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Steelhead, salmon make healthy fall run

By Adam Lapierre
News staff writer
September 10, 2008

Tens of thousands of fall-run salmon and steelhead are currently making the long and strenuous journey from the Pacific Ocean upstream to return to their breeding grounds on the tributaries of the Columbia River, and this season the fish are returning in what could approach record numbers.

Fish are counted on a 24-hour schedule at Bonneville Dam as they pass upstream through the dam’s two fish ladders, and statistics are posted to the Internet on a daily basis through the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife Web site at www.dfw.state.or.us.

On Monday, 12,970 chinook, 7,970 steelhead and 4,612 coho salmon passed through the ladder, indicating the fall run is very strong this year. A year ago, from Aug. 8 to Sept. 8, 2007, 98,680 chinooks were counted. This year during the same month period 225,651 chinook passed through the fish ladders at Bonneville.

John Dalen, Army Corps of Engineers fish biologist, attributes several factors to the high numbers, but is cautious about saying that the fish have made a big ‘comeback’ after the slow decline in numbers in recent decades.

“This fall run is looking very strong,” Dalen said. “I think we are headed for a really good year; maybe even a record year if the numbers continue like this.

“Last year was pretty typical of what we have been seeing over the last two decades, which is the slow decline that we have been fighting. I think this year is going to change the way some people think about what is going on in the river,” he said. “Some people are going to say that we have turned a corner … and if these numbers keep up, maybe we have.”

Lower river temperatures and a lower-than-average peak river temperature are two reasons the fall run has been so big thus far (currently almost 200,000 adult chinook), according to Dale.

This summer the river temperature peaked at 72 degrees from Aug. 17-21, which is a few degrees cooler than the average peak. The fall run salmon and steelhead generally make their big pushes upstream once the water cools down after the warmest part of the summer, but this year they started earlier and have continued running strong.


“The sockeye run has also been incredible this year,” Dalen continued. “There have only been two years where we have seen more sockeye, and they were both in the 1950s.”
The fall run generally continues through the end of September, which means hundreds of thousands more fish are expected to pass through the dam before the season fades out. This is good news to fishermen who line the riverbanks and mouths each season hoping to hook into a 30-plus-pound chinook.

“This should definitely be a great fall for fishing,” Dalen added.

For the commercial fisheries on the Oregon and Washington coast, current restrictions remain in place, which means that this year there is no chinook salmon fishing of any kind south of Cape Falcon. The ban on chinook retention this year likely had little effect on the Columbia River salmon, however.

“The commercial bans that were put into effect this year on the Oregon coast should have little to do with what is going on in the Columbia,” said Eric Schindler, of the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife. “All the salmon within the banned area are heading south, not toward the Columbia.”

Currently restrictions, not bans, are in place for the waters surrounding the mouth of the Columbia, from Ledbetter Point in Washington and Cape Falcon in Oregon.

“Some of this strong run may have resulted from the restrictions that have been made,” Dalen said. “But the broadness of the different species and runs that we are seeing improvements in means there are definitely other factors. Hopefully this is a result of all the work people have been doing over the years in many different areas, and hopefully this will continue.”

Article from Hood River News.com

A couple goes on vacation to a fishing resort...

A couple goes on vacation to a fishing resort in Oregon. The husband likes to fish at the crack of dawn. The wife likes to read.

One morning the husband returns after several hours of fishing and decides to take a short nap. Although she isn't familiar with the lake, the wife decides to take the boat.

She rows out a short distance, anchors, and continues to read her book. Along comes the game warden in his boat. He pulls up alongside her and says,"Good morning, Ma'am, what are you doing?"
"Reading my book," she replies, thinking isn't that obvious?
"You're in a restricted fishing area," he informs her.
"But officer, I'm not fishing. Can't you see that?"
"Yes, but you have all the equipment. I'll have to take you in and write you up."
"If you do that, I'll have to charge you with rape," says the woman.
"But I haven't even touched you," says the game warden.

"That's true, but you do have all the equipment."

"Do you have a license to catch those fish?"

A man was stopped by a game-warden in Oregon recently with two buckets of fish leaving lost lake well known for its fishing.

The game warden asked the man, "Do you have a license to catch those fish?"
The man replied to the game warden, "No, sir. These are my pet fish."
"Pet fish?!" the warden replied.

"Yes, sir. Every night I take these here fish down to the lake and let them swim around for a while. I whistle and they jump back into their buckets, and I take em home."

"That's a bunch of hooey! Fish can't do that!"
The man looked at the game warden for a moment, and then said, "Here, I'll show you. It really works."

"O.K. I've GOT to see this!" The game warden was curious.
The man poured the fish in to the river and stood and waited. After several minutes, the game warden turned to the man and said, "Well?"
"Well, what?" the man responded.

"When are you going to call them back?" the game warden prompted.
"Call who back?" the man asked.
"The FISH"

"What fish?" the man asked.

Deschutes River: Tom Larimer

Deschutes River: Lower river, take a jet boat trip with Larimer Outfitters.

Hear enough stories about Tom Larimer guiding clients into multiple fish during the highest sun of the day (typically, while other fly fishing guides are digesting lunch and waiting for shaded water), and it becomes apparent Larimer’s a traditional steelheader with little use for convention’s impracticalities... [Read More]

Other Guided Rivers: Klickitat, Sandy, Clackamas, Hood.

Deschutes River: Matt McCrary

Deschutes River: Maupin Area

Growing up on the rivers he now guides, Matt McCrary’s knowledge is obvious from the moment you step into his boat. While Matt is a "young gun" when compared to his piers on this website, he has quickly become a well respected guide in the Northwest theater... [Read More]

Other Guided Rivers: Clackamas, Sandy, North Santiam, John Day

Septemer Focus

Ok, finally "September Focus" has arrived. What can we say, we fish too much... Check it out: steelheadbum.com

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