The Cowlitz river offers a wide variety of public fishing access points that allow for access to fish on the Cowlitz river. The fall Chinook runs are more modest most years, with the best catches around September. There should be a few cutthroat trout around as well, including sea-runs in the late summer or early fall, but pay heed to regulations. The Toutle has two main forks and also some significant tributaries, including the Green River flowing into the North Fork Toutle. The locals know it as Lake Sacajawea, “Lake Sac,” or simply “The Lake,” and this all-around gem of a city park in the heart of Longview also is home to some pretty decent fishing. Monthly Membership only $5.99 per month! Locals know it as a reliable hatchery-fortified winter steelhead stream that’s not as busy as the Cowlitz or Kalama. The kokanee are a trout-sized land-locked sockeye salmon known for being feisty and quite tasty and traveling in large schools. There’s a smaller summer-run of Chinook, but small doesn’t describe these fish, which can be among the largest found anywhere. Minimum size 12". When These California Wildfires Go Out, New Ones Will Come, America’s Wetland Forests: Our Southern communities’ shelter from the storms. It used to be a pretty good salmon and steelhead stream but today gets a relatively small plant of fin-clipped winter steelhead smolts. There is pretty good shoreline access, especially late in the season when the water level drops off a bit and the hatches pick up. The lowest sections of this very short western Wahkiakum County river, including a lower slow-moving slough of a section that flows into Grays Bay, offer a mixture of warmwater fish such as bass and panfish and some sturgeon holes. The 280-acre lake was formed naturally by an old lava flow from Mount St. Helens, long before the 1980 blast that impacted areas to the north far more severely. It has some cutthroat trout fishing. Also, note that Coldwater Creek and all inlet or outlet streams are strictly closed to fishing. Both reproduce naturally to help repopulate the lake. They’re being caught now on the Cowlitz River from Barrier Dam to below I-5, and one popular drift is the section from Blue Creek down to Massey Bar. There are runs of both summer and winter steelhead in the North Fork. 877 adult Coho salmon have been recovered along with 87 coho jack salmon.Also there where 6 steelhead adults water run, 7 cut throat trout and 1 summer run steelhead adult. The first summer fish start appearing in May and June, especially in the lower river, although overall Cowlitz catches are better in July and August. If you’re looking for a different kind of fishing experience, or maybe you just want to bring home a stringer of trout along with your salmon catch, Cowlitz sea-run cutthroat trout should be on your mind (and hopefully on your dinner plate). Cowlitz River Fishing. Of course, catches here have mirrored recent lower success rates in other Columbia tributaries, but this is a good spot to have on your radar. Free Cancellation (1) Options & Amenities. See more in our Best Tiger Muskie Fishing in Washington article. The main fishing fuss is generally about the regular trout plants Sacajawea during the cooler seasons, with lots of rainbows, a fair number of browns, and even the occasional brood trout or hatchery steelhead for a giant thrill. You Keep Catch (1) Targeted Species. Its a true year-round fishery. Be sure to check the 2020–21 Washington Sport Fishing Rules pamphlet for information about the section of river you’re hoping to fish. Rainier, Mt. At this end you’ll find a limited number of designated bank access spots where you can fish. Together, the counties stretch between the high Cascade Mountains on the east to the coastal Willapa Hills and the top of the Columbia River estuary to the west. Until March 31, 2021, anglers can keep up to five sea-run cutthroat on the Cowlitz River, with a minimum size of 8 inches. Chinook Salmon, Coho Salmon, Cutthroat Trout, Steelhead, Rainbow Trout: Latest Fish Reports. True, the Kalama isn’t what it used to be (what local salmon and steelhead river is?). By October most of the action is farther upriver or in coastal bays. This lake is very nicely stocked with catchable rainbow and brown trout during the cooler seasons, and even might get giant brood trout, salmon and steelhead on occasion. There are some cutthroat trout in Castle Creek. Because it has runs of steelhead, coho and cutthroat, the Cowlitz can be a pretty good fly fishing river. “Chinook and coho salmon returns to the Cowlitz Salmon Hatchery have been above levels needed to meet broodstock collection goals for the Cowlitz Hatchery Chinook and coho programs. Release wild cutthroat, wild steelhead, and steelhead with missing right ventral fins. Cowlitz River Fishing Reports Recently shared catches and fishing spots. 01/15/2021 Squiding has been good off the piers. Cowlitz River - Some steelhead and spring chinook are being caught from the I-5 Bridge downstream. Boat anglers probably account for 70% or more of the fish. Draining the slopes of Mt. As you can see from the photo above, they can grow to a size similar to a jack salmon, and weigh up to 3 pounds. And with hatchery returns coming in strong, a number of fish will also be recycled — that is, transported downriver to the I-5 bridge to make their way back up toward the hatchery — giving anglers another opportunity to catch these fish in the days and weeks ahead. In the old days, smelt made massive appearances in the Cowlitz during the late winter, setting off a frenzy of dipping for these silvery fish in the Kelso and Longview areas and up to Castle Rock. Coho salmon are caught during the same time frame here. Here the issue was too many northern pikeminnows, which gobble up smaller game fish and can harm recreational fisheries. For many non-anglers, Cowlitz County is these days perhaps best known as the gateway to the Mount St. Helens National Volcanic Monument, definitely worth a visit for its stunning landscapes (including the amazing vista of the mountain itself) and museums showing the incredible devastation of the 1980 eruption and the ongoing rebirth of this area. Other communities in Cowlitz County include Kalama, most of Woodland and a bunch of smaller communities scattered around the river valleys and forested hills. January through March or April are likely your best trout-fishing months. The fall run on the North Fork is likely to be the larger return most years, with best fishing in September and October, with some catches into November. It’s not uncommon to have over 10,000 Steelhead return once the finally tally is in. Cowlitz River summer steelhead fishing has been steadily improving over the past week or so, disproving any previous theories about it going to be an average to less than average run size by yours tru... Full Report » Cowlitz River. River Fishing (1) Fishing Technique. Wynoochee river fishing s cowlitz river fish reports map 30 min to white p ski area how to catch summer steelhead riptidefishCowlitz River FishingCowlitz River Fishing S West Side Service WestsideCowlitz River Fly Fishing TripsCowlitz River Fishing Visit RainierBlack Heron Fly Fishing Longview WashingtonBlack Heron Fly Fishing Longview WashingtonCowlitz River Summer Steelhead Water … Access really couldn’t be better here, with lots of bank access and a boat launch in a city park located in Woodland right off Interstate 5, right between Vancouver and Longview-Kelso. Other Fishing Reports for Puyallup . From Barrier Dam down, the river winds through tall timber and lush landscapes on its way to the trout hatchery at Blue Creek. The creek, which flows directly into the Columbia River west of Longview, offers up a bit of cutthroat trout fishing and the rare stray hatchery steelhead. Posted June 27, 2019 by SteveBuckner in Articles. In fact, there’s quite a good fall fishery for crappie and other panfish here, even for bank anglers, into the colder months. However the Cowlitz is one river that does have a lot of public access. On December the 14th 2020, the flow of the river at Mayfield Dam is estimated to be 8,800 feet … Merwin is considered one of the better tiger musky fisheries in the state. Silver just gets too warm. It’s a little more than a half hour’s drive east on Highway 503 from Woodland at Interstate 5. You may not deliberately fish for Asian carp and must release them unharmed if you accidentally catch them. Merrill has been planted with a variety of trout through the years, including rainbows and browns that grow to pretty good size. 1; Details; Find more fishing reports in Washington. Falling in Love? This is a pretty big lake (773 acres) that has drive-up access only at the southwest end, just off State Route 504. Whether you call them harvest trout, cutts, or sea runs, sea-run cutthroat trout have been a fall favorite for generations. At the lowest end near Skamokawa, there is a slough that might contain any of the bass and panfish species found in other Columbia River backwaters. Columbia River. There’s also a worthwhile fall Chinook fishery here, with the best catches likely to be in September. Kurk Shriver on the Blitzen river fly fishing trout. Sturgeon are present throughout this section of the river, but fishing for them is a fairly low-numbers affair since the states turned this into largely a catch-and-release fishery. Sea-run cutthroat trout appear in the lower river during the late winter and early fall but often get second billing to the steelhead and salmon arriving with them. There also are two runs of steelhead in the Kalama. This is a former bend in the Lewis River that offers excellent seasonal fishing for plentiful stocked trout (lots of rainbows and often some browns). The big bass also have seen it all, so you’ll have to step up your game to fool them. The lake, shared with Skamania County, currently hosts rainbows as well as cutthroat trout that were native to Coldwater Creek. Boaters and float-tubers have two miles of lake to explore, but note that gas motors are strictly prohibited so you’ll have to row or kick … or at least use an electric motor. Winter steelhead tend to run fairly late here, with catches usually best in March and April. There are dozens of producing fishing spots between the trout hatchery and Toledo. Cowlitz River. Today, the Cowlitz River provides anglers with an exceptional sport-fishing opportunity. Cowlitz river fishing report. The fall Chinook run is the largest in numbers of all, and the fish aren’t bad size either, with some going 30 pounds or better. Steelhead fishing is a much more modest pursuit than salmon, but both bank and boat anglers have a reasonable shot at these shallower-swimming oversized rainbow trout. Bass anglers come here in pretty good numbers, so don’t expect to have the place to yourself. This reservoir is the lowest of three big impoundments on the Lewis River, and it is shared with Clark County. Kress also is quite a good warmwater fishery, as WDFW tries to maintain a fishery for tasty channel catfish with occasional plants. Also in the fall when the salmon are in you will encounter Jack salmon, usually Chinook. “This is a fish that is fun to catch, bites opportunistically and aggressively, and tastes great,” Holowatz says. Believe us, they are keeping the lake fishable. This river system is located in northern Cowlitz County and is a major tributary of the Cowlitz River. I Watched Another Documentary on Climate Change & I’m Angry. Bank anglers often stake out a spot on beaches including Willow Grove in Cowlitz County and Puget Island in Wahkiakum County. This article also will talk about the best fishing spots near Cathlamet and other locations in neighboring Wahkiakum County, one of state’s smallest counties both by population and size located just down the Columbia River and within a short drive from Longview and elsewhere in Southwest Washington. Spring chinook fishing peaks in May. Other Fishing Reports for Vancouver. A freshwater fishing license is required. This river mainstem, locally called the North Fork, forms the boundary with Clark County to the south. The Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife, 2020–21 Washington Sport Fishing Rules pamphlet, More from The Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife, Green Death: A Hipster Phenomenon? They released 17 coho adults, two coho jacks, three winter-run steelhead, and two cutthroat trout into to the Cispus River near Yellowjacket Creek and they released 38 coho adults, six coho jacks, and four winter-run steelhead at Franklin Bridge in Packwood. Rainbow Trout (Steelhead) (1) Salmon (Chinook) (1) Salmon (Coho) (1) Salmon (Pink) (1) Sturgeon (1) See how FishingBooker rates How FishingBooker rates. These fish remain in the river well into August, but fishing is focused on the months of April, May and June. Currently, it produces nearly 13 million fish each year. Josua Holowatz, a fish biologist in the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife’s Southwest Region, says that this year’s return of sea-run cutthroat has been particularly good. 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