The summer-run season didn’t start off as hot as a fire cracker, but the good news is there are thousands of kings headed up the Columbia to our area. Over 60,000 adults and 10,000 jack summer-runs have passed over Bonneville Dam already and well over a thousand a day are still coming. The all-time record number of 94,000 may not be reached, but it is apparent that the original projection of 52,000 is way, way low. The folks that make these projections have been surprised more than once this season. Spring salmon numbers are stronger than expected, and sockeye numbers are off the charts. I can only hope this trend continues. Give us conservative numbers and wow us with better than expected returns. I’ll take that any day. What has been consistent is the late return of most runs to the Columbia. Spring salmon have been very late the past couple of seasons. They close the fishing and then reopen it as the fish blast up the river. The summer-run season used to open on the 15th of July, but was moved up to the first since there were plenty of fish around in past years. Both last year and this year the bulk of the run is later so the openers have been anemic. Who cares, though, the fishing is going to great all summer long!