Record fall chinook run stampedes into Columbia

Tue., Sept. 9, 2014

A record 67,024 fall chinook were counted swimming over Bonneville Dam on Sept. 7, 2014. (Fish Passage Center)

By Rich Landers richl@spokesman.com (509) 459-5508

FISHING — Here they come!

The record run of fall chinook salmon headed for the Columbia River has arrived — in record fashion.

Over the weekend, about 107,000 fish climbed the fish ladder at Bonneville Dam to head toward the Hanford Reach of the Columbia as well as into the Snake River for destinations well into Idaho.

A one-day record 67,024 was counted on Sunday only to be exceeded Monday by a rush of 67,521 lunker chinook. More daily records are likely this week.

See the parade yourself on the Bonneville Dam fish cam .

Fishing success upstream on the Hanford Reach has slowly been picking up, especially for chinook in the 18-pound range.

The action will be fast and furious soon.

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