September 10th, there was no Salmon slime, blood or eggs on the stairs.
Below the coffer (a low dam the fish can run over) there were only a few fishermen throwing lures or bottom bouncing. I only saw 3 good fish rise in about 3 hours. One looked like a 20 inch Skamania, a hatchery strain derived from slender wild summer run steelhead from Washington State's Washougal River. It happened to rise inches from my bobber in shallow water. Reportedly, the smaller 2 year wild Washougal River fish were very game and would rise well to dry flies.
In the big pool above the coffer, lots of salmon big and small were splashing, few were hooked by the many fishermen were using legal methods. The bank was littered with about 100 beer and pop cans and other trash that had piled up over several nights. Chinook or King Salmon may bite better on lures or flies at night. Its also easier to fish illegal methods or keep foul hooked fish. Salmon fishers were crowded with many arriving to fish on after dark. One large salmon was landed by a fisherman bottom bouncing whose tackle became tangled in 30 feet of line attached to the salmon via a small Fire Tiger Thunder Stick lodged in its jaw. He hand lined it in for the last 30 feet. I got no good bites. I briefly hooked a 10 inch Smallmouth bass and landed a rock bass on brown jigs.
September 24th,
At 4:00 PM there was room to get in and fish, by 7:00 PM it was crowded. Salmon were jumping but not as much as two weeks earlier. Some Coho and King Salmon were landed, more or less fair hooked. The current was flowing quickly with no good seams or edges to run a bobber. Bottom bouncing with a long leader and the right amount of lead to slow down the drift was the way to make a good presentation.