Any ideas Why the numbers dropped so drastically the last two days? Only 1,382 made it over today. That's still a good number of fish but after the numbers we saw the 22nd through the 24th I figured we'd see it keep climbing for another week or so. 4,873 kings went over on the 24th. I remember last year there was that solid week where we were seeing 5k+ go over per day with a couple days where 8k+ went over. So is the run already tapering off? Or is there tribal/commercial fishing going on below bonneville right now? Or maybe water conditions have slowed them down? I'm headed down soon so....

To date, the Bonne. count is about 39% of the 10 year average. Hard saying what's going on.

I talked to a couple buddies who came home after a couple day's of fishing the mouth of the Wind. Zero fish. But both are retired and heading back Tuesday.

Mf

Curious, but in the ten year average there a dip in late April. There are always dips and peaks, my guess when the water warms a little more, the first week of May it will go up like a rocket.

http://www.fpc.org/adultsalmon/adultqueries/Adult_Query_Graph_Results2012.asp

For some reason that link didnt post. This one will.
http://www.fpc.org/adultsalmon/adultqueries/Adult_Table_Species_Graph.html

Water warmed, all the fish piled from Astoria to Bonneville went through...more are on the way, it'll just take 'em a few days to get there.

Fish on...

Todd

I was there last week and stopped 18 of them. Could that be the reason?

fp

Dang! Nice work!

The answer to your question is simple.

I made reservations for next week so invariably the count drops when I do this.

The flows out of Bonny are way up the past 2 days. As soon as the water comes down a little the counts will go right back up. Whenever that is?

They run all the way into June. We have only had a little spurt tens of thousands to go. The sky is not falling.

She's already dropped a few feet from the other day looking at the Stevenson gauge.

28ft is still a ton of water. Fish movement slows way down when the water is this high.

Near Vancouver the CR is near action stage. That might be holding things back a bit.

They have been running late the last few years due to varing river conditions, they will come grass hopper, patience...

Misguided -
Do you think it is possible that the fish are running later in recent years from the heavy cropping of the early portion of the run due to intense early season fishing (both sport and gill net) on the lower river?

The lack of early fish the last 5 years over Bonneville is dramatic when compared to the portion of the run going over the decade before.

Tight lines
Curt

Personally, I think it's the higher releases from certain hatcheries that have specific strains that normally return later.

I know in the Lewis when they switched strains years ago the run timing pushed back nearly a month...

Keith

I see the count for Saturday was down to 603 adults.

Traditionally the peak counts are this week! Might be getting to be of concern for those up river folks.

stlhdr1 -
What has been the recent stock changes for those up river fish?

Have to admit I don't follow things on the Columbia as closely as other areas so addtional information would be welcome.

Thanks
Curt

Back in the 80s, on the Horsefly stock of Fraser sockeye, the managers deliberately targeted the fishery on the early returning fish, as they were subjected to excessive mortalities due to water temps.

That stock was down to next to nothing in the 30s/40s. By the late 80s it was in the millions and allowed them to adjust fisheries to put fish on the grounds at the optimum time.

Do recall, too, that WA switched coho stocks from south turning to north turning so as to feed WA rather then OR fisheries. Would be interesting to know why stock switches were made.

To echo Smalma, i have looked at the Columbia dam passage graphs and you can follow them upstream ti see which stocks are now contributing and where some have dropped off.

Well using the Lewis as an example, in the early 90's they released Carson stock and they run would peak mid to late April. Now we see peaks on or around May 8th with what I believe is a Willamette stock that they are currently using.

As to your question with upriver fish, although I don't have the data in front of me I've watched as certain hatcheries have reduced plants and others have increased further up the basin specific to the snake river area. It may not be "different stock" as it is different return times with larger components planted from different hatcheries.

We all know from past experiences when Bonneville reaches or surpasses 13ft at Vancouver the passage slows to a trickle. Once the smolt flushing flows reduce I'll be anxious to see if the passage jumps. But I'm thinking we'll see some 10-15,000 fish days in the near future.

But I do not think we'll meet early season predictions. Not even close...

Keith

To save you guys the trip to the wind or drano...The Yakima puked mud and whole trees the other day so visibility at the wind is piss poor. Ended up fishing drano on Saturday with easily 100 other boats and saw only six springers hooked. two smaller sturgeon were hooked as well in the toilet bowl. We were committed as this was the best weekend for us. I shoulda stayed home. Fml. This was an expensive lesson!