January 27, 2008

Latest Southwest Washington Sport Sampling Summaries [PDF Format]

Salmon/Steelhead

Cowlitz River - 6 bank anglers had no catch while 4 boaters sampled at Blue Creek kept 3 winter steelhead. The first 13 late stock hatchery winter steelhead had returned to the salmon hatchery through Jan. 23.

Last week, Tacoma Power recovered 200 coho salmon adults and six winter-run steelhead at the Cowlitz Salmon Hatchery separator during three days of operations. During the week Tacoma Power employees released 18 coho adults and two winter-run steelhead into Lake Scanewa at the Day Use Site and five coho adults into the Tilton River at Gust Backstrom Park in Morton, Washington.

River flows at Mayfield Dam are approximately at 7,990 cubic feet per second on Monday, January 28.

Bonneville Pool - The few boat anglers sampled caught several steelhead.

Kalama River - Angling effort has been light and catching seems to be reflective of the effort. The Kalama is between runs with wild and brood fish on their way.

Sturgeon

Lower Columbia mainstem from the Wauna power lines to Bonneville Dam - 2 bank anglers in the Longview area had no catch.

Bonneville and The Dalles pools - Light effort and no catch was found.

Walleye and Bass

Bonneville and The Dalles pools - Light effort and no catch was found.

Trout

Kress Lake near Kalama - No report on angling success. Planted with 16 surplus hatchery winter steelhead averaging ten pound each Jan. 22.

Klineline Pond - No report on angling success. Planted with 1,000 catchable size rainbows Jan. 22.

Smelt

Lower Columbia - Commercial landings in the Columbia River have dropped significantly from the previous week. 44 lbs were landed Monday, January 21st from around Puget Island (about 1/20th of the daily landings the previous week). Preliminary estimate of 2,003 lbs landed since late-December.

On Wednesday January 23rd WDFW survey crews only observed a couple of seals in the Columbia River by County Line Park in Longview. Water temperature in the Skamokawa area was a little over 37 degrees today (Monday January 28). Smelt prefer water temperatures of at least 40ºF or warmer.

Cowlitz River - WDFW test dipping on Wednesday January 23rd, produced no catch. Areas sampled were Gearhart, Kelso Bridge, Carnival Market, and Lexington. There were no reliable reports of smelt being caught on Saturday, January 19th or January 26th.

No commercial landings were reported for January 20th and 24th. No fish have been reported landed since the season began Jan. 2.

The flow at Castle Rock is 11,300 CFS today (Monday January 28) which is slighly lower than the long-term mean (13,500 cfs) for this date. Last Wednesday (January 23) the water temperature had dropped to 39ºF in the Cowlitz River.