Mid-Columbia Fishing Report (6-27-23)

THE FOLLOWING FISHING REPORT WAS FORWARDED BY PAUL HOFFARTH, WDFW

Sockeye counts at Bonneville continue to hold steady and tracking close to the preseason forecast of 234,500. The sockeye count at McNary exceeded 10,000 on June 25. Despite the strong numbers of sockeye the fishery has been relatively slow likely due to the lower flows in the Columbia this June.

Unlike the sockeye, the summer chinook returns are tracking much lower than the 84,800 adults forecasted. This will likely result in an early closure for chinook in the sport fisheries downstream of Priest Rapids Dam. Watch the WDFW website for potential emergency regulations.

This past week, June 19-25, WDFW staff interviewed 459 anglers from 212 boats and 223 bank anglers with 88 sockeye, 8 adult hatchery summer chinook, and 3 hatchery summer chinook jack. Two adult wild chinook, one hatchery chinook, and four steelhead were caught and released. Anglers averaged slightly under 1/2 a salmon per boat (0.4), 26 angler hours per fish. Only eight sockeye were sampled at the Columbia Point bank fishery.

Based on the data collected there were 2,619 angler trips for salmon this past week with 298 sockeye, 25 adult hatchery chinook, and 12 hatchery chinook jacks harvested with 6 wild adult summer chinook caught and released. Since the opener, 359 sockeye, 37 hatchery adult chinook, 14 hatchery chinook jacks, and 2 wild jacks have been harvested.