BY ANDY WALGAMOTT, NORTHWEST SPORTSMAN MAGAZINE
Lower Columbia anglers were greenlighted to get back out on the big river this Saturday, April 18, for another day of chasing one of the Northwest’s tastiest fish.
Director designees from the Washington and Oregon Departments of Fish and Wildlife made the call this afternoon during a joint state hearing after estimated catches from the initial March 1-April 8 fishery and three-day extension that wrapped up on Monday showed 50 percent of the 5,313 above-Bonneville spring Chinook quota still available.
The DFWs expect the one day of fishing will yield 1,600 of those upriver kings (and 1,900 total fish), which would bring the quota to 79 percent, if fishing goes as expected.
In response to a question from ODFW’s Tucker Jones essentially about confidence in the fishery model performance so far this season, his agency’s Jeff Whisler said that last weekend’s three-day extension saw effort a bit below expectations and catch a bit above but ultimately landing where forecasted.
The one-day opener recommended by state staffers was supported by sportfishing advisors, with guide Bill Monroe Jr. and others also interested in how to creatively eke out a second day – say, a partial day or a workweek.
Referring to low and dipping test tangle net fishing results, Monroe didn’t think the quota would be in danger from it. Another fishermen predicted weekend tides wouldn’t be as conducive as last Saturday’s either.
Jones and his WDFW counterpart, Charlene Hurst, did explore adding time, but were hesitant to go through with it based on how relatively late in April it is and how volatile the fishery can be the closer to the peak of the run. Jones didn’t want to be at 95 to 100 percent of the quota so early in the season, even with the 30 percent runsize buffer that guards against overforecasting.
Hearing widespread support for a Saturday opener and for that from each other, Hurst and Jones agreed to open just that one day.
Sportfishing advisor Robert Moxley said it felt like effort was off to him so far this season, but whether that was water conditions (the river was pretty turbid two weekends ago) or burnout he couldn’t say.
So far this season, Lower Columbia anglers have caught 3,713 spring Chinook with 369 released from 49,670 angler trips.
“I’m going to take advantage of it,” added Moxley about Saturday. “Appreciate your putting it together.”
The weather forecast calls for a chance of rain after 11 a.m. on Saturday with a high in the mid to low 60s and light winds, pretty good fishing conditions. Get those herring, triangles, Kwikfish and wraps ready.
There were a couple calls to hold off on a reopener and let more fish get over Bonneville Dam, including from Bruce Jim of the Warm Springs Tribe, who said it was getting harder to produce the fish and see them caught downstream.
It’s still very early in the return, but passage through Bonneville as of yesterday is 1,110 adult springers; the 10-year average is 872, the five-year average of 887.
The Columbia is running at 196,000 cubic feet per second, about 30,000 cfs above the five-year average, 50 degrees, 3 degrees above the recent average, and visibility is 5.6 feet, same as what it’s been of late
According to the fact sheet, an upriver run down to 86,000 springers would cover the recreational fishery. The preseason forecast is for 147,300 of those fish, with an overall prediction of 228,700, which includes Willamette, SAFE, Cowlitz and other Lower Columbia stocks.
