Fishing Washington

Get out the Kwikfish and Herring rigs gang.  The first springers have been caught in the lower Columbia and more are moving up every day.  This years run prediction if for 263,300 Spring Chinook to cross Bonneville Dam.  Both the Columbia and Willametter Rivers will be open.  The Columbia below the Willametter will be open from March 24th thru April 4th.  It is a seven day a week fishery with a limit of 1 fish a day per person.  Above the Willamette the open dates are March 16th to April 30.  Tuesdays are closed to fishing and the limit is 1 fish per person.  The Willametter River hatchery Springer runs is expected to be low and you can expect to have lower than normal retention rates than most years around the mouth of the Willamette.  This is also a good sign that you should focus your efforts in areas where the upriver fish tend to run.  The Willamette fish run up the Oregon side of the Columbia as they approach the St Helens area.  I will be focusing a lot of my efforts on the Washington side of the river around the Lewis and Kalama River mouths.  This will allow me to pick up the up river fish while picking up the fish that hang in and around the river mouths as they prepare to migrate up the tributaries. 

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Winter Steelheading has run both hot and cold in Southwest Washington and northern Oregon.  Steelheading in the Sandy and Clackamas Rivers have really heated up with the native broodstock hatchery brats moving in and on the bite in between heavy winter storms that have blow the rivers our making the unfishable. 

The washington steelheading scene has been steady fishing with lots of blown out river days.  Even on the worst days we have been able to pull steelhead to the boat but it has not been a spectacular winter season so far.  The hatchery steelhead are slowly tapering off and many of them have already spawned.  The Native runs have been starting to build to catchable numbers in the Cowlitz, Lewis, and Kalama River systems.  As we move in to February and March the natives will be in the rivers in full force.  These months are a great time to focus your efforts on the coastal streams like the Satsop, Wynoochie, Chehalis and others for monster Steelhead of 20 lbs and higher. 

In the Cowlitz sidedrifting rules and this has been the go to method for the guides and local anglers.  The Hatchery brats have been being caught in front of the Blue Creek Hatchery Ramp.  On a slow day you will be fishing with 20 other boats in a 100 yard section of the water,  on a busy weekend that may be 100 boats.  Pure insanity!  I take my clients and we work the river from Blue Creek on down to Mission Bar.   Instead of working over the schooled up fish with the crowd, many of which are now dark or spawned out.  I spend my time searching for groups of fresh bright fish moving up the river.  These fish are agressive and ready to bite.  Being fresh they eat great and fight like a hooked banshee.

The go to method for the side drifting crowd is on or two size 4 hooks with a corky or cheater and a small cluster of eggs.  Steelhead are not big on the suflite cures that catch Chinook.  I prefer to focus my egg cures for steelhead around borax, salt, and sugar cures that are mild and have no extra chemicals in them.  A personal favorite is a jello and salt cure that is simple and easy.  I store the eggs in Borax to toughen the egg skein and skins to make for a long lasting cluster.

I often step out of the side drifting game and pull plugs and divers with bait for these hot winter fish.  I like to back down slowly working the water hard and giving the fish a lot of time to see the bait in the colder water.  Sand Shrimp behind a spin-n-glo or a cheater is a go to bait, eggs are a great second.  On those days when  nothing seems to work I pull out the plastic worms and either side drift or back troll them.  These little plastic lures are Steelhead killers!  I like to use berkely power worms since the extra scent can really increase the bites, and the hook up to bite ratio.

Keep your lines tight and your bait fresh.
Clay Walker 

For the bank fishermen and drift boaters, hit the Kalama between the rain storms.  When this river is falling or in shape it is a constant producer for  

Cowlitz River, East Fork Lewis River, Kalama River, Lewis River, Winter Steelhead, Winter Steelheading

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Well the fishing fanatics were out on the Cowlitz despite brown muddy water.  There were at least 30 boats in side drifting in front of the Blue Creek ramp.  Some steelhead were caught but it was few and far between.  I did not see any chrome fish on the bank or coming out of the boats.  All the fish had color and appeared to be early November fish.  The Kalama was green and threw out a few fish for the anglers that were on the water.  I moved up above the side drifting horde and threw plugs out the back of the boat.  I ran dark plugs in the slow water and we managed to pull a few half hearted hits but did not hook up solid on the fish.  It was one of those all around tough fishing days on the Cowlitz. 

Cowlitz River, Cowlitz River Fishing Reports, Cowlitz River Guides, Cowlitz River Steelhead Guides, Steelheading Slow on the Cowlitz, Winter Steelheading

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