SW Washington fishing updates 2022

[The Guides Forecast]

SW Washington by Ian Carter
Buoy 10 is hot hot hot. We have a Sturgeon opener on the horizon and Merwin is producing some very nice sized Kokanee.

REMINDER, please verify the regulations before fishing any body of water.

Warm Water Area Lakes

Lacamas Lake – I heard of a few catfish caught this week during the night.

Kress Lake – Korey at Bob’s Outdoor in Kelso shared that fishing is excellent for Sunfish and Bass. He’s been employing a Ned rig. The Ned rig is a finesse fishing technique that involves using small plastic worms, craws, or creatures paired with a light mushroom style head so it can easily float off the bottom.

Lewis Report

On Sunday morning I took a drive-up Hayes Road to the Cedar Creek boat launch. Lucky for me it’s only 10 minutes from my home. There was some activity, but it wasn’t hopping. In the 20 minutes I was present there were no fish hooked. I observed approximately 20 bank anglers, and a half dozen boats. My Steelhead gear got dusted off this morning and I plan on hitting that area on Thursday and Friday evening. I’ll report on the trip next week.

Kalama Report

Korey at Bob’s hasn’t heard of much success on Steelhead, although there are a bunch of fish in the river. Chinook have yet to show and the coho are weeks away. WDFW didn’t report anything from their checks.

Cowlitz Report​

Steelhead fishing is still ok, not great.

Flows are finally stabilizing. At Castle Rock the river is running high at 4,000cfs, still 25% higher than “normal”. Water visibility is 14 feet and water temperature is 54.4 degrees F, about the same as last week.

Toutle Report

Nathan at Sportsman’s Warehouse in Kelso wasn’t available this week for comment on the Toutle. I plan on reporting about this under reported river as the fall progresses.

Canyon Creek

I took the fly rod to Canyon Creek for a few hours on Monday morning. It was a loads of fun. Managed to catch and release a half dozen trout on a little prince nymph.

Reservoir Report

Merwin is fishing very well. Some friends camped at Beaver Bay on Yale this week. They fish from a canoe and report pretty good fishing early in the morning.

Columbia Summary

Jim from Looney Coonies says the dam counts are climbing with the last tide exchange. Wobble bite has improved, and the fish are running deep with the 72-degree water. Trollers are picking up a few. Next week should be excellent.

Don’t forget that Kelso Sportsman’s is having a Coho Contest from August 1st through November 15th. The heaviest gutted and gilled Coho will win a “Guided trip with Blair Johnson of BGS North West.” They will be doing a raffle for 2nd prize you will get an entry for every Five pounds of Coho that you bring in.

I fished on Saturday with my father and Stanley. We trolled the same productive spot as last week by Warrior rock. The only difference besides no fish this trip was the tide. Our great days were during the early morning high slack as opposed to the early morning low slack this past Saturday.

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[The Guides Forecast]

SW Washington by Ian Carter

My report last week was completed a few hours before the devastating announcement regarding the shutting down of our Lower Columbia River Salmon and Steelhead Fishery. The good news is that the Chinook counts over Bonneville are still bananas, so hopefully a reopener is on the horizon. I don’t usually publicly comment on politics, but something has to change. On the bright side there are still many other opportunities to feed your family from elsewhere. There was no WDFW report so far this week, so it’s a good thing you have The Guides Forecast.

REMINDER, please verify the regulations before fishing any body of water

Best Bet– Above Bonneville for Chinook and potentially tributary Coho.​

Warm Water Area Lakes​

Lacamas Lake – Round lake next to Lacamas has been fishing exceptional for larger Bluegill in the 7” range. Top bait is pieces of cured Bluegill Candy, tip from angler Greg Robinson.

Lewis Report​

There is a much greater interest in fishing right now. Fishing is getting good as an early pod of coho have moved up. The hatchery area was very busy with bank anglers on both sides. There were 7 boats working the area below the pipe outlets.

The river level bumped up significantly a couple days ago and is now dropping again. This could have been the catalyst to move that pod of coho up. There was no WDFW report this week. The gauge level at Ariel is at 3.0ft after the flow increase. The real-time stream flow data can be found here: USGS-North Fork Lewis.

Cowlitz Report​

Plunkers aren’t doing very with the higher flows.

Flows are finally stabilizing. At Castle Rock the river is running high at 3,790cfs. Which is down from 5,000 a few days ago. Water visibility is 12 feet and water temperature is 55.2 degrees F. Some

There were NO WDFW angler check data reported.

Columbia Gorge and Tributaries​

With the shut down all attention is focused on Drano, and the Wind and Klickitat Rivers. Yesterday I drove back from Montana through the gorge and managed to snap the following photos of fishing pressure at various hot spots East to west. There was zero wind for the entire jpurney through the gorge. The area around the Deschutes was the busiest.

Reservoir Report​

Like the season, the kokanee are changing rapidly. Consider using Brad’s Kokanee cut plugs this time of year with a long (24”) stiff leader (15lb) fluorocarbon. This time of year, some bigger rainbows show up in the catch too! The bigger kokanees are beginning to school up separately.

Riffe Lake fishing is good as the water level has come up. Landlocked Silvers are being caught they are about 13-15″” long. Fish are down 45 to 65+ feet depending on cloud cover and wind. Some big Triploid Rainbow are being caught most are running 18″ to 20″.

Coastal​

Salmon – Coho fishing is fantastic and hopefully the quota lasts through September. The fish are really getting some size to them. A report came of a great 2 days in Westport. Saturday was a bit lumpy for coho, so they didn’t make it far but made it far enough.

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[The Guides Forecast]

SW Washington by Ian Carter
BEST BET – if you don’t want to travel far, Sturgeon on Saturday in the Kalama area. Got wheels then head to the gorge.

Lewis Report

When fishing the North Fork right now, keep an eye on the ups and downs of the water flow. Fresh pods of fish tend to shoot up to the hatchery during these water events. I was up at the hatchery today and there were not as many fish jumping. Out of the 6 boats and probably 30 bank anglers I observed no fish caught in 45 minutes.

Lewis River Streamflow This Last Few Weeks
The water flow currently is 1,280 and trending at median flows, for now. The gauge height in woodland is ranging between 7ft-9ft depending on the tide. Fishing pressure is quite heavy and not very much success is being reported. Although I did observe a dozen or so carcasses at the boat launch.

The WDFW angler checks showed some successes – 162 bank rods kept 40 coho and 12 coho jacks, and released one Chinook, five coho and two coho jacks. Thirty-two boats/70 rods kept four Chinook, 18 coho and 12 coho jacks, and released 11 Chinook, one Chinook jack, 17 coho and five coho jacks. From this sampling it seems there are quite a few chinook around. The stream flow data can be found here: USGS-North Fork Lewis. I personally had a great Sunday at the mouth and to release this hefty Chinook, plus a smaller one.

Kalama Report

Angler success reported by WDFW this week showed it to be a little busy with not much catching. Fifty six bank rods kept four Chinook and released three Chinook. One boat/1 rod had no catch. Korey at Bob’s Sporting Goods usually has great intel for when the fishing is good. He said he honestly hadn’t heard anything positive.

Cowlitz Report

WDFW anglers’ checks reported the following: Cowlitz River I-5 Br downstream – 31 bank rods kept one Chinook and two coho, and released one Chinook and one coho. 51 boats/154 kept nine Chinook, one Chinook jack, seven coho, two coho jacks and one steelhead, and released 25 Chinook, one Chinook jack, three coho and nine steelhead. Cowlitz River Above the I-5 Br – Four bank rods kept two steelhead. 2 boats/5 rods kept two steelhead. This isn’t a very encoraging report, but contradicts a report from another source.

This week, Tacoma Power employees collected 65 summer-run steelhead adults, 51 spring Chinook adults, 72 spring Chinook mini-jacks, 96 fall Chinook adults, 22 fall Chinook jacks, 31 coho adults, 22 coho jacks, and 18 cutthroat trout over four days of operations at the Cowlitz Salmon Hatchery separator. All the fish counts are down significantly from last week.

Washougal Report

John Thompson of Sportsman’s Warehouse tells me that the Washougal still isn’t worth the effort until we receive some rain.

Columbia Gorge and Tributaries

I spoke with Carl Coolidge at Klickitat Canyon Market he says that things are still in waiting mode. The water is super low but the temperatures are cooling off at night. This could improve the steelhead bite as there are some in the river. They received a little rain today, but not enough to draw any Chinook into the system. Carl offers a great shuttle service if you are ever in need. You can find more info about it on their website. River data for the Klickitat can be found here.

The WDFW report for the Wind River – One bank rod had no catch. 1 boat/2 rods kept two Chinook, and released two Chinook and three coho. Similar circumstances as the Klickitat.

Checkers for WDFW at Drano Lake found 8 bank rods released one coho. 62 boats/173 rods kept 75 Chinook, eight Chinook jacks, two coho and released 15 Chinook and five steelhead. Its very busy, but if you don’t mind the crowds there are fish to be had.

Reservoir Report

Reports from Merwin indicate things are cooling off and many fish are in spawning mode. Some folks are finding good fishing down by the dam. It’s been scratch fishing from what I’ve heard. Good time of year to try some new things. Pressure is much lighter with other fishing opportunites in the region.

Columbia Summary

The lower river below approximately Corbett, OR is closed to all Salmon and Steelhead fishing. Everyone is dialing in for the 2nd day of a three day strugeon retention season. Have fun fishing the gorge for Chinook and Sturgeon this Saturday. Could be a good day to plug the boat with mutltiple species.

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[The Guides Forecast]

SW Washington Fishing Report​

by Ian Carter

Fishing opportunities in the gorge are worth the trip. Sturgeon fishing wasn’t reported as red hot and local tributary Coho are here.

REMINDER, please verify the regulations before fishing any body of water

BEST BET – Gorge for Chinook above the dam.

Lewis Report

The hatchery area is packed. Boat parking is nonexistent on weekends unless you get there way before light. Bank anglers were parked 200 yards on each side of the road on the Clark County side at Cedar Creek. This past Sunday the Golf Course launch had rigs parked up above. There could have been room for a couple of more below, but you know how some people park.

Harvest trout are in the lower river. It’s a great bank fishery for kids. Grab a trout rod and some night crawlers and sliding sinkers.

Kalama Report

Today, Wednesday I took a drive to check things out based on a good report from John Thompson of Sportsman’s Warehouse. The river is extremely low, but there are coho around. There were no drift boats parked at any of the spots. The only bank anglers I observed were at the RV park by the bridge. WDFW checks this week also echoed a lack of effort: Kalama River – 17 bank rods kept three Chinook.

Cowlitz Report

WDFW anglers’ checks reported the following: Cowlitz River I-5 Br downstream – 34 bank rods kept one coho and released one Chinook. 15 boats/45 rods kept five Chinook, five coho, one coho jack, one steelhead and released 26 Chinook, one Chinook jack and 12 coho. Cowlitz River Above the I-5 Br – Nine bank rod had no catch. 2 boats/8 rods kept 14 steelhead.

Columbia Gorge and Tributaries

Still don’t have any news from Carl about the Klickitat. Remember he offers a great shuttle service if you are ever in need. The water is still off-color glacier melt. There have been some success however according to the WDFW creel checks. Klickitat River below Fisher Hill Bridge – 40 bank rods kept 13 Chinook and two Chinook jacks. Klickitat River above #5 Fishway – No report. River data for the Klickitat can be found here.

Fishing is excellent in the gorge. Limits are frequent both right below the dam and to way above.

Goose Lake – Located in the Gifford Pinchot Forest north of Carson is fishing very well. Today, September 21st the lake was also stocked with 1,000 approximately 1lb Cutthroat bass fishing here is also in full swing.

Salmon Fishing is excellent out of Westport. According to Jim Milanowski with Looney Coonies the Coho fishing has really slowed down. It looks like a nice 32.05-pound chinook caught on August 11, 2022, is going to win the $10,000 Grand Prize for the largest chinook caught in the Westport Charter boat Association 2022 Derby. Although chinook fishing looks to be over for the season, the derby is not over until all salmon closes September 30th.

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[The Guides Forecast]

SW Washington by Ian Carter

BEST BET – Gotta give the Lower Columbia a go.

Lewis Report

This evening I drove up to the hatchery and couldn’t help but notice the falling leaves and a Lewis River full of Coho. Strangely the fishing pressure was unusably light. There were many small Coho jumping everywhere. I didn’t observe any catches for the dozen bank fisherman and five boats while I was there. The launch at Cedar Creek had only five trailers. The initial run of Lewis coho tend to be smaller with the bigger fish typically arriving in November.

The water flow hasn’t changed. It’s so low that there are new cotton woods emerging on the island at the hole in the wall.

The WDFW angler checks showed 53 bank rods kept one Chinook jack, 11 coho and one coho jack. Two boats fishing five rods kept seven coho jacks and released two Chinook. The stream flow data can be found here: USGS-North Fork Lewis.

I fished the mouth on Tuesday. It was pretty slow trolling, as we only hooked and lost one nice Chinook in three hours. We gave up on that and tried twitching and tossing plugs. I located a bunch of fish in the deep hole on the downriver side of the RR bridge on the Clark County side. We caught three bright Coho within an hour, but we unfortunately had to leave. No doubt we would have caught more.

Kalama Report
There are a lot of fish in the Kalama, but I can’t find any reports of too many being caught. WDFW checks this week showed similar results: Kalama River – 14 bank rods NO catch

WDFW anglers’ checks reported the following: Cowlitz River I-5 Br downstream – 82 bank rods kept one Chinook, two coho jacks and released two Chinook and one coho. 24 boats/57 rods kept four coho and released two Chinook and 10 coho. Cowlitz River Above the I-5 Br – 36 bank rods kept one steelhead and released three Chinook.

Water flow on the Cowlitz at Castle Rock got a bump a few days ago. It’s now up to 3,700. Real time water flow data can be found here USGS-Cowlitz
Trolling at the mouth has been good, not great. Dave Mallahan with Dave’s Guide Service fished the Cowlitz this week. He indicated that things are kind of slow, with some hatchery coho starting show.

THIS JUST IN: The Cowlitz and Washougal Rivers will close October 1st for the retention of hatchery Chinook:

See the Cowlitz press release HERE.
See the Washougal press release HERE.

Washougal Report
It’s still early and the river is super low, but some fish are making the trip to the hatchery.

Toutle Report
Nathan at Sportsman’s Warehouse in Kelso as heard great reports of Chinook in the Toutle. They are holding in the lower end in deeper water waiting for rain. Coho are really beginning to show but large numbers haven’t made it to the Green River yet.

Naselle Report
Early coho are starting to show. As a reminder the river is closed above the highway until October 17th.

Columbia Gorge and Tributaries
Carl from Klickitat Canyon Market isn’t over optimistic for fishing in the next week or so. The river is currently a nice chocolate brown with glacial tints and this little bit of rain won’t help to clear it. There was good fishing four or five days ago with lots of both Chinook and Steelhead in the mix. Consistent cooler mountain temperatures are needed to clear up the glacial melt.

The coho have yet to show in any numbers at the mouth of the Klickitat. Carl says they should be arriving soon.

Jim Milanowski with Looney Coonies fished the mouth of the Klickitat this week. They caught four Chinook between two of them. Jim went on to say that he would view the fishing as “fair”.

Reservoir Reports
Riffe Lake – The landlocked variety in this lake being Silvers, tend to stay in better shape longer. Fishing is pretty good right now and the fish have some size.

Mayfield Lake – During the fall the 1000’s of stocker trout placed over the summer grow extremely quickly. They have voracious appetites and can make for a fun day of trout fishing. It should remain good as the nights get slightly cooler and longer.

Columbia Summary
Lower Columbia River east end of Reed Island upstream to Bonneville Dam counts– 278 salmonid boats and 42 Washington bank rods were tallied during Saturday’s flight.

For the area open below Bonneville Sec 1 (Bonneville) – 91 bank anglers kept eight Chinook, seven Chinook jacks, one coho and released one Chinook. 273 boats/707 rods kept 240 Chinook, 96 Chinook jacks, eight coho, one coho jack and released six Chinook, 10 Chinook jacks, two coho jacks and one steelhead.

Smaller Lakes Report
Horseshoe Lake – I talked to a couple guys that had a good day Bass fishing. They focused their efforts on the south shore of the northern side of the lake by the docks.

Silver Lake – Crappie fishing is going strong. The fish are very aggressive and hungry in anticipation of winter.

High Lakes – Folks are pretty tight lipped about exact locations but there are many to choose from. Reports indicate that they are mostly fishing well and will continue to do so. That is, until the coming temperature changes and the fall turnover is complete.

Coastal Report
Salmon Fishing ended the season on a great note for Coho. There have been many large hatchery Coho caught in the last week or two in Westport. This is good news for the bays and rivers. The harbor is fishing great for Coho up to the Johns River. All marine salmon closes September 30th, other than the area from Buoy 10 that is re-opening on October 1, 2022. Here is the notice:

Effective 12:01 AM Saturday October 1, retention of Chinook and hatchery coho (adults and jacks) is allowed in the mainstem Columbia River from the Buoy 10 line upstream to the Tongue Point/Rocky Point line. The daily adult bag limit is three salmon, of which only one may be a Chinook. All other previously adopted regulations remain in effect.

Salmon fishing might be a good option in the Buoy 10 area, albeit it has been comparatively slow for offshore Coho out of the Columbia compared to Westport.

Tuna fishing is still going strong for some folks. The fish have moved further offshore. I’ve heard of catches this week beginning at 42NM. Reports indicate that fish are in small schools and boats are getting lots of fish once the jumpers are located.

Razor Clams Some toxin reports have come back negative. By the time you read this you will possibly still have time to catch the Friday tide. Hopefully by the next planned season, October 8th through October 14th the toxins will be safe. Here are the tide details in case you go on Friday:

Sept. 30, Friday, 10:43 p.m.; -0.2 feet; Long Beach, Twin Harbors, Copalis

The most current info can be located here.

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[The Guides Forecast]

Because of the character limit on this site, you can find our complete summary here.

SW Washington by Ian Carter

REMINDER, please verify the regulations before fishing any body of water

Effective 11:59 Friday October 7th the Columbia closes again from Buoy 10 this time to the Pasco 395 Highway bridge. Wow, thanks for the 7 days of Chinook fishing. I just received the Press Release and was unable to gain any understanding of reasoning. Hopefully, a believable (it won’t be rational) explanation will be released publicly.

BEST BET – I’m Stumped……. Let’s go Clam Digging

Lewis Report

This week I fished the Lewis from the forks up to the Woodland bridge. We didn’t have any luck, albeit the river is seriously full of fish. It was later in the morning when we fished Woodland, after a morning Columbia trip. It’s like one long train of Coho heading through the shallows just below the Woodland bridge. There is a pretty good deep slot in that area where I back trolled eggs and diver. That didn’t work so we tried back trolling plugs, casting just plugs and casting spinners didn’t work either. Our timing (high noon with full sun) was a little off for fishing this area and it was more recon than anything. I’m going to return to that spot at both sun up and sun down in the next 6-7 days and see if the bite turns on.

Kalama Report
Angling pressure is really light. The fall Chinook returns so far for this river are phenomenal, it’s unfortunate that the weir is so low in the system. Not a lot of room to fish below it, especially at these levels. The river is very low. The Coho have yet to make themselves known.

Nathan at Sportsman’s Warehouse had some reports of Chinook being caught below the weir. Other than that fishing pressure is very light. There was no one fishing the usually crowded bankie bend during late fall across from the RV park. WDFW checks this week showed similar results: Kalama River – 12 bank rods released two Chinook. 1 boat/2 rods released one Chinook. 14 bank rods NO catch.

Because of the character limit on this site, you can find our complete summary here.

 

[climbguy]

Vancouver lake and Lacamas lake currently have closure advisories out. https://clark.wa.gov/public-health/public-beaches

Hopefully that will change soon as much needed rain expected this weekend.

 

[The Guides Forecast]

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ANGLERS EVAN CARTER AND KEITH FISHER LEWIS RIVER Oct 23 2022

 

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Catch the latest fishing report for SW Washington right here

 

[The Guides Forecast]

Happy weekend to you! Our weekly #SW Washington report is up on our site now. Take a look at what's going on right here.

 

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[The Guides Forecast]

Happy Thanksgiving weekend. You can find our latest SW Washington fishing report right here. Good luck out there!



ANGLER CHAD GURNEY KALAMA RIVER 11 20 2022

 

[The Guides Forecast]

Here is our latest from SW Washington

Merwin is fishing great with many limits coming to patient and observant anglers. The Cowlitz is probably the best place to catch a Coho in our area. It’s unfortunately the stretch of our trip around the sun when many fishing opportunities naturally slow down.

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COWLITZ WINTER STEELHEAD DAVE MALLAHAN 2012 11 15

 

[The Guides Forecast]

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Wild Steelhead | Lucia Falls 12/11/22 | Image Credit Fernando Cisneros

 

[The Guides Forecast]

Happy New Year! Our weekly SW Washington fishing update is right here.