SALMON FISHING -- The numbers of chinook moving up the Columbia River and heading toward the Snake have roused the anticipation of Idaho anglers.

"It’s hard not to get excited when you see the numbers at Bonneville Dam," said Amy Sinclair of Exodus Wilderness Adventures based in Riggins, Idaho.

"The last nine days have showed a flourish of fish crossing the first dam on their big swim for the Idaho river systems," she said. As of Sunday, a total of 106,585 adult chinook had crossed Bonneville following spikes of more than15,000 fish on May 1 and 10,000 on May 6.

The Technical Advisory Committee of state and federal fish scientists met today and issued a release saying they are comfortable that the spring chinook upriver run size will be at least at the preseason forecast of 198,400 at the Columbia River mouth.

"These are awesome numbers, but when we really get excited is when we see those BIG numbers and impressive days at Lower Granite," she said. As of Sunday, 1,571 spring chinook had crossed Lower Granite, the last Snake River Dam before the fish enter Idaho near Lewiston.

"On average when we look at these numbers we associate the fish as being in the Salmon River system  about 5-6 weeks after they have crossed Bonneville and about 10-14 days after they cross Lower Granite," Sinclair said in her weekly fishing and river forecast. "We are anticipating seeing chinook in the Riggins area June 5-12 and hope that the high water season does not prove problematic for this fishery."

The fish are probably at least two weeks out from reaching the Riggins area of the Salmon River, but they could be showing in good numbers in the lower Clearwater River by this weekend.