Make way for steelies

Before the annual steelhead run began, fisheries managers predicted it would be modestly good, about on par with the past few years.

Now they are confident the A-run at least is going to be bigger than the forecast, which called for 167,000 steelhead to return past Lower Granite Dam. So far only about 9,000 steelhead have reached that point. But there is an unprecedented slug of fish headed up river.

"I believe, we are probably going to be well ahead of that," said Sam Sharr, a fisheries biologist for the Idaho Department of Fish and Game at Boise. "It's powerful what is coming over Bonneville (Dam.) It's mostly A run (fish) and based on pit tag data, there is a whole lot headed to the Snake."

The steelhead run at Bonneville Dam set a record last Tuesday when more than 18,000 were counted in the fish ladders there. That new record was shattered the next day when more than 28,000 steelhead were counted. Last Thursday yet another record was set when 34,053 steelhead climbed the fish ladders. That was followed by a 25,059 fish day on Friday, 22,135 on Saturday, 17,553 on Sunday and 16,626 on Monday. In all it adds up to 162,411 steelhead passing the dam in a seven-day stretch.

Joe Hymer of the Washington Department of Fish and Wildilfe at Vancouver said as far as he can tell that is a record. Not all of those fish are bound for the Snake River, of course. Many will return to the Upper Columbia or tributaries to the Lower Columbia such as the Umatilla and John Day. But the Snake River system is a steelhead factory, and anglers in Idaho, Washington and Oregon could be in for a season to remember.

Whether the B-run that returns to the Clearwater River and to a lesser degree the Salmon River also beats expectations reamains a question.

"The A-run should be tapering off and the B-run should begin to build pretty quickly," said Hymer.

Biologists are expecting 57,000 B-run steelhead to show up to the mouth of the Columbia River this fall. Hymer said low flows in the Columbia combined with expected air temperatures in the triple digits could slow the run.

"We have to wait to see if there is another little thermal block that develops," said Hymer.

He said it is difficult to say the B-run will be bigger than expected based on the performance of the A-run. But he noted other anadromous fish runs, such as sockeye salmon and, to a lesser degree spring and summer chinook, saw good returns. And the fall chinook run is forecast to be one of the largest in the past four decades.

"With other salmon stocks doing pretty well you would hope the B-run will do well too."

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Barker may be contacted at ebarker@lmtribune.com or at (208) 848-2273.