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Get ready for reel good time this fall
Throw a dart at a map of any river or stream in Southeastern Washington and you're likely to hit a winner. With exceptional runs of steelhead and salmon surging up the Columbia and Snake rivers and their many tributaries, anglers should have little trouble hooking up this fall.
John Whalen, the state Department of Fish and Wildlife regional fish program manager in Spokane, said this year's steelhead run is the largest on record.
About 600,000 steelhead already have passed Bonneville Dam on the Columbia River and continue to pour into the Snake and Columbia river basins.
Whalen said because only a relatively small number of returning hatchery steelhead are needed for hatchery production, the state is allowing anglers to harvest three hatchery steelhead a day in Southeast Washington.
All Southeastern Washington tributaries - including the Walla Walla, Tucannon and Grande Ronde - are included and Oregon has already enacted a rule change to allow anglers three steelhead on the Snake and Grande Ronde rivers.
The rule change, however, does not include the Columbia above McNary Dam where anglers are beginning to boat fair numbers of feisty steelhead, especially as the weather begins to cool and water temperatures drop.
Whalen said that excellent fishing is expected in the Lewiston-Clarkston area of the Snake and on the Salmon and Clearwater rivers. Recent daily counts at Little Goose and Lower Granite dams show 4,000 to 5,000 adult summer-run steelhead surging through the fish ladders.
"This is certainly the year to catch one of these beautiful, big fish," he said.
They may not be as sleek as steelhead, but thousands of upriver bright fall chinook salmon are moving into the Hanford Reach area of the Columbia.
Joe Hymer, a state Fish and Wildlife biologist in Vancouver, said that the upriver bright chinook forecast has been upgraded to 232,800 fish.
"It's not a record run (420,600 returned to the Hanford Reach in 1987) but it's very good," he said.
Hymer said the latest tally at McNary Dam shows already that 85,300 adult chinook salmon have been recorded.
"Our escapement goal is 43,500 fish, so we've nearly doubled that mark. And this is the 18th straight year that we've met the escapement goal," he added.
Hymer also noted that a possible jack (immature) upriver bright chinook record of over 44,000 fish may be set this year at Bonneville Dam, which bodes well for the next couple of year's fall salmon runs.
As for catching these fish, Hymer said recent boat checks last week showed anglers with about half a fish per boat, "but there are times when the average has been a fish a boat or more, especially in the area around Vernita Bridge."
All this comes just in the time for the sixth annual Knights of Columbus/Tri-Cities Prep salmon derby Oct. 6-7.
Tournament organizer Don McBride said the annual fund-raising tournament attracted 250 anglers last year, but even more anglers are likely this year because of the exceptional salmon run.
And McBride is optimistic that tournament anglers will boat plenty of fish because fish numbers are up and the timing of the derby is just about perfect, a point Hymer agreed with.
"We generally see the fishing peak for upriver brights around the start of hunting season in early October, " Hymer said, "but the catch can be excellent well into late October, although the fish are generally pretty dark by then and angling pressure is fairly light."
The tournament begins at 5 a.m. Oct. 6.
The tournament boundaries reach from McNary Dam upstream to Priest Rapids Dam, including the prime Hanford Reach section, a 45-mile section where tens of thousands of fall chinook salmon spawn.
McBride said one lucky angler could win a $25,000 boat, motor and trailer for catching a specially-tagged salmon - a feat no angler has yet to accomplish.
The tournament also offers seven other prizes, including $1,000 in cash for the largest fish.
Proceeds from the derby support activities at Tri-Cities Prep, the area's newest Catholic high school which opened in 1998 in Pasco.
Entries for the fishing derby are $25 for the two-day event ($30 after Oct. 4) and are available at most sporting goods stores and boat marinas in the Tri-Cities and Desert Aire. Kids can fish for $10 and anyone can sign up until 8 a.m. Oct. 6.
Even if you don't fish, McBride said people interested in seeing or photographing some of the largest, most magnificent salmon in the world might want to visit the three official weigh-in sites - the Vernita Bridge launch site, Ringold, north of Pasco, and the Snyder Street boat ramp in Richland.
Anglers can get more information by visiting the tournament Web site at www.rc.net/knights/kc3307/derby.htm or call McBride at 943-0723.
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