FISHING -- Steelheaders have been having excellent fishing in the Hanford Reach of the Columbia --or not, depending on the day they were there.   Here's the latest report from Paul Hoffarth, Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife biologist in the Tri-Cities:

During the month of January anglers landed 286 steelhead and harvested 186 hatchery steelhead in the Hanford Reach sport fishery.  WDFW estimates 923 anglers fished in January and 4,267 anglers since the fishery opened on October 1.  WDFW staff interviewed 145 anglers in January, 16% of the estimated anglers fishing in the Reach during the month.  Anglers are averaging a steelhead for every 13 hours of fishing, with boat anglers averaging 9.5 hours/fish compared to bank anglers at 28 hours/fish.  Fishing was just a little slower than in December. 

Winter fishing has been very spotty, good one day, slow the next but good overall compared to prior years.  Harvest in January was the best in the past five years.  This season 84% of the fish caught during the fishery have been hatchery origin adipose clipped fish; only 68% of the fish caught in January were adipose clipped.  The majority of the fish harvested during this year's fishery have been released from Ringold Springs Hatchery (adipose + right ventral fin clipped).  

An estimated 1,149 hatchery steelhead have been harvested since the fishery opened on October 1.  Total catch including fish released is 1,511 steelhead.  Ringold Springs Hatchery staff collected and transported all the hatchery steelhead captured at the trap this fall and released them back into the river in the Tri-cities to give anglers another opportunity to catch these returning adults.  These "recycled" fish are marked (caudal clipped) prior to release. 

Of the 1,149 fish harvested since October 1, 209 (18%) were previously captured at the trap and released.