I know boats that are releasing 6, 8, 10+ chiniok a day the last week in the estuary, and most are hatchery fish.

Conversely the clip rate on coho right now is awful. Maybe 30%.

There are still fish moving through the estuary, just very minimal effort. There are coho, but they are not slowing down till a little further east so the folks running their normal August B10 routine are struggling. Guys that have a better coho program are boating double digit fish per day, but lucky to kill 2 to 4 fish.

 

Hallelujah, some fish appear to be moving upriver finally.

 

They are not in the Deschutes yet! Holy crap is it slow.......steelhead was pretty decent in August , dead this weekend and Chinook are conspicuously absent. Typically I have plenty of salmon for Christmas baskets by now and switch to fun fishing (steelhead) about now. I hope they're coming .......

 

30k across The Dalles the last three days...

 

With the very abundant amount of forage fish in the ocean and in the river (evidenced by birds diving all over) it is apparent to me the fish are not that interested in bait and stopping/slowing down for sea water to fresh acclamation is happening further east. Water temps will come down as temps out east get lower and that'll draw the late comers which is why I remain very optimistic for a fantastic "B" run. I'm just hoping they wait until October (since they're closing the river Sept 18-30).

 

Fishing g man, B10 to puget island remains open for coho. The closure on 18th is from Warrior rock to Bonneville.

 

The closure on 18th is from Warrior rock to Bonneville.

And unfortunately, above BON.

 

How soon might we see a meeting to discuss a reopener?

 

Probably later this week, Wednesday?

 

For the sake of argument, last year the estimate for the same period was 5,400 kept

 

About right by my small sample. Last year 5 in my tag at this point and this year 1.

 

There's hope. Big jump in PIT tags crossing Bonnie in last 24 hours. 20k+ for today's count??


Post Mortem. Didn't happen. 12.6k

 

There's hope. Big jump in PIT tags crossing Bonnie in last 24 hours. 20k+ for today's count??

12,600

 

Trying to plan for Monday 9/22/2025. What are the chances of it re-opening around the St.Helens area?

A. Less than 50%
B. More than 50%
C. Bend Over Now

 

IMO good chance there will be at least a short reopener soon. Whether it's open 9/22 iffy

 

With no word out yet. I 'd say we can all go with option C,....with no lube included.

 

Not going to get my hopes up. A run forecast at 110% of last year is running about 80% at Bonneville. Upriver dam passage is lagging further behind. The TAC has a lot of balls to juggle, so one never knows...

 

The Chinook run was downgraded. I think URB's and BPH took the biggest hits.

 

I’ve been out every afternoon above Camas. It seems like the fishing was great early last week and has been steadily declining since.

 

I'm just surprised we haven't heard anything yet and that there's no meeting scheduled with the season set to close in two days. Seems like we usually at least know one way or another by now. I mean I guess we do, it's closed until we hear otherwise. I guess I'm just spoiled and so used to there being an extension.

 

What exactly was gained when the season end was reduced from 31 Dec to 17 Sep over the years with run sizes never fluctuating much? But I suppose that's a totally different subject....

 

Fishing effort was condensed into smaller areas that are easier to monitor and hand out tickets for barbs. Also it creates more division within the community (sport/nets), and the man likes division, makes it difficult for the slaves to rise up

 

A somewhat conservative plan reduced the chances they'd be forced to make an in season closure. As the numbers get crunched, if they support it, there is the possibility of more time on the entire river. It happened last year.

Crab, such negativity. I'm reminded of a line from "Good Morning Vietnam" regarding someone who needs something..Of course, you are not the only one on this forum to whom I could apply that line.

 

Lol
I’m not stewing in my basement
I’m fishing while I can.
stick’em’s question is a valid one
What has been gained?

 

Here's the announcement:

 

No lack of kings in the ocean still…this weekend was 🔥…let the whole river fish💯

 

 

So what I'm looking for is an email today announcing a compact meeting tomorrow....from what I recall, they meet on Wednesdays. My instinct is if we don't get a notice today for tomorrow, the chance of extending the season drops significantly.

Is anyone looking for or thinking the same thing?

See 2 posts up. Wednesday Compact

 

🤞

 

And the decision is................................................. (I'm dying to know) LOLOL

 

The 947 am fact sheet will be captivating.

 

My sense is we'll get a small extension and then they'll reevaluate and likely open it up for October (when there's significantly less fish around and much less pressure, though the fishing can still be very good).

 

And that they did. Extended for 4 more days.

 

Where does the fact sheet get published?

 

I usually watch this one:

https://wdfw.wa.gov/sites/default/files/2025-09/09-17-25-fall-fact-sheet-no-4b.pdf

 

WOOP WOOP, river wide reopening recomended through Sunday!

 

I bet the girl nets go back in Thursday night or Sunday night or both.

 

Meanwhile in Idaho..

F&G to close unclipped adult fall Chinook salmon harvest Sept. 19

Idaho Fish and Game is closing harvest of unclipped adult fall Chinook salmon statewide beginning Friday, Sept. 19 through Friday, Sept. 26. During this period, fisheries for adipose-clipped fall chinook will remain open, but all unclipped adult fall Chinook salmon must be released.

idfg.idaho.gov