23 legal and released 42 sublegal and 42 oversize sturgeon.  

Sec 6 (Kalama) – 18 bank anglers had no catch. 33 boats/84 rods kept 25 legal and released 108 sublegal  and 25 oversize sturgeon.  

Sec 7 (Cowlitz) – 9 boats/21 rods kept one legal and released four sublegal and four oversize sturgeon. 

Sec 8 (Longview) – 35 bank anglers released one sublegal sturgeon. 29 boats/74 rods kept seven legal  and released three sublegal and eight oversize sturgeon. 

Sec 9 (Cathlamet) – One bank angler had no catch. 14 boats/44 rods kept 12 legal and released 10  sublegal and five oversize sturgeon.  

Columbia River Tributaries 

Salmon/Steelhead: 

Cowlitz River I-5 Br downstream – 31 bank rods kept one Chinook and two coho, and released one  Chinook and one coho. 51 boats/154 kept nine Chinook, one Chinook jack, seven coho, two coho jacks and one steelhead, and released 25 Chinook, one Chinook jack, three coho and nine steelhead. 

Cowlitz River Above the I-5 Br – Four bank rods kept two steelhead. 2 boats/5 rods kept two steelhead.

Kalama River – 56 bank rods kept four Chinook and released three Chinook. 1 boat/1 rod had no catch. 

Lewis River – 162 bank rods kept 40 coho and 12 coho jacks, and released one Chinook, five coho and  two coho jacks. 32 boats/70 rods kept four Chinook, 18 coho and 12 coho jacks, and released 11  Chinook, one Chinook jack, 17 coho and five coho jacks. 

Wind River – One bank rod had no catch. 1 boat/2 rods kept two Chinook, and released two Chinook  and three coho.  

Drano Lake – 8 bank rods released one coho. 62 boats/173 rods kept 75 Chinook, eight Chinook jacks,  two coho and released 15 Chinook and five steelhead.

Klickitat River below Fisher Hill Bridge – No report.

Klickitat River above #5 Fishway – No report.

Hanford Reach Fall Salmon Sport Fishery Update

Adult fall chinook counts at Bonneville are currently 24,000 per day with a cumulative total of 370,616. Fall chinook returns to the Columbia River are 29% above the ten-year average based on the counts at Bonneville. Unfortunately counts through McNary are running 5,000 per day and ~15% below the 10-year average. Hopefully the counts over McNary will pick up over the next week or two.

Fishing continued at a slow pace this past week. WDFW staff interviewed anglers from 291 boats (682 anglers) and 96 bank anglers at Ringold with 108 adult chinook and 10 jacks harvested. Based on sampling, an estimated 392 adult chinook and 38 chinook jacks were harvested from 2,576 angler trips.

For the fishery there have been 5,494 angler trips with 1,064 adult chinook, 87 chinook jacks, and 4 coho harvested. In addition, 17 sockeye, 17 adult chinook, 11 chinook jacks, and 78 steelhead were caught and released. Boats averaged one salmon per 2 boats, 33 hours per fish.