Wenatchee Sockeye Record Absolutely Smashed

UPDATED EDITOR’S NOTE (1:35 P.M., FRIDAY, AUGUST 2, 2024): This afternoon, WDFW Region 2 Fish Program Manager Chad Jackson reports that the Tumwater Dam count is actually at least 166,000 through yesterday, August 1. “There was a glitch in the PUD’s script that resulted in some double counting (there’s essentially video and trapping counts). [Columbia] DART was using those erroneous counts. That glitch is being fixed and the corrected numbers should appear on CPUD’s and DART’s websites ‘soon.’ … At any rate, still a record run and definitely still good salmon news!” 

Editor’s note (10 a.m.ish, Friday, August 2, 2024): ACK!!!!! WDFW emailed this morning to say that while the Tumwater Dam sockeye count is indeed a record, only 136,000-plus have actually been counted there through July 31, not 184,416 as I reported yesterday based on the Columbia DART site and confirmation from the Chelan Public Utility District. WDFW Region 2 Fish Program Manager Chad Jackson reports he stopped by the dam yesterday and learned from the crew there that the DART report is in error. More details as they emerge.

But for the historical record, here’s what I wrote:

Northwest sockeye records are being smashed this year from just above sea level all the way to the middle of the mountains.

Through July 26, 184,416 of the salmon have been counted at Tumwater Dam on the Wenatchee River, a whopping 73,723 more than the old record tallied there just two years ago, and nearly twice the system’s preseason forecast of 97,000 fish. With daily counts still in the low quadruple digits, another 10,000 could plow through before the end of the run too, based on the 10-year average.

DON TALBOT (RIGHT) AND CREW HAD A PRETTY GOOD AUGUST DAY LAST SEASON ON LAKE WENATCHEE. (DON TALBOT)

Records at the Chelan PUD facility along Highway 2 west of Leavenworth go back to 1999, when only 1,172 were counted. The 2022 return of 110,693 was the previous high mark, according to utility spokeswoman Rachel Hansen. Other large returns include 99,901 in 2014 and 73,697 in 2016.

The 2024 run so far is also exactly eight times as many fish as the spawning escapement goal for the watershed and, needless to say, WDFW opened sockeye fishing early last week on Lake Wenatchee, where anglers have been posting about catching lots of ’em. We covered the fishery in our August issue.

The Wenatchee fish are a component of the overall Columbia River sockeye run. They run a little bit later than their cousins headed up to the Brewster Pool and Okanogan/Okanagan Rivers, and typically they come in older too, 4 and 5 years old versus 3 and 4 years old, according to state managers.

Also setting a new sockeye record this year, Bonneville, the first dam on the Columbia above the Pacific, where the count through yesterday was 755,203, which is an incredible 92,000 more fish than the previous record, also set just two years ago. Records are usually nudged along, not pulverized like this.

It’s likely that historically far more sockeye entered the river, but in terms of the quantifiable record, counts at Bonneville go back to 1938 and construction of its fish ladders.

While some news outlets have fretted about how deadly water temperature might be on this year’s run, dam counts show that 95 percent of the sockeye that passed Bonneville made it through not only the Columbia Gorge – which in 2015 boiled so many of the salmon due to low, hot early summer flows – but past Tri-Cities to Rocky Reach Dam not far below the mouth of the Wenatchee and where the Lake Wenatchee fish take a leroy. The Tumwater Canyon count indicates they made good progress up the warmer lower Wenatchee River, while the sockeye that continued to the Upper Columbia will hunker in the much cooler mainstem Brewster Pool before making a break up the Okanogan/Okanagan for their fall spawning grounds.

So why has it been such a great sockeye year in Central Washington?

Chelan PUD Fisheries Biologist Catherine Willard points out that the Lake Wenatchee and Okanogan/Okanagan populations have been seeing a trend of increasing adult returns in recent years.

“In the case of Lake Wenatchee sockeye salmon, the increase can be attributed to a combination of factors. These include favorable juvenile outmigration conditions in 2022, characterized by high flows that swiftly transported sockeye salmon juveniles to the ocean, resulting in high survival and a decrease in predation rates,” Willard states. “Additionally, recent improvements in ocean conditions, such as cooler water temperatures, provided more abundant food resources during their time in the ocean.”

Unfortunately, it’s not all good news on the Wenatchee. The summer Chinook season on the river was closed before it even opened today because hatchery and natural-origin king returns are now expected to come in below broodstock and escapement goals.

Still, for fans of damn good salmon news for a change, 2024 is delivering the goods for a few of our favorite fishes and fisheries!