Columbia River Fall Salmon Fishing looking good for 2015
This past week a plethora of Columbia River return expectations came out from departments in Oregon in Washington. Take them with a grain of salt as they’re about as successful as the weatherman of the NW in predicting these things.
The 2015 return of Columbia River Upriver Bright Salmon is expected to be as good or better than last year’s return. Of course anyone that fished fall Salmon on the Columbia River with me knows how good the fishing was in 2014. For comparison’s sake the Upriver Bright Fall Chinook return was 1.3 million fish which fell short of the 1.6 million expectation, but was still a killer return. Remember, they missed it going the other direction in 2013 when 1.2 million were predicted and 1.6 million returned. These upriver fish are what make up the Klickitat River Salmon fishing that so many of you now enjoy with me. Last year that fishery was booked solid, so book now or during January when I reach out to everyone who fished with me in 2014.
The Tule Salmon component of the run is really important for the seasons they set. The Tule portion of the run returns to the lower Columbia River and for a variety of reasons in threatened and as far as “Salmon Recovery” goes, there’s not a lot we can do about this one unless we decide to remove our population centers and till up all the concrete. In that this isn’t happening anytime soon, seasons are set around acceptable impacts put on these threatened fish. The departments keep tabs on the catch rates and when our impacts have been met- season over. The 2015 Tule return is expected to be slightly better than last year, which should give us similar seasons for the Buoy10 Salmon fishing that so many of us enjoy in Astoria. Like the Klickitat, Buoy 10 was jammed full and folks are going to want to move quick to get on the 25′ Willie Raptor. Should you need to book late, I will have additional guides working with me this year.
So all in all, 2015 is looking good, with lots of fishing fun on the horizon. Look for more updates on our Columbia River Fall Salmon return as Spring approaches. That’s when the official seasons are set, but consider them to be similar as 2014.
Thanks and tight lines,
Lance