HOW THE SUMMER/FALL SALMON SEASON SHAPE UP
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Coho Boom Predictions for Sockeye, Ocean Season Set, Will Corps Bail on Stocking Mandates, Sea Lion Toll Rises, More Licenses, Steelhead by Satellite, Trout, Bass, Shad, & Bottomfish, The Monkeyface Prickleback, And more…
State fishery managers in Washington and Oregon would like to paint a rosy façade on the summer/fall salmon forecasts but truth out—except for an optimistic sockeye prediction—we’re looking at smaller runs of summer and fall kings and coho.
It’s not shaping up as a disaster for king and coho fisheries, by any means, but the runs are going to be below average, below last year and marginal at best, according to the best guesstimations. The bright spot in the forecast is upriver sockeye which are expected to pour into the Big C sixteen percent above the 10-year average with a mega popular Lake Wenatchee forecast for 97,000 that has fish managers leaning toward allowing a late summer lake sport season.
Sockeye aficionados point out that last year the official sockeye forecast for Lake Wenatchee was only 44,300 but the actual return blew the doors off at…