Even the fish are too hot. State bans some Tri-Cities fishing

Hot water is putting an end to some fishing on the Columbia River in the Tri-City area starting Monday.

The Yakima River is too hot for sockeye salmon to move upstream, according to the Washington State Department of Ecology.

Sockeye are staying in the Columbia River near the mouth of the Yakima as they wait for cooler water temperatures to return to the Yakima River Basin.

Starting Monday any sockeye or summer chinook salmon must be released if they are caught starting at the blue bridge between Kennewick and Pasco upstream to the Interstate 182 bridge between Richland and Pasco, according to a Friday afternoon announcement by the Washington state Department of Fish and Wildlife.

Then starting Aug. 16, sockeye also cannot be kept upriver to Priest Rapids Dam.

Temperatures measured in the Yakima River near Prosser often exceeded 80 degrees in July.

“Of the 30 warmest mean daily water temperatures recorded since 1990 at the Prosser station, 12 occurred this July,” said the Department of Ecology. “Biologists say that salmon will likely stay in the Columbia River until the Yakima River cools down.”

They may not leave the Bateman Island area until temperatures cool to at least 73 degrees in the Yakima River.

July temperatures were above normal for most of the state.

Although temperatures should be cooler for a few days, warmer than usual weather is expected to return.

Temperatures in the Tri-Cities are to be back in the 100s starting Tuesday through at least Friday, with highs up to 106, according to the National Weather Service.

July also was dry, with record dry weather recorded in much of Washington east of the Cascade Mountains.

The National Weather Service reported no precipitation recorded in the Tri-Cities in July, with only a trace of rain reported at the Hanford Meteorological Station.