Southwest Washington Fishing Reports
2002 Report Archive
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WDFW Sport Sampling Results for February 11-18, 2002
Sport Sampling Summaries - PDF Format

Salmon/Steelhead

• Cowlitz River - Last week, 7 bank anglers at the barrier dam kept 1 steelhead and released another. 6 bank anglers at Blue Creek had no catch while 7 boat anglers kept 4 steelhead. At Mission Bar, 3 boat anglers kept 2 steelhead. The fish sampled were bright, probably late winter steelhead. With the Cowlitz flows reduced, boat anglers are hooking more fish from Blue Creek downstream. Flows below Mayfield Dam were 4,920 cfs this morning.
• Lewis River - Last week, 4 bank anglers kept 1 steelhead and released another. Flows below Merwin Dam were around 6,000 cfs this morning.
• Lower Columbia from the I-5 Bridge downstream - Some salmonid effort but no catch observed last week.
• Bonneville, The Dalles, and John Day pools - Anglers continue to catch steelhead. Including fish released, the average was around ½ fish per rod in all three pools.

Sturgeon

• Lower Columbia below Bonneville Dam - Boat anglers between Vancouver and Kalama averaged about ½ legal per boat last week. Fishing was slow from the bank from Woodland to Longview.
• Bonneville, The Dalles, and John Day pools - Slow for legal sized fish last week.

Walleye and Bass and other warm water fish

• Bonneville, The Dalles, and John Day pools - Light effort for walleye and there was no in-sample catch. No effort for bass in any of the pools last week.
  

Trout

• Klineline Pond - 72 bank anglers kept 22 rainbows and 2 brood trout plus released 2 rainbows.

Smelt

• In general - Pretty slow last weekend but there have been reports another wave may have hit the Lewis. Sport dipping was reported good on the lower Grays last Wednesday. However, the fishing area is very limited there.
• Cowlitz River - Best dipping on Saturday was in the Lexington area with 0 to 6 smelt per dip. It was taking ½ to 2 hours to get a 10 pound limit there. At Carnival Market, the average was 0 -3 smelt per dip with it taking 3 plus hours to limit. No catch was observed between Kelso and Longview.
• River is dropping and clearing. Water temperature was 43 degrees Saturday.
• Lewis River - Very slow on Saturday with little catch observed. However, one commercial fisher landed 35,000 pounds Sunday night and birds were reported present to Turpin's Bend, north of Woodland. Lots of birds were also present Sunday from the mouth of the Lewis River downstream ½ mile. Water temperature on Saturday was 41 degrees