N & S Santiam and McKenzie Reports

~North Santiam creel encountered 118 anglers. There were 2 summer steelhead kept, and 10 spring chinook kept. As of August 11, the ACE has maintained the flow in the North Santiam at 850 cfs. Temperatures at Mehama ranged between 52 and 62 degrees this week, which is a couple degrees cooler than last week. Spring chinook season closes on August 15th and reopens on November 1st.

~South Santiam creel encountered 89 anglers. There were 6 summer steelhead kept, 7 spring chinook were kept, 7 chinook were released, and 1 cutthroat was released. As of August 11, the ACE has lowered the flow in the South Santiam to 550 cfs. The season for chinook will close on August 15th and will reopen on November 1st.

~Foster Lake creel encountered 47 anglers. There were 25 rainbows kept, 13 rainbows released, 1 smolt kept, and 5 smallmouth bass released. Boat angling is still the majority of the fishing pressure, but bank angling did pick up a bit this week. The water temperature continues to stay warm (~71 degrees) and the trout are found around 30-40 feet down.

~Green Peter-I only talked to two anglers and they had 8 kokanee. They said that it was slow for everyone around them as well. The Thistle Creek ramp is still the only boat ramp access. As of August 11, the ACE has lowered the flow from Green Peter dam to 510 cfs.

~McKenzie River creel encountered 151 anglers. There were 1 summer steelhead kept, 1 summer steelhead released, 3 spring chinook kept, and 4 chinook released. In addition, there were 68 hatchery rainbows kept, 1 unmarked trout kept, 95 hatchery trout released, 13 unmarked rainbows released, 2 cutthroat released, and 1 smolt released. As of August 11, the ACE has maintained the flow from Cougar dam at 220 cfs. Cougar is empty due to construction of a water temperature control structure. Cougar quit generating on April 1, 2002 and will remain out of service until 2005. Stomach contents of 746 hatchery trout recovered from releases in the McKenzie River have been examined this season. Most trout had ingested only aquatic insects, however, 9 chinook fry and 6 unidentified salmonids have been found. Chinook fry are large this time of year, and it would be difficult for a rainbow trout to eat some of the larger fry. However, trout that we are keeping in the hatchery are still able to eat the smaller fry.

~Middle Fork Willamette creel is completed for the 2003 season. As of August 11, the ACE has lowered the flow coming out of Lookout Point Reservoir to 2380 cfs.

~Adult traps on the North Santiam (Stayton Island) captured 7 marked summer steelhead, 22 marked spring chinook, 3 unmarked spring chinook, and 1 lamprey in the traps. To date, there have been 1877 marked summer steelhead, 40 unmarked summers, 679 winter steelhead, 5808 marked spring chinook, and 616 unmarked chinook caught in the traps. Capture of chinook has dropped dramatically.

~The Leaburg trap captured 9 marked summer steelhead, 1 unmarked summer steelhead, 41 marked spring chinook, and 22 unmarked spring chinook. To date, there have been 94 marked summer steelhead, 17 unmarked summer steelhead, 345 marked spring chinook, and 187 unmarked spring chinook captured in the trap.

~The Foster Dam trap (South Santiam) remains closed. It will reopen in Mid-August.