Chinook starting to show up in Lower Columbia

Its sounds like its going to be huge down south this year.  I find it interesting that last fall in Puget Sound it was the largest pink salmon run in about 40 years.  This seems to be a bit of a fluke, as well.

Water conditions are good, he said, with relatively low river flows, no big snowpack to worry about and no major storms in the offing. There’s no reason so far to think the big spring run predicted this year won’t materialize, he said.

While predicting salmon runs is dicey work, the forecast this spring is for 470,000 upriver chinook, which would be the largest run in more than 60 years. For comparison, last year’s spring return numbered about 170,000, and it provided some pretty good fishing in the Vancouver area.

The prediction for Columbia coho this year is down, however, to 389,500 fish. That would be less than 40 percent of last year’s huge run of 1 million silvers, and would provide fewer fish for the coastal charter fishery out of Westport and Ilwaco.

via HeraldNet: Chinook starting to show up in Lower Columbia.

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