I convinced my wife to go work in the evening as she has flexible hours so that we could take the kids (three and a half and one) to Bonneville dam to see the salmon passing in front of the viewing windows. Or at least that is the excuse that I used, and since it worked I'll stick to it.

First off, very little wind and the water was like glass. Those of you who frequent the area know how rare this is, and it was most welcome. The salmon were coming through in great numbers, with at least 50 coming through during the twenty or so minutes I was watching. Pretty much a 50/50 split on the hatchery-native count, with the vast majority in the 10-13 pound range. No shad, one sucker, and a few google-eyed tourists.

Hardly any water going through the gates. Another harbinger telling us that we've got a rough summer ahead.

Went down to where the guy slingshots for sturgeon and he had one on. He battled it for about a half hour before what appeared to be a six footer came up. A friend scaled down the rocks and let `er go.

Nice family outing overall, and a nice feeling inside seeing first-hand that the salmon run is doing well.

Hi Fobb, glad to see you here. The members will enjoy your posts. ...

If you had gone yesterday you would have seen a lot of fish being caught down below the deadline. BTW, I bet you saw the eels sucked tight against the ladder viewing windows. A sturgeon fishermen friend of mine that loves them for bait once saw that in the viewing room and came up with a rather unique idea. He anchored below the dam and rigged up some windows to backbounce for eel . Does pretty good when he can avoid breaking them. He once had a limit backbouncing one large window. What suckers, eh?

RT

Wake up Steve!

Actually Steve that was one of my disappointments from the trip. No eels! I knew that Tommy would get a big kick out of those ghastly things but we weren't to be blessed with their presence.

We'll try and go back in a month when the shad are in thick and they'll probably be there.