The most exciting news for fall fishing is the huge return of coho salmon to the Columbia and Icicle rivers. Over 138,000 have passed Bonneville Dam, and they are still coming at a rate of over 3,000 a day. Anglers who are fishing above Priest Rapids Dam are able to keep two adult Chinook and four coho per day. The four-fish coho daily limit is in effect on the main stem Columbia all the way up to Wells Dam. The Icicle River is also open to fishing for coho, with the same four-fish daily limit. I looked at the Icicle below the National Fish Hatchery on Saturday. I thought I would see a bunch of anglers, but no one was fishing. The water is so low that if there was a fish in the river I would have seen it. Over 16,000 coho have passed over Rock Island Dam and it appears that they are staying in the main stem Columbia. I am going to give that a try with my brother Rick. It appears that the Columbia will be the place to get coho until we get a few days of heavy rain, and then it will be game on for the Icicle.
This coho, that I caught last year, looked pretty gnarly, but the meat was a deep red. I got it on a jig.