Field reports: Spring chinook coming in size large

FISHING – Last year’s spring chinook run into the Columbia River was noted for the big number of fish.

This year the emphasis is on the proportion of fish in the run that are big.

The forecast is for 198,400 upriver spring chinook returning to the Columbia bound for upstream this year, close to the 10-year average – the eighth largest run since 1980 – but below last year’s huge run of 423,000 fish.

The upside: more than 100,000 of those fish are forecast to be five-year-olds, going 18-30 pounds or larger, compared to only 26,000 of the larger fish last spring, said Joe Hymer, state salmon specialist in Vancouver.

Of the 198,400 upriver spring chinook expected to return to the mouth of the Columbia, about 66,400 should be hatchery fish bound for the Snake River and 24,700 should be wild Snake River fish.

Last year about 134,000 chinook bound for the Snake River returned at least as far as the mouth of the Columbia.

Idaho and Washington fish managers will meet this month to discuss Snake River spring chinook seasons. If approved, about 600 chinook could be harvested from the lower Snake River.

Glen Mendel, fisheries biologist in Dayton, said it’s unlikely the state will be able to open all four areas where fishing was allowed in 2010.

Staff and wire reports

Wildlife cops bag snowmobilers

WILDLIFE – Snowmobilers and ATVers inept at reading signs are keeping Washington Fish and Wildlife police officers busy.

Three wildlife officers joined a Colville National Forest officer last week to follow up on a tip that snowmobilers were in the Buck Creek Road area of Pend Oreille County, which is closed under endangered species rules to protect caribou habitat.

“Officers contacted eight subjects attempting to leave the closure by manhandling their snowmobiles over a large rock and around a gate,” according to the weekly report filed by Capt. Mike Whorton in Spokane.

The snowmobilers went “by the posted sign and thought the closure did not apply to them,” Whorton noted. “All eight snowmobiles were cited for being in the closure area.”

Officers also cited four snowmobilers for registration violations at Mount Spokane.

An ATVer was cited for riding illegally on the Asotin Creek Wildlife Area.

Rich Landers

Oregon wolf dead,

maybe from research

WILDLIFE – One of the young wolves from the Imnaha pack in northeastern Oregon that was recently fitted with a radio-tracking collar has been found dead, the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife said Wednesday.

No signs of foul play were found. Officials suspect it died from the rigors of being captured and tranquilized a few days earlier.

Associated Press