2015 Columbia chinook record run pegged at 1.4 million

FISHING — The latest numbers, still to be refined, peg the Columbia River’s 2015 fall chinook run at 1.4 million fish, easily exceeding the record of 1,268,400 set in 2013. (Comparable record keeping started in 1962.)

The majority of the run was “upriver brights” bound for the Hanford Reach.

Going into the 2015 season, fish managers had predicted the adult fall chinook returns would be 925,000 fish.

Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife fish managers say the outlook for next year remains strong 2016 fall chinook returns.

Bright jacks are down from recent years, which clouds the prospects for future years.
So far, however, the 2016 prospects call for bright stocks to have strong, above-average returns (5-year average is about 800,000 fish).

Columbia River coho returns in 2015 are much lower the predicted and the outlook is not so good for next year.

Poor ocean conditions along the Oregon and Washington coasts could potentially have negative impacts on coho returns for next year

Stay tuned: Updated fall chinook and coho forecasts by stock will be available in February 2016.