Northwest Fishing Reports

Hey all, was wondering how the Cowlitz is doing. I plan on fishing it this weekend, IF it would be worth it. I am at work and don't have my regs with me, but is it open at night right now? I can fish springers at Barrier or steel at Blue Creek. But would rather fish for steel. I am not asking for any secrets, but any help would be much greatly appreciated! PMs are welcome as well. Thanks for any and all help.

decent steelhat @ cowlitz i got max limit lastweek 4 steel 2b4 mid night and 2 right after avg 10#-13#..fall chinook just started rolling in way better than skok kings but not better than springer tho. but they average 20-35#. fall run should get good any day chromers monsters

Nice man! Thank you for the advice. Any baits doing better than others? Fall kings already to the Cow huh? I like it! Any springers left worth keeping?

I was out on Sunday out of the Blue Creek launch, and it was very slow. Boat went 1/1 (steelie). Bite was off-- full sun on the water early, and the river was being lowered. Goes without saying, but with the weather the fish aren't cooperating mid-day.

Duwimaster wrote:Nice man! Thank you for the advice. Any baits doing better than others? Fall kings already to the Cow huh? I like it! Any springers left worth keeping?

springer all boots. my buddys been hookin fall runs a week ago ,i caught a chromer fall run 8# 2 weeks ago just gotta work for um..fall kings love big glob of jucy egg....or corky id go for steel they runnin big and a close second to springer for eating

Fish-or-man? wrote:I was out on Sunday out of the Blue Creek launch, and it was very slow. Boat went 1/1 (steelie). Bite was off-- full sun on the water early, and the river was being lowered. Goes without saying, but with the weather the fish aren't cooperating mid-day.

strange my buddy went 2 for 4 off da bank on sunday one of them was pushing 13#

When was he out? I was out about dawn to 10am. I seriously saw extremly little action anywhere up there!

he dont bother in am too much boat traffic, he went late evening 6pm-9ish above bc..then when it got dark blue crek..last week he hooked 16 steelhats .i went with him last week everyone was slow..we lost some pigs

Sounds like it was a great call! Thanks for the info! Boat traffic was fairly bad.

Last week Tacoma Power recovered 1178 summer-run steelhead, 388 spring Chinook adults, 26 jacks, 41 mini-jacks, three fall Chinook adults, four jacks, one sockeye salmon, two chum salmon and two sea-run cutthroat trout during five days of operations at the Cowlitz Salmon Hatchery separator.
http://www.mytpu.org/tacomapower/parks- ... report.htm" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Bookmark that page, they update it every Monday. It will tell you whether it's worth it or not. I dunno though, 1,000+ fish coming through in a week, sounds a little slow, compared to say, the Sky that where the hatchery escapement to date this season is 267 fish.

Long story short, the Cowlitz is ALWAYS going to be worth the trip.

Fish-or-man? wrote:Sounds like it was a great call! Thanks for the info! Boat traffic was fairly bad.

hes been using that call for da last 20 yrs its worked out great for him he luckyest fisher i know im glad we got to be friend.he toll me its all when and where and what to use,im still tryin to figur it out

yeah I saw that nate, wow still over a thousand summer steelhats coming through weekly, good run this year, got my fair share I guess (all of 5 )Gots a good chance of hooking up with something as longs as you put in their face and flows are good. Micro jigs for steelhead and smaller presentation for king or so I think...

Nice guys! Lots of good information kicking around on this thread! Just what I wanted to hear! Keep it up!


Yeah Nate, it's sad too.....the sky is the #1 steely river left in the sound too. The Puget sound systems are dead for steel, and cant even be compared to the Columbia systems, unfortantly. Not to say the Columbia systems are in very good shape either, but better of than PS.

I'm tired of my puget sound rivers. They can be frustrating!!!

hatleast you guys live close to steelhead fishing, closest good steelhead fishing in bremerton is just under 2 hours away

The Skykomish can be tough, but it's definitely more about fishing than catching. When you do nail a jumpy summer run in some out of the way pocket of water, it's a lot more satisfying than simply hooking up on trapped fish at the hatchery. It let's you know how much your skills practice and research have paid off. I still love the Sky valley, but sometimes you just want to relax and tug on some fish. PLenty of fish in the freezer, so I'll still hone my craft on the Sky. It won't be long until the Coho start pouring in, and that will be a different story completely.