Lower Columbia creel: Wind River coho, Klickitat and Drano Chinook lead the week

Northwest Sportsman's weekly southwest Washington report, built on preliminary WDFW creel data for Oct. 19-25, shows the late-October salmon action has moved mostly into the tributaries. An Oct. 24 flight over the lower Columbia counted 81 salmonid boats and 16 Washington bank rods.

The Wind River was the standout. Thirty boats with 62 rods kept 44 coho and 2 coho jacks and released 3 Chinook and 12 coho. On the Klickitat below the Fisher Hill Bridge, 78 bank anglers kept 12 Chinook, 2 jacks and 9 coho and released 9 Chinook. At Drano Lake, 17 boats with 39 rods kept 6 Chinook and 11 coho. The 21 bank anglers checked there released 4 Chinook and a steelhead.

On the Lewis River, 149 bank anglers kept 2 Chinook, a Chinook jack, 12 coho and 11 coho jacks. Twenty-two boats with 34 rods added 2 Chinook, 10 coho and 2 jacks. On the Cowlitz above I-5, 53 bank anglers kept 2 coho jacks and a steelhead.

Mainstem Columbia catches were light. Bonneville-area bank anglers kept 9 coho and Longview-area boats kept 5.

Photo: Jerry Hess with a late-October Klickitat River coho from the 2022 season, caught twitching jigs with Todd Koskiniemi. Credit: Northwest Sportsman (Knife photo contest).

This is a The Gillnet news desk summary, not a reprint.

Source: Northwest Sportsman — SW WA, Lower Columbia Fishing Report (10-26-26) (Oct. 26, 2026), citing preliminary WDFW creel data.