Summer Steelhead Run Looks Promising Numbers Recorded At Bonneville Dam Top 176,000, The Best Since 1989

The summer steelhead run heading for the Snake River looks promising, but biologists are cautiously optimistic.

The traditional marker for the A run, the early pulse of steelhead bound mostly for the Snake, Salmon and Grand Ronde rivers, passed last Monday at Bonneville Dam along the Columbia River near Portland.

Through Aug. 25, this year’s steelhead run ranks eighth among the 60 years of records with 176,116 steelhead at Bonneville. It is also the best early count at Bonneville since 1989.

But a variety of factors could affect the run by the time it reaches Lower Granite Dam 286 miles upriver.

Water temperatures are one of the largest. Idaho Fish and Game Department fisheries biologist Kent Ball said conditions appear only slightly worrisome so far.

The temperature of the Columbia at Bonneville has hovered at 72 degrees, the warmest at the eight dams along the two rivers. The steelhead migration has been moving along despite the warm water.

“We’re up about 29 percent from last year at Bonneville,” Ball said.

Fish and Game fisheries biologist Steve Pettit at Lewiston said prospects look good, but he has some concerns.

“It could be fairly decent when things are all said and done if we get the right climatic conditions,” Pettit said.

The encouraging count at Bonneville is offset somewhat at the next dam up the Columbia, The Dalles, where counts are running 15 percent behind last year.

The B run, which consists of later arriving and bigger steelhead bound mostly for the Clearwater River, typically shows up in large numbers at Bonneville in late August or September.

Biologists for state and tribal fishery agencies asked that Bonneville’s north powerhouse not operate until its damaged fish ladder, is repaired.

Pettit said the request was denied but the corps promised to monitor the ladder to detect any further problems.

Biologists expect 20,000 hatchery fish to cross Lower Granite Dam.

The total run across Lower Granite could top 100,000 steelhead this fall. Most are reared at hatcheries and can be caught legally by anglers.