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Columbia Chinook Closure Limits Choices by Staff The Columbian, September 20, 2007

With the closure of chinook retention in the Columbia all the way upstream to Pasco, angling choices in the big river are a bit thin.

Coho will provide a smattering of action near the mouth of the Cowlitz and around Lady Island at Camas, plus a few steelhead always get caught, but fishing is clearly waning for the season.

Lots of salmon remain in the tributaries though.

In the North Fork of the Lewis, there's the usual mix of fall chinook plus good numbers of coho. The lower Washougal gets a lot of fishing pressure, although not a lot of catch.

Bank fishermen are getting coho in the Cowlitz at the mouth of the Toutle River, while fall chinook action is best at the barrier dam.

Walleye fishermen in the Camas-Troutdale stretch of the river had a good weekend.

Steelhead are moving out of the Bonneville pool rapidly, winding down action at Drano Lake.

Angler checks from the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW) and Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife (ODFW):

• Lower Columbia
  • Longview to Portland, 109 boats with 17 chinook, 10 coho and four steelhead kept plus 19 chinook adults, three jack chinook and four coho released; 30 boats with seven legal sturgeon kept plus two legal, 153 sublegal and one oversize sturgeon released. (ODFW)

  • Longview, four bank rods with no salmon or steelhead; 15 boaters with no salmon or steelhead; two bank rods with no sturgeon; 12 boaters with three legal sturgeon kept plus 13 sublegals released. (WDFW)

  • Kalama, four bank rods and three boaters with no salmon or steelhead. (WDFW)

  • Woodland, six bank rods with no salmon or steelhead; 21 boaters with two adult coho kept plus three coho and five chinook released; three boaters with three sublegal sturgeon released. (WDFW)

  • Warrior Rock to Frenchmen's Bar, 75 bank rods with two chinook kept; 424 boaters with 57 adult chinook, five jack chinook, eight coho and one coho jack kept plus one adult chinook and four adult coho released; nine boaters with 20 sublegal sturgeon released. (WDFW)

  • Davis Bar to Lemon Island, 101 boaters with seven adult chinook, one jack chinook and one steelhead kept plus one adult coho released; 26 boaters with 58 sublegal sturgeon released. (WDFW)

  • Troutdale, 141 boats with 16 fall chinook and three coho kept plus two chinook and two coho released; seven boats with three legal sturgeon kept plus 54 sublegal and two oversize sturgeon released; eight boats with 37 walleye kept. (ODFW)

  • Camas-Washougal, 194 boaters with nine adult chinook, three jack chinook, two adult coho and four steelhead kept plus two adult chinook, two adult coho and two steelhead released; seven bank rods with two sublegal sturgeon released; 37 boaters with five legal sturgeon kept and 52 sublegals released; four boaters with 10 walleye kept. (WDFW)

  • North Bonneville, 31 bank rods with four adult chinook and three jack chinook kept; 64 boaters with six adult chinook and two jack chinook kept; 151 bank rods with 17 legal sturgeon kept plus five legal, eight oversize and 32 sublegals release; four boaters with seven sublegals released. (WDFW)

  • Columbia Gorge (downstream of Bonneville Dam), 28 boats with 14 adult chinook and one adult coho kept plus two jack chinook released; 24 Oregon bank rods with two fall chinook kept; 29 boats with 18 legal sturgeon kept plus one legal, 322 sublegal and eight oversize sturgeon released; 117 Oregon bank rods with 29 legal sturgeon kept plus two legal, 14 sublegal and two oversize sturgeon released. (ODFW)
• Mid-Columbia - Bonneville Pool, eight anglers with two adult coho kept and one steelhead released. (WDFW)

• Cowlitz - Sixty-nine bank rods with five adult chinook and 75 adult coho kept plus four chinook released. (WDFW)

• Kalama - Twenty bank rods with two seelhead and one adult coho kept. (WDFW)

• Lewis - Nine boaters with five chinook released. The mainstem Lewis is closed for chinook retention. (WDFW)

• North Fork Lewis - Twenty-seven boaters with nine adult chinook, seven jack chinook, eight adult coho and two jack coho kept plus two adult and two jack coho released. (WDFW)

• Washougal - Ninety bank rods with three adult chinook. (WDFW)

• Wind - Six boaters with one adult coho kept. (WDFW)

• Drano Lake - Ten boaters with one adult coho released. (WDFW)

• Klickitat - Thirty-one bank rods with seven adult chinook kept and one released; two boaters with one adult chinook kept. (WDFW)

SOURCE: U.S. Army Corps of Engineers
Note: Flow is in cubic feet per second.