Color Scheme

Subscribe now

Record sockeye run possible in Upper Columbia; season opens Sunday

Don Burks, of Yakima, displays part of his catch, taken over a couple of days at the Brewster Pool. He and many other anglers have been doing better than usual because of the record run of sockeye salmon. (Jesse Tinsley)
By Rich Landers richl@spokesman.com(509) 459-5508
Don Burks, of Yakima, displays part of his catch, taken over a couple of days at the Brewster Pool. He and many other anglers have been doing better than usual because of the record run of sockeye salmon. (Jesse Tinsley)
Don Burks, of Yakima, displays part of his catch, taken over a couple of days at the Brewster Pool. He and many other anglers have been doing better than usual because of the record run of sockeye salmon. (Jesse Tinsley)

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).

* This story was originally published as a post from the blog "Outdoors Blog." Read all stories from this blog