Anglers have been very nervous about the spring salmon season on the lower Columbia River. Dam counts were very low, but did take serious uptick last week.  Although the spring salmon numbers may not reach forecasts levels, salmon fishers enjoyed fair to good fishing last week.

I fished Drano Lake with Herb Good and Ed Iman before the run took a turn for the better, but Good did manage to get us a fish. We only saw five other fish caught at Drano that day. I fished off the Wind River mouth with Shane Magnuson later in the week. We had a rough start in the morning, losing two of the three fish we hooked. We took a break for breakfast and went back for the afternoon bite.

At one point we had a triple on and two were keeps. We did get another fish to limit his clients and Shane also boated a small jack. The afternoons have been very good off the Wind River, with very early morning bite brief.

Fish are very late this year but fishing for these prized spring salmon is better now and would be worth the trip, especially since the weather has been fantastic. It was warm and calm most of the days I was there.