Southwest Washington Fishing Reports

2003 Report Archive
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WDFW Sport Sampling Results for January 28-February 2, 2003
Sport Sampling Summaries - PDF Format

Salmon/Steelhead -

Cowlitz River - No report on angling success as the river was high and turbid last week.

• Tacoma Power's Cowlitz Salmon Hatchery separator recovered 1,039 coho salmon, 54 coho jacks, 312 winter-run steelhead, 23 summer-run steelhead and four sea-run cutthroat trout during five days of separator operations.
• During the past week, Tacoma Power employees released 1,153 coho adults, 43 coho jacks and 21 steelhead into the upper Cowlitz River at the Day Use Park on Lake Scanewa .
• Tacoma Power employees also released a total of 203 adult coho salmon, 15 coho jacks and seven steelhead adults at the Skate Creek Bridge site on the upper Cowlitz River in Packwood, Washington during the week.
• Tacoma Power employees released 428 coho salmon, 20 coho jacks, 91 winter-run steelhead and three cutthroat trout into the Tilton River at Gust Backstrom Park in Morton , Washington during the week. A total of 384 steelhead and one cutthroat trout were recycled downstream to the Massey Bar boat launch during the week.
• River flows at Mayfield Dam are approximately 15,300 cubic feet per second on Monday, February 3. Water visibility is less than one foot.

Kalama River - Slow for steelhead the week of Jan. 19-25. A total of 107 bank anglers sampled kept 2 hatchery steelhead and released 2 hatchery steelhead. 56 boat anglers kept 3 hatchery steelhead and released 5 wild steelhead.

• 25 hatchery winter steelhead were recycled to the lower river on Jan. 27. Kress Lake received 70 hatchery winter steelhead.
• On Jan. 27, a total of 36 wild winter-run steelhead were passed upstream from Kalama Falls Hatchery. To date, 130 fish had been put upstream.
• Also on Jan. 27, 4 wild summer-run steelhead were passed upstream from Kalama Falls Hatchery. To date, 910 fish had been put upstream.

The Dalles Pool - Counting fish released, bank anglers averaged nearly a steelhead per rod while boat anglers averaged one per every two rods last week.

John Day Pool - Counting fish released, bank anglers averaged nearly 1.5 steelhead per rod while boat anglers averaged 0.7 fish per rod last week.

Sturgeon -

Lower Columbia below Bonneville Dam - No report on angling success. On Saturday (Feb. 1), a total of 173 sturgeon boats were counted from Cathlamet to Bonneville Dam. Slightly more than forty percent of the boats were found in the gorge.

Bonneville Pool - Boat anglers averaged a legal per every 5 rods last week. Bank anglers were also catching some legals.

The Dalles and John Day pools - Slow for legal size fish although boat anglers in The Dalles Pool were catching a few fish.

Walleye and Bass -

Bonneville, The Dalles, and John Day pools - Light effort with no walleye catch observed. No effort was found for bass.

Trout -

Klineline Pond - 80 bank anglers kept 68 catchable size rainbows and 2 brood trout plus released 6 catchable size rainbows and 5 brood trout.

Recent trout releases since Jan. 23

• Battleground Lake - 157 rainbows averaging 5.9 pounds and 43 rainbows averaging 9.7 pounds each.
• Silver Lake in Castle Rock - 4,000 catchable size rainbows.
• Icehouse Lake near Bridge of the Gods - 9 adult hatchery steelhead averaging 10 pounds and 99 sea run cutthroat averaging a pound each.

Smelt -

Cowlitz River - On Monday (Feb. 3), the report from the mouth upstream was:

• Gearhart Park 0-3 fish/dip;
• Kelso Bridge 0-30 fish/dip;
• Carnival Market 0-10 fish/dip;
• Rocky Point 0-15 fish/dip;
• Lexington 0-10 fish/dip

River was very high but dropping. Cowlitz River flows measured at Castle Rock were 21,500 cfs this morning (Feb. 4). This compares to 64,900 cfs late Friday night (Jan. 31).

Columbia - Some unspawned smelt still present near Cathlamet.

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