"SEATTLE -- Washington state fishery managers unveiled surprisingly large Columbia River chinook forecasts Friday, yet another indication that there could be a landmark return of nearly 3 million chinook and coho."
"'It is a mind-boggling forecast, and the largest fall chinook return since at least 1938,' said Joe Hymer, a state Fish and Wildlife biologist. 'We'll see if this is a one-time deal or if more could happen in the future. For now, we'll take what we've got on paper.'
The Columbia River fall chinook forecast is more than 1.6 million. The 2013 return of 1.2 million was nearly double the forecast of 686,900.
Most of the 2014 forecast is an upriver bright chinook forecast of 973,300. The majority of those fish are caught in-river, with some in the highly popular late-summer Buoy-10 fishery at the Columbia River mouth near Ilwaco."
Mark Yuasa reports for the Seattle Times February 14, 2014.
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