Hanford Reach Fishing Report (8-30-22)

THE FOLLOWING FISHING REPORT WAS FORWARDED BY PAUL HOFFARTH, WDFW

Fall chinook returns to the Columbia River are running 10% above the ten-year average. Cumulative adult fall chinook count through the Bonneville Dam fish ladders is 70,409 (Aug 1-28) compared to the ten-year average of 63,789. Counts through McNary, though much lower, are running slightly ahead of the ten-year average (13,975 v 13,009) for the same time period. Fishing should begin to pick up at the tail end of this week.

Fishing was slow this past week as is typical for the second week of the fall salmon fishery. WDFW staff interviewed anglers from 103 boats (215 anglers) with 20 adult chinook and 3 jacks harvested. Based on sampling, an estimated 73 adult chinook and 11 chinook jacks were harvested from 787 angler trips (377 boats) in the second week of the fishery. For the first two weeks of the fishery there have been 1,753 angler trips with 532 adult chinook and 35 chinook jacks harvested. In addition, 14 sockeye, 14 adult chinook, and 22 steelhead were caught and released. Boats averaged one salmon per 4.5 boats, 36 hours per fish.

WDFW staff interviewed

Walleye: 38 anglers (20 boats), 53 walleye; 39 harvested

Bass: 19 anglers (8 boats), 48 bass; 18 harvested