HOOK AND FUR By Bob Brown October has been a record-setting month for daily counts of adult fall chinook at Bonneville Dam. Joe Hymer of the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW) reported that through Oct. 14, a record 76,529 adults were counted at the dam, beating the 50,073 fish counted from Oct. 1-14, 2013. Except for the 14 days in October, daily counts have set new records at the dam. Daily counts began in 1939 at Bonneville Dam. The Columbia River adult fall chinook run size to the mouth of the river has been updated to 1.2 million fish. The record is 1,268,400 fish from August to December 2013. With two and a half months to go and a gain of 26,000 fish at Bonneville Dam so far this month, there could be a new record adult fall chinook return to the Columbia. Meanwhile, bank anglers fishing the Cowlitz have been catching chinook at Barrier Dam and steelhead near the trout hatchery, while boat anglers are catching chinook and coho from Castle Rock down to the mouth. Catching hasn't been gangbusters, but just enough to keep fishing interesting. During the period of Oct. 5-11, Tacoma Power recovered 61 summer steelhead, 1,101 chinook, 86 jacks, 418 coho,619 jacks and seven cutthroat trout. Flows were approximately 3,670 CFS on Oct. 12.
River watch
" The Kalama has been producing some chinook, coho and steelhead for bank anglers. A.J Ulibarri of Bob's Sporting Goods in Longview said angler pressure is heavy on the lower river. It seems there are more anglers than fish. Water conditions are pretty good. " On the East Fork Lewis, angler effort has been light and so has the effort. WDFW said that from the mouth of the Green River upstream to the mouth of Cristy Creek (at Flaming Geyser State Park), the daily limit is three adult salmon, release chinook and coho. Additionally, on the Green from the mouth of Cristy Creek to the water pipeline walk bridge (a half-mile downstream of Tacoma Headworks Dam), fishing is closed until further notice. The reason for the closure coho brood stock collection efforts at Soos Creek hatchery are behind the goal. Non-retention of coho (adults and jacks) is needed to protect returning coho. " The Puyallup and Nisqually rivers are producing some fish, but nothing spectacular. Water conditions remain murky in both rivers. " Fishing has been very slow in the Humptulips and Snohomish rivers, and Yakima River anglers are catching some chinook, but on average, it has been 7.6 hours of fishing per chinook caught. The fishery will close Oct. 22. " Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife reported last week that lower Columbia anglers made 4,765 trips and caught 1,824 adult chinook, 145 coho and four steelhead. The best catch rates were in the gorge; however, there were still some pretty decent but spotty catches made from Troutdale down stream to Longview. " Catches of fall chinook continue to remain strong from the mouth of the Cowlitz upstream. Boat anglers from Woodland upstream averaged about one adult chinook or better rod last week.
Runoff fatal for coho salmon
Toxic runoff from highways, parking lots and other developed surfaces is killing many adult coho salmon in urban streams along the west coast, according to a new study that for the first time documents the fatal connection between stormwater and salmon survival. The study published this month in the Journal of Applied Ecology also found that inexpensive filtration of urban runoff through simple columns of sand and soil can completely prevent the toxic effects on fish. The filtration columns, similar to rain gardens that are gaining ground in the Northwest, including Eatonville, are an example of emerging green storm water infrastructure that should be integrated into future development and redevelopment to reverse the trend and help coho recover, the study's authors concluded.
Bob Brown lives in Roy and is a freelance outdoors writer. He can be reached at robertb1285@ centurylink.net
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