SPRINGER NATION: Season extended to April 22 on lower Columbia River
POSTED April 12, 2012 / 3:06 p.m.

VANCOUVER, Wash. - Thanks to some seriously challenging (read: crappy) water conditions, Springer Nation has been scratchng, scraping and clawing to find a steady bite on the lower Columbia River. Don't look now, boys and girls, but it looks like things are rounding into shape a little. Just in time to take advantage of a bonus week-plus as Wasington and Oregon fisheries managers extend the deadline until April 22.

8READ BILL MONROE'S STORY ON THE EXTENSION APPROVAL and stay tuned for more announcments as they're made public.

SPRINGER NATION: Sluggish springer catch rate might equal extra days
UPDATED March 25, 2012 / 12:56 p.m.

PORTLAND - The early spring Chinook bite has routinely slow, as Walgamott reported on his blog over on NW Sportaman. The latest report from Bill Moroe of the Oregonian hints at a few bonus days at the end of the season?

8READ MONROE'S LATEST ON THE SPRING CHINOOK BITE and keep informed about potential season changes.

SPRINGER NATION: We kick it all off March 17 with NWWC Springer Nation
POSTED March 7, 2012 / 11:50 a.m.

PORTLAND - The scouting missions have been ongoing for over a month now among the crowd that just can't wait for the dam counts at Bonneville Dam to start ringing. There are spring Chinook in the Columbia River, despite what those cursed fish counters say, and the photo above is proof.

Fresh springer, caught the morning of March 7 by Bill "Swanny" Swann (one of two caught trolling Fire Brined herring near the I-5 Bridge). Excellent timing: We crank our official on-air coverage of Springer Nation 2012 on March 17.

8GO "LIKE" THE WILD COUNTRY FACEBOOK PAGE FOR EXCLUSIVE Springer Nation content, photos and information.

8FOLLOW THE OFFICIAL IFISH.COM SPRINGER REPORT THREAD for news about where the bite is.

NWWC PODCAST: Mike Zavadlov gives up the goods on Sol Duc springers
POSTED June 3, 2011 / 7:30 a.m.

FORKS, Wash. - You know you've had a good interview with an Olympic Peninsula guide when General Zog takes off his headphones during a break and says "Man, that was some good s*it!"

Indeed. In this case, the supplier of said information was Mike Zavadlov of Mike Z.'s Guide Service, who we caught just as he arrived at the head of the Connoly Drift on the Sol Duc River.

XHOP ABOARD MIKE Z.'s DRIFT BOAT FOR SOME KILLER INFO on the Sol Duc's spring Chinook fishery.

SPRINGER FEVER: Stay tuned for afternoon announcement of extension
POSTED May 13, 2011 / 5:50 a.m.

VANCOUVER, Wash. - Here's hoping that Friday the 13th turns out to be a lucky day for Columbia River spring Chinook anglers. A Columbia River Compact meeting this afternoon will determine whether sport anglers will be allowed to fish the lower river again after a historic stampede of May springers precipitated a run-size upgrade from 198,400 to 210,000.

Here's what the wags in the Pacific NW fishing media are saying:

8ANDY WALGAMOTT'S EDITOR'S BLOG at Northwest Sportsman with the mid-week read.

8ALLEN THOMAS OF THE COLUMBIAN files his report on the possible reopening.

8BILL MONROE OF THE PORTLAND OREGONIAN with his original report on the run upgrade.

SPRINGER FEVER: I have become "People Who Sleep at Rest Areas" ...
POSTED May 9, 2011 / 8:30 p.m.

SEATTLE, Wash. - 6:00 p.m., Friday evening, May 6, 2011: Give my two unlucky 48-quart blue coolers the evil eye as I yank the big, white 120-quart job out of the shed for a Wind River spring Chinook dive bomb run.

The blue guys are my bananas — killing, slowing or otherwise messing with the action over the past few fish raids to the Columbia — so they have been permanently moved to inactive reserve.

Plus, if you’re going to catch Man Fish, you need a Man-Fish-sized cooler, and the white one might as well be a freakin’ coffin for all but the biggest of kings that head up the crick. Why hasn’t this occurred to me before, I briefly wonder.

SPRINGER FEVER: Deep science: Check PIT tag numbers for upriver clues
POSTED May 9, 2011 / 7:50 a.m.

CARSON, Wash. - That sneaky, sneaky Rob Phillips. While many of his counterparts have been doing laps in the Drano 500, he's quietly stationed his Yakima Bait-wrapped sled at the mouth of the Wind River for the past week and hammered the springers.

Dig a little deeper in the Fish Passage Center website than just the raw numbers and you'll find hidden nuggets of info. Like, for instance, the passage of PIT-tagged fish bound for specific hatcheries on the Columbia River system.

8CHECK OUT THE LATEST DAM COUNTS as the 2011 springer season shifts into the second half, with upriver fisheries beginning to pop

SPRINGER FEVER: Bite moves upriver to mid Columbia, Drano, Oregon City
POSTED April 28, 2011 / 11:50 a.m.

LYLE, Wash. - All it took was one little Facebook post by Yakima Bait Co. pro-staffer Bob Barthlow of Rivers Northwest Guide Service to kick-start the buzz about the upriver springer fishery. When you post a photo of four springers in the fish box and say "By 9:30, two more to go", you get the attention of a springer-starved band of freaks. Including me.

8CHECK OUT BOB BARTHLOW'S FACEBOOK PAGE and pay attention to the Springer Fever page as reports of improved action on the Willamette and mid Columbia begin to filter in.

SPRINGER FEVER: Lynch picking up springers on mainstem Umpqua River
POSTED April 28, 2011 / 9:50 a.m.

LONGVIEW - You're at the mercy of Mother Nature lately if you're trying to find springers on the Umpqua. Unfortunately, she hasn't been in a very forgiving mood: water condtions have been brutal. Still, there are a few fish being caught, as shown by Chad Lynch of Chad Lynch's Guide Service.

Lynch is hosting Big D. and Nick Petosa for steelhead on Friday. Be sure to tune in Saturday morning for the Road Trip Recap!

SPRINGER FEVER: Focus changes to South Coast as Rogue bite heats up
POSTED April 4, 2011 / 7:12 p.m.

GOLD BEACH, Ore. - All this attention on the Columbia and Willamette rivers, and the best spring Chinook fishing is percolating 250 miles south/southwest of PDX in the Rogue Valley.

While the lower Columbia closed to sport anglers on Monday, South Coast anglers like NW Wild Country blogger Andy Martin and Paul Lefebvre racked up another strong day on the Rogue, which has quietly been a much better spring fishery than the Big C and muddy Willamette.

We chatted with the Rogue River Crew on April 16 on NW Wild Country. Podcast coming!

SPRINGER FEVER: With lower Columbia now closed, time to spread out
POSTED April 5, 2011 / 10:50 a.m.

LONGVIEW - It somewhat alarms me to see a thread titled "Springers are over ... what's next for you?" on one of the local fishing blogboards. Yes, April 4 has come and gone, and yes, the lower Columbia is currently closed for spring Chinook. However, as Walgamott so dutifully reported on Monday, springer season is far from over.

8HERE'S A LITTLE INFO ON THE COWLITZ RIVER to help you wile away some time until sport anglers are allowed back out on the Columbia below Bonneville Dam.
8IF THE WILLAMETTE EVER FALLS BACK INTO SHAPE - kidding, the Willamette will be THE place to be before long - here's some good general information on the fishery.

SPRINGER FEVER: Murky Columbia, Willamette call for Big Al's Fish Flash
POSTED April 2, 2011 / 1:50 p.m.

PORTLAND - It's been a season of cold, murky water on the lower Columbia River. As Wild Country guest Bill "Swanny" Swann stated on the air two weeks ago: "If you aren't fishing with a flasher, you're basically aren't fishing." Suffice it to say, the gentleman in the picture above agrees.

Below is Buzz Ramsey's rigging for herring behind a Fish Flash, with some notes from Buzz:
n "You can use either a spreader or a free-sliding sinker rig - I'm a little old-school, I like a spreader - but a lot of the guides prefer the free-sliding rig in case it gets hung up in the net and the fish takes off."
n "A single bead-chain swivel halfway down the leader removes more twist than five swivels on either end of the leader."
n "With a solid-tie mooching rig I run the hooks 4 inches from eye to eye for green-label herring."
n "I'll run 40-pound mainline but 25-pound leader - the smaller leader is necessary to keep from tearing the bait."
n "Let the fish take it. I know it's said over and over, but anytime you're fishing herring, let the fish take it down three or four times before you set the hook."
-JS

8NWWC BLOGGER ANDY MARTIN hopped aboard the Yakima Bait Willie with Buzz, South Coast guide Dave Castellanos, Walgamott from NW Sportsman and Portland-based writer Terry Otto. Here's the 42nd Street Report. (March 26)

8OUR PORTLAND-BASED COMCAST BUDDY Owin Hays of Outdoor GPS (on the air on Comcast right after us on Saturday!) gives us the scoop on the I-5 bite. C'mon, Owin, we need more biters! (March 19)

8TRYING TO GET THE LOW-DOWN on the early-season bite, we tap into our springer sensi, Buzz Ramsey of Yakima Bait Co. Buzz had already landed his first springer of the young season, and offered up some sound advice. (March 12)

8BUZZ AT THE BASSMASTER CLASSIC??!? As a matter of fact, yes ... but it's not long before this PODCAST EXCLUSIVE turns straight to spring Chinook as Buzz lays out the pre-season advice. (February 19)

8SWANNY'S FIRST SPRINGER TRIP is in the books. How did he do? Tune into this pre-pre-preseason Q&A with one of the recognized highlighners of the Columbia River spring Chinook fishery. (February 12)

8SCRATCHING FOR OUR FIRST SPRINGER report on the Willamette River, we connect with Outdoor GPS host Owin Hays in Portland. Is February 5 too early for a springer report? Hell no! (February 5)

PORTLAND - Some information is timeless. Like, for instance, the following springer podcasts:

8UNBELIEVABLY DETAILED HERRING INFO from one of the most detail-oriented, creative anglers on the West Coast. Val lets loose some previously hush-hush information about brines, scents and cures, including the "Hot Tail" herring mix. KILLER!

8THE LEGEND HIMSELF, CLANCY HOLT holds court on the most likely locations to bang out an early-season spring Chinook. Put these spots on your to-do list this month: Multnomah Channel, Cathlamet.

8KEEP UP WITH ALL OF OUR WILDCASTS at the NW Wild Country On Demand Center.

SPRINGER FEVER: Walgamott's 2 a.m. wakeup, and a day on the Big C.
POSTED March 30, 2011 / 6:20 p.m.

PORTLAND - I'm a sucker for a good flame-run story ... as long as I'm not the poor bugger reaching for the alarm clock at 2 a.m.

Northwest Sportsman editor Andy Walgamott made one of his infamous down-and-backer trips to the Columbia River last weekend to fish with Buzz Ramsey, Andy Martin, Dave Castellanos and Terry Otto. It went something like this:

8WALGAMOTT'S FLAME RUN TO THE COLUMBIA starts at 2 a.m. and finally comes to a halt at 7:10 p.m.

SPRINGER FEVER 2011: Buzz Ramsey lands a Columbia River springer
POSTED March 30, 2011 / 4:00 p.m.

PORTLAND, Ore. - As many times as I've fished with Pacific NW icon Buzz Ramsey, I can't say that I've ever seen him land a fish. No kidding. Maybe that's because I'm always fishing in Buzz's boat, and he's playing the role of dutiful host.

In this short YouTube clip, Buzz finally gets the chance to feel the tug of a bright hatchery springer, as guide Eric Linde and Berkley rep Stefan Gambel look on.

You go, Buzz!

-JS

SPRINGER FEVER: Hit-and-miss springer bite continues on Columbia River
POSTED March 30, 2011 / 5:30 p.m.

PORTLAND - Quick Columbia River text report from Bill "Swanny" Swann of Swanny's fishing: "4 for 4". Not bad, considering his answer to the question "seeing any other fish caught?": "Nope."

Despite continued guide reports to the contrary, fisheries managers indicate that the catch rate on the lower river have spiked, as reported by Walgamott in his latest blog over at Northwest Sportsman:

8NWS BLOG ON RISING CATCH RATES on the Columbia River around Cathlamet.

SPRINGER FEVER: Buzz Ramsey's new Spin-N-Glo herring rig detailed
POSTED April 12, 2010 / 5:30 p.m.

KLICKITAT - Salmon fishing knows no state boundaries. Consequently, a nifty gear tweak created by our bank-fishing brothers down on southern Oregon's Rogue River made its way to Buzz Ramsey's boat on the Columbia River last week.

Check out the photo above. That's two pieces of essential salmon gear - a Spin-N-Glo and a herring - connected by simple tubing, rigged on a three-hook Columbia River trolling setup.

Simple. Genius.

8CLICK HERE TO FIND OUThow Buzz rigs his new Columbia River springer bait, courtesy of a step-by-step explanation by Bill Monroe of the Oregonian.

WILD BLOG: Schneider kicks off his Columbia River Spring(er) Break
POSTED April 12, 2010 / 10:30 a.m.

PORTLAND - Since finding a couple of weeks off this summer proved to be impossible for me this year, I decided to take two weeks off in the peak of springer season.

It was tough to wait until my weekend arrived, especially with good reports coming from the Columbia all week, but my vacation arrived and I started out bright and early Friday with a soldier just out of basic, his dad John LeCarno and my good Friend Tom VanderPlaat. 

Within the first 100 yards of our first pass, Tom hooks up with his second springer of 2010. Then it's the soldier's turn, and Joel lands his first springer of 2010 in a light rain before heading back to a dry and warm Southern California.

Saturday arrived and I had the pleasure of fishing with my wife and son and two friends for work, Mike Fung and Shawn Seals. After fishing Friday and finding everyone in the Portland Metro area that owned a boat on the water, I figured it couldn't get anymore crowded for Saturday, so off we headed to the river.

At 4 a.m.

Again. 

But I was wrong: there were more boats than ever! Oh well, it was a sight to see, even if fishing proved to be poor (which it didn't).

On our first pass, Missy hooked up and hopes were high. On our way to the top of the run, I attempted to count boats ... I quickly lost count just after 100, but I estimated right around a thousand boats in the lower run we were making (Caterpillar Island to Frenchman's Bar). On our second pass, Mike Fung and Shawn Seals hooked up with nice springers and on our third and last run of the day, my son Ayden and I found our fish. 

Five fish with five bites, all before noon. Catching can't get too much better, even in such crowded conditions.  

Green label herring, plug cut and spinning 20 inches off the bottom did the trick for all five fish. 

Now off to actually start my fishing vacation.

-AS

SPRINGER FEVER FLASH: Columbia springers on the chew this afternoon
POSTED April 8, 2010 / 1:50 p.m.

ARLINGTON - Text message from my buddy Nate Fenton just came in: "12 hookups today, it's good!" Similar news from Wild Country blogger David Johnson, and Facebook friends like Mark Freeman of Triple S Guide Service, whose fish box is pictured above: "One pass, five keepers, it was only 7:45. TIME FOR BREAKFAST."

We're all over it Saturday morning, with live on-the-water reports from Springer Central.

nTUNE IN LIVE, 6-8 a.m. PST on SPORTSRADIO 950 KJR!

nCATCH IT STREAMING ONLINE at www.950kjr.com!

nDOWNLOAD THE PODCAST at our ON DEMAND CENTER!

SALMON REPORT: Cell phone report hits NWWC studio during April 3 show
POSTED April 4, 2010 / 10:50 a.m.

SEATTLE - Northwest Wild Country co-host Mike Perusse's cell phone went off at about 7:15 a.m. yesterday. Gabe Miller from Sportco was checking in from the Columbia River. The report: see the above picture.

It was a tough day all around the big river on Saturday, but Gabe and Bill Swann of Swanny's Fishing started the morning off right, whacking this big, bright springer on the first pass of the morning.

Keep those cell phone photos coming, folks!

-JS

SPRINGER FEVER: D.J. with a little cell-phone Springer Fever success report
POSTED April 1, 2010 / 2:20 p.m.

SOMEHWERE ON THE COLUMBIA RIVER - This is probably blasphemy, considering the James Overstreet photo art at the top of the page, but, well, it turns out that we have use for those darn cell-phone cameras after all.

Like, for instance, we can see when one of our NW Wild Country bloggers - in this case David Johnson of David Johnson's Guide Service - has whacked a spring Chinook on the Columbia River. The fish above is probably still quivering, thanks to the magic of digital telephonics.

Send in your cell FishPhone shots: I never thought I'd say this, but, I want to see your best cell-phone fish photos. Drop 'em on me at joel@nwwildcountry.com. Best shots get swagged up from the Prize Cave.

-JS

GUEST BLOG: Springer Fever spreading in southern Oregon's Rogue River
UPDATED March 30, 2010 / 5:30 p.m.

GOLD BEACH, Or. - It's hard to understand what overtakes one when the first report of spring-run salmon hits the rumor mill, internet, and the Rogue Outdoor Store. In my case, it caused me to drop all steelhead gear immediately and focus on jet boat safety checks, maintenance, and springer rigs.

These football-shaped Chinook are the prize of the West Coast. They're mean fighting machines that can scream out yards of line on an initial run. Spingers will test gear to the end of its limit. They run the river in brutal conditions that some can’t believe anyone would be involved with.

This is the beginning of Spinger Madness on Oregon's South Coast.

8READ THE REST OF PAUL LEFEBVRE'S ROGUE RIVER REPORTand about the great springer bite happening now on the Southern Oregon Coast.

SPRINGER FEVER: Springer Chinook bite starting to percolate on Columbia?
POSTED March 23, 2010 / 5:10 p.m.

KALAMA - Starting (finally!) to get a better trickle of positive reports from the lower Columbia. We've seen the odd onesy-twosy multi-fish day over the early season, but guides like Jim Stahl of J & J Guide Service and Mark Coleman of All Rivers Guide Service have started to post photos on their Guides Home Port pages on Gamefishin.com. In addition, I got an e-mail and photo from Buzz Ramsey of a bright springer caught last week on his first trip of the year (on a Mag Lip, of course), and dam counts at Bonneville have finally, mercifully, crawled out of the deep freeze.

8ANDY WALGAMOTT AT NORTHWEST SPORTSMAN IS ALL OVER IT with his latest Editor's Blog. Go check it out.

SPRINGER FEVER: Columbia springer runs getting later and later ... and later
POSTED March 9, 2010 / 9:00 a.m.

SEATTLE - So here we are, with a spiffy 470,000-plus-huge-effin'-GRANDE forecast number in our heads, patiently awaiting the explosive start of Springer Fever 2010.

As the Fish Passage Center so bluntly tells us, the guests of honor might've gotten the wrong invitation.

At the very least, they like to arrive fasionably late, it seems. As Andy Walgamott and the crew at Northwest Sportsman point out, the Columbia River's spring Chinook timing is getting later and later and later each year. How late? According to Walgy's calculations, we're stumbling along at roughly 6 percent of the 10-year average as of last week!

8CHECK OUT WALGAMOTT'S "EDITOR'S BLOG" for the straight scoop on the sluggish spring Chinook run.

8CHECK OUT SHANGLE'S LIST of early-season locations for Columbia River springers.

Needless to say, this will be a top of conversation this Saturday on NW Wild Country:

nTUNE IN LIVE, 6-8 a.m. PST on SPORTSRADIO 950 KJR!

nCATCH IT STREAMING ONLINE at www.950kjr.com!

nDOWNLOAD THE PODCAST at our ON DEMAND CENTER!

SPRINGER FEVER: Nectar 101 from the Pautzke Traveling Classroom
POSTED March 8, 2010 / 9:00 a.m.

SEATTLE - All 500,000 of those spring Chinook forecasted for the Columbia River are going to share one trait when the hit the lower river: they'll be H-U-N-G-R-Y. Check out the video from the Pautzke Traveling Classroom on Nectar, Fire Power and Kokanee Fuel. We all know that Chinook are highly reactive to smell, and this trio of products could make the difference between a day of scratch fishing and a limit of springers.

-JS

SPRINGER FEVER: Springer reports trickling in as Portland area waters open
POSTED March 1, 2010 / 12:45 p.m.

SEATTLE - Pretty quiet today on the Columbia River spring Chinook front. And, in general, it's been pretty quiet all the way around. We're seeing some fleeting, onesy-twosy reports of fish being caught in the lower river and a handful here and there in various tributaries, but, they're scattered.

Here are a few of the latest reports from the Springer Zone:

8IFISH.COM's 2010 SPRINGER REPORT THREAD

8GAMEFISHIN.COM SPRING CHINOOK REPORT and BARRIER DAM REPORT

SPRINGER FEVER '10: Building up the WildCast resources for SF 2010!
POSTED Feb. 22, 2010 / 10:45 a.m.

SEATTLE - We're not wasting any time with prep-work for Springer Fever 2010, and you shouldn't be either. Over the next two months, we'll connect our faithful Wild Country listeners with the "Who's Who of Columbia River spring Chinook": guides, fisheries managers, tackle manufacturers, biologists, etc. If you're looking for information on the great springer fishery of 2010, THIS IS THE PLACE TO GET IT!

The following are our first Springer Fever '10 WildCasts. Check back here often as we post EXCLUSIVE web-only Q&As with the best spring Chinook sources in the Pacific Northwest.

NWWC EXCLUSIVE: Lower Columbia March springers: GO H-E-R-E!
NEW Feb. 22, 2010 / 1:30 p.m.

CATHLAMET, Wash. - So, finally, we're back to some familiar lower Columbia River stomping grounds.

After three years of below-average (some would even say poor) production around Cathlamet, water conditions appear to be favorable for a leading-edge bite at some traditional lower-river favorites. Warmer-than-usual late-February water temperatures have a lot of us looking ahead to a strong early-March bite, so, let's take a look at some go-to spots for you springer rats who simply can't wait any longer.

8CHECK OUT SHANGLE'S LIST of early-season locations for Columbia River springers.

8OUR COLUMBIA RIVER SENSEI gives the Wild Country crew an overview of the upriver fisheries for 2010. Starting with the 4,500-fish projection in his home river, the Klickitat, Buzz spools us through the possibilities for upriver opportunities.

8VETERAN GUIDE JACK GLASS shares some of his hard-earned knowledge about the Portland-area springer fishery, with observations on water temperature, season timing and the differences in the fisheries below I-5 and around I-205.

8TAPPING INTO THE RESOURCE DYNAMO that is Northwest Sportsman editor Andy Walgamott, who logged the research hours for a couple of excellent pieces in the March issue of NWS. Disecting the run forecasts!

8UNBELIEVABLY DETAILED HERRING INFO from one of the most detail-oriented, creative anglers on the West Coast. Val lets loose some previously hush-hush information about brines, scents and cures, including the "Hot Tail" herring mix. KILLER!

8THE LEGEND HIMSELF, CLANCY HOLT holds court on the most likely locations to bang out an early-season spring Chinook. Put these spots on your to-do list this month: Multnomah Channel, Cathlamet.

8KEEP UP WITH ALL OF OUR WILDCASTS at the NW Wild Country On Demand Center.

SPRINGER FEVER '10: March NWS blows out springer mappage, charts, etc.
POSTED Feb. 19, 2009 / 11:45 a.m.

SEATTLE - Whatever it is they're brewing over at the Pyramid Alehouse across from Safeco Field, it's making for some mighty smooth flavah coming from the office located just upstairs of Haywire Hefeweizen Heaven.

That, of course, is where Andy Walgamott and the crew at Northwest Sportsman headquarters, and, after spending much of last week standing in front of Walgamott's "dummy board" for the March issue, I'm finally able to let the cat out of the bag: the "All Hail Spring Kings" issue of NWS is ridiculously, absurdly loaded with so much handy-dandy springer info, it makes the head swim.

See the "Springer Resources" graphic above? That's a sneaky peek at the cool map that Walgy put together highlighting all the little nook-and-cranny springer hot spots that you hear whispered about throughout the season. It's part of a 27-page springer barrage that, frankly, will be off the newsstands of your local magazine outlet in a heartbeat. Get your copy E-A-R-L-Y, my friends.

8CHECK OUT WALGAMOTT'S "EDITOR'S BLOG" for his spin on the Columbia springer seasons, and scroll down to the bottom of the page for yet another map (this one a handy little number that highlights in graphic form the seasons as they were set at yesterday's Compact meeting). Walgamott will join us on the air tomorrow, March 20, as we blow the doors off the first week of the 2010 spring Chinook season:

nTUNE IN LIVE, 6-8 a.m. PST on SPORTSRADIO 950 KJR!

nCATCH IT STREAMING ONLINE at www.950kjr.com!

nDOWNLOAD THE PODCAST at our ON DEMAND CENTER!

WILD WIRE FLASH: Columbia River's 2010 spring Chinook seasons set
POSTED Feb. 18, 2009 / 5:45 a.m.

VANCOUVER - The message sent to the sport anglers of Washington and Oregon today by the Columbia River Compact: Learn how to fish upriver.

The much-anticipated 2010 Columbia River spring Chinook season will come and go in a flash for Portland/Vancouver-based anglers, thanks to a season structure that allows 42 days of fishing below I-5 – most of it well before the traditional peak of the run – and 22 days between I-205 and I-5. The upriver seasons, though, are the most wide-open they’ve been in decades, with a 7-days-per-week from mid-March through May.

The spring seasons, as approved this afternoon, are:

Below I-5
Open 6 days a week from Buoy 10 to I-5 from March 1 through April 18 (closed on the following Tuesdays for commercial fishing: March 9, 16, 23, 30)

I-5 to I-205
Open 7 days a week from I-5 to I-205 March 1-14 (except March 9). That same stretch of water re-opens 3 days a week (Thursday, Friday, Saturday) March 18 through April 3

I-205 to Bonneville
Bank angling only will be allowed from I-205 to Bonneville dam under the same season structure as above.

Bonneville to McNary
Open 7 days a week from Bonneville Dam to McNary Dam from March 16 through May 31, but bank fishing only from Bonneville upstream to the Tower Island power lines below The Dalles Dam.

The approved season structure was lauded by the Washington and Oregon Department’s of Fish & Wildlife as providing “plenty of fishing opportunity throughout the river”, while awarding “a full range of fishing opportunities above and below Bonneville Dam in March and April”, but lower Columbia veterans and fishing industry watchdogs feel otherwise.

“It’s going to be very difficult for us to explain to the angling public why there’s a half million fish in the river and their fishing options are so constrained,” says Liz Hamilton of the Northwest Sportfishing Industry Association, pointing out the 470,000-fish upriver forecast.

8CHECK OUT ANDY WALGAMOTT'S EDITOR'S BLOG over at Northwest Sportsman's website. Also, get it while it's hot: The March issue of NWS is LOOOOOADED with great springer stuff.

8SEE THE ODFW/WDFW's OFFICIAL RELEASE detailing the 2010 spring Chinook and sturgeon seasons.

More on this later tonight.

-JS

WILD BLOG: How they see us: Columbia runs featured in WSJ, SF Chronicle
POSTED Feb. 18, 2009 / 10:45 a.m.

SEATTLE - Seems as though the rest of the world has taken notice of the Columbia River lately. As we await the results of today's Columbia River Compact meeting, and the first whispers of the 2010 spring Chinook season structure, I thought it'd be interesting to find out what everybody outside the I-5 corridor is saying about us. Here's what I hear:

8THE WALL STREET JOURNAL'S recent story on "Fish Boom Makes Splash"

8THE SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE'S view of the "towering rise of salmon and steelhead in the state right above us"

8THE COLUMBIA BASIN BULLETIN'S all-star reporting of the allocation of lower-river springers

8J.D. RICHEY'S BLOG ENTRY on the 2010 spring Chinook projections

SPRINGER FEVER: The IFish crowd ponies up with first springer photo of '10
POSTED Feb. 2, 2009 / 12:45 p.m.

PORTLAND - I've been meaning to post this since yesterday, but, finally, here it is: photographic proof that Springer Fever, 2010 has begun.

As Jack Glass of Hook Up Guide Service told us Saturday on the air, there have already been a handful of spring Chinook reported in the past five days. The above photo is from Ifish.net member Blue Water 23, who whacked a 16-pound spring Chinook Monday morning trolling herring. That's Monday's Oregonian, to serve as proof.

8CHECK OUT THE IFish THREAD ON THIS FISH and start stocking up on herring. It's gonna be one of THOSE kinds of years, kids.

-JS

SALMON REPORT: US v. Oregon TAC's 470,000-fish forecast explained
POSTED Dec. 12, 2009 / 8:10 a.m.

SEATTLE - The first words out of Stuart Ellis' mouth Saturday morning spoke volumes about the angst behind releasing the official 2010 forecast for Columbia River spring Chinook : "There was a little bit of sweating going on in the room."

Ellis, the chairman of the US v. Oregon Technical Advisory Committee - the group charged with forecasting the 2010 springer run - followed up with a chuckle, indicating that he was only partly serious about the sweating. His message was clear, though: The gravity of a number that approaches a half million - the 470,000 upriver springers forecasted for the Columbia - was not lost on him.

"If it comes to pass, it’ll be the largest run of spring Chinook to ever enter the Columbia River since the construction of Bonneville Dam," Ellis told us last Saturday in an exclusive interview on Northwest Wild Country.

8LISTEN TO THE PODCAST OF OUR EXCLUSIVE 20-MINUTE Q&A with Stuart Ellis, chairman of the US v. Oregon Technical Advisory Committee.

8CHECK OUT ANDY WALGAMOTT'S COLUMBIA BLOG on the Northwest Sportsman website about the forecasting process. Some really good behind-the-scenes/back-story reporting here.

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