Columbia's deluge gives hope for Willamette spring salmon run.

Byline: INSIDE THE OUTDOORS By Mike Stahlberg The Register-Guard

Maybe Old Man Winter threw too much cold snowmelt on this year's spring chinook salmon run in the Columbia River.

Or maybe the fish had to wander farther across the Pacific to find food and it's taking them longer than usual to swim home.

Whatever the reason - and we'll probably never really know what it is - the Columbia's 2006 spring chinook salmon run is shaping up as one of the latest on record.

Which is considerably better than being the lowest on record.

Last week, fish biologists representing Oregon, Washington and the Northwest tribes agreed the run is on track to put somewhere between 65,000 and 88,400 spring chinook above Bonneville Dam by June 15, the official ending date of the run.

Their preseason prediction was 88,400, so the run could still be 25 percent short of expectations. But the situation looks much better than it did May 2, when only about 12,000 fish had been counted at Bonneville.

By then, worried fishery managers had long since halted sport and commercial fishing on the lower Columbia River.

Then came a week in which 31,700 salmon stormed Bonneville's fish ladders, and fishery managers indicated that if springers continued to show in good numbers, a reopening of salmon fishing may be considered. They were expected to meet this week to consider doing just that.

If it turns out the upriver Columbia spring salmon run was merely behind schedule, it's reasonable to think that might also be the case with their cousins bound for the Willamette River basin.

Salmon are being caught in the McKenzie, Middle Fork Willamette and Santiam Rivers, but the pickings have been slim.

Which is not surprising, considering only 12,470 spring chinook had been counted over Willamette Falls (near Oregon City) as of May 7. That's about 44 percent of the projected escapement of 28,000 - which is 6,000 fish below the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife's "minimum goal" of 34,000.

Last year on May 7 the count was at 18,105, and the year before it was at 50,461. Both numbers above 50 percent of the eventual total for the year.

Meanwhile, salmon fishing below Willamette Falls has been decent, though definitely slower than in recent years.

ODFW creel checkers say Portland-area anglers landed 5,000 salmon during April. Of those, 3,894 (77 percent) had a clipped adipose fin and could be retained.

In addition to the low Willamette Falls count, other factors contributing to the slow start to the season in the McKenzie and Middle Fork Willamette Rivers are high water levels and low water temperatures. High water scatters the salmon and makes some of the best holes more difficult to fish. Low water temperature leaves the salmon sluggish and less active.

The bottom line is the counts, the water level and the temperature all have room to improve, meaning it's way too soon to write off this year's spring salmon season.

While waiting for the springer fishing to heat up, you might want to consider doing a little clam digging on the northern Oregon coast.

Late last week, state officials reopened beaches between the Siuslaw River jetty at Florence and Newport to the digging of razor clams.

Razor clamming beaches from Newport north to Seaside opened in March this year after a yearlong closure due to unsafe levels of domoic acid.

Clams on beaches south of the Siuslaw River still have high domoic readings, so those beaches remain closed.

Today marks the midway point on a morning minus tide series, and an even stronger series of low tides peaks the weekend of May 27-28.

Remember, a recreational shellfish license is now required for anyone 14 or older to harvest shellfish.

Also, the daily sport limit for razor clams is the first 15 taken, regardless of size or condition. Small and broken clams must be retained.

A recent study by the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife indicates Oregonians are wasting too many razor clams.

ODFW Marine Program staff members redug 205 holes left by differs on Clatsop beaches and found 19 percent of the clams had been discarded and reburied.

The average size of the wasted clams was 3.8 inches, and more than 80 percent had damage that would result in their death, said Matthew Hunter, ODFW Shellfish and Estuary Project Leader.

"Reburying a razor clam, even if its shell is unbroken, usually results in the clam's death," Hunter said.

To avoid small clams, Hunter recommends looking for "shows" (siphon holes) that are dime-sized or larger.

Shows smaller than the diameter of a pencil are usually associated with small clams.

While the cleaning process may take a little longer, broken or small clams are still safe to eat, Hunter said.

Mike Stahlberg can be reached at [e-mail].

CAPTION(S):

Low fish counts, high water level and cold temperatures have put a damper on spring salmon fishing in the Willamette River basin.