Hot Water Killing Sockeye Salmon In Columbia River

I am an avid fisherman. When the sockeye salmon started returning from the ocean I was beyond ecstatic! But Mother Nature has a different plan for the sockeyes other than being caught for food! The water in the Columbia River is so hot this summer that a lot of the fish are dying.This isn't just happening in the Columbia. More than 100 spring chinook have died in Oregon rivers due to water temperatures.

Cold-water fish can't handle temperatures even above 70, and water temperatures have been at or above that in the Northwest during this hot, dry year. Last month, the water at Bonneville Dam hit nearly 71 degrees -- 8 degrees above the 10-year average and the warmest reading since at last 1950.

The heat has caused closures for much of the Yakima River Basin.