SALMON FISHING – After several record daily sockeye counts over Bonneville Dam this week, fisheries managers’ expecations for overall record returns of sockeye salmon to the upper Columbia River are high.

The salmon fishing season in the upper Columbia above Priest Papids Dam opens today.

By mid-July, Washington Fish and Wildlife biologists expect summer chinook and sockeye fisheries to have kicked into high gear.

Check the status of incoming adult fish through the interagency Columbia River Data Access in Real Time (DART).

Chris Donley, a local fish biologist and salmon slayer, highly recommends watching the numbers on that website to see when the fish start piling into the upper Columbia fisheries.

 When you get to it, click on “Adult Passage,” then scroll through dates to bottom and today for latest on all species (also compares with past years’ numbers).