Anglers hit the river to reel in record steelhead run

Fisherman Kyle Moss plunks a line into the Snake River off the rocks of the boat launch at Wawawai last Friday, Nov. 20. Moss walked away empty-handed that day, though he had caught a 12-pound steelhead the previous week.

This year’s steelhead run up the Snake River has been exceptionally high, according to fish counts from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

More than 300,000 have been counted at Lower Granite Dam to date, according to a count by the Fish Passage Center.

Fisherman have been frequently visiting Wawawai boat launch to take advantage of the abundant run, some coming away content, others leaving empty-handed.

“The fish are in here. This river is loaded with fish,” said fisherman Fred Peterson, who fished at Wawawai all day Nov. 20.

Peterson said he landed a steelhead at Wawawai earlier in the week, but caught no fish that day.

One group walked away with six fish in early November, said county park ranger Dave Mahan.

This year’s steelhead count at Bonneville Dam on the Columbia River was roughly 596,000 by Sept. 30, according to corps statistics. That number has only been exceeded once, in 2001, when a run of 633,073 was counted at Bonneville where counts have been taken since 1938.

“The fishing wall is packed,” said Army Corps spokesman Gina Baltrusch, talking about the fishing at Dworshak dam.

The steelhead run this year is exceptionally high because of helpful ocean conditions, as well as new efforts by the jurisdictions that control dams and river quality along the Columbia and Snake River, said Brian Gorman, a spokesman with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

“To what degree our own efforts are responsible and to what degree ocean conditions are, I don’t know,” Gorman said.

A visit to Wawawai by the Gazette the evening of Nov. 20 found two fishermen working the water. So far that day, both said, they had had a few bites but no catches.

Peterson was fishing off the beach, drinking a beer, petting his golden lab Shilo and watching the sun go down.

“It’s relaxing and I got the radio,” he said, gesturing to it with a beer in one hand.

Fisherman Kyle Moss of Spokane caught a 12-pound steelhead at Wawawai two weeks ago.

On Nov. 20, Moss drove down from Spokane and spent the day huddled out on a rock point with his line in the water, a stiff wind blowing by.

Eight hours in, he said, he still had no luck.

“I had better luck last week,” he said

The Columbia River numbers for sockeye and coho salmon are record breaking as well.

This year saw the fourth highest count of sockeye up the river since 1938. More than 150,000 sockeye were counted at the Bonneville Dam this season, and 1,219 were counted upstream at the Lower Granite Dam this year.

This year has also seen the second highest run for coho salmon since 1938.

Belmont