With the Columbia River fall Chinook salmon return nudging up close to the modern-day record, and a coho return much better than forecast in preseason, fishing was very good this late summer and fall on the lower river and elsewhere.

As an example, anglers at the popular Buoy 10 fishery near Ilwaco had caught an estimated 29,900 fall Chinook and 59,000 coho (including wild fish believed to have died after release) through Sept. 30, according to an Oct. 16 fall update produced by the Oregon and Washington departments of fish and wildlife. That fishery is open through year’s end but current effort is described as “minimal.”

That compares to a catch last year of 22,594 for the 2013 season on what was a record fall Chinook return.

This year’s Chinook catch ranks third on an ODFW-WDFW list dating back to 1982. The 2014 catch was made during 100,800 angler trips to Buoy 10.

Read the full story at the Chinook Observer>>

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