SALMON FISHING -- The Columbia River is getting busy again. Chinook and coho runs are building, and the fortunes of both anglers and gill-netters improving as well.

The catch and fishing pressure in the lower Columbia (from Bonneville Dam 146 river miles down to the mouth) has grown steadily and more growth is expected.

Daily counts of upriver fall chinook passing over Bonneville had slowly ticked up from 100 fish on Aug. 1 to 6,830 on Wednesday.

By the end of August a total of 57,688 upriver fall chinook had passed over Bonneville. 

About 399,600 adult “upriver brights” are predicted to will make it back to the mouth of the river on their way to the mid-Columbia’s Hanford Reach, the Snake River and elsewhere.