Southwest Washington
Fishing Reports
2003 Report Archive
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June 2, 2003
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Salmon/Steelhead -
Cowlitz River - Catch on the lower river downstream from I-5 is switching over to summer-run steelhead.
During the past week, Tacoma Power and Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife employees recovered 653 spring chinook adults, 70 spring chinook jacks, 12 steelhead adults and eight cutthroat in four days of separator operations at Tacoma Power's Cowlitz Salmon Hatchery.
A total of 416 spring chinook adults, 11 spring chinook jacks and one steelhead adult were released into the upper Cowlitz River at the Lake Scanewa Day Use Park during the past week.
During the past week, Tacoma Power employees recycled a total of eight steelhead and four cutthroat trout downstream to the Massey Bar boat launch.
A total of 38 spring chinook adults and 33 spring chinook jacks were donated to the local S.O.M.M.A. food bank during the past week. Coded wire tags containing study information were recovered from these fish prior to their donation to the food bank.
River flows at Mayfield Dam are approximately 4,070 cubic feet per second on Monday, June 2. Water visibility is over ten feet.
Kalama River - Both hatchery spring chinook and hatchery steelhead are being caught.Lewis River - Including fish released, bank anglers near the hatchery averaged a chinook (adult or jack) per every 4.4 rods while boat anglers averaged slightly better than one per every 3 rods.
Quite a few spring chinook were in the trap at Merwin Dam today along with a couple hundred summer run steelhead. Through May 29, a total of 481 hatchery summer run steelhead had been counted. This year's count is ahead of last year when 367 steelhead had been counted through the first week of June. Last year, over 13,000 hatchery summer run steelhead returned to the Lewis River facilities.
Flows below Merwin Dam were 2,070 cfs today.
Wind River - Still some fish being caught occasionally in the gorge below Shipherd Falls but most of the effort and catch is near Milepost 7. Anglers in the upper river averaged over ½ chinook per rod last week. There were 90-100 vehicles between Milepost 6 and 8 yesterday morning (June 1).
Through May 30, nearly 4,000 spring chinook had returned to Carson Hatchery.
Drano Lake - Only a couple anglers on the lake the past few days.
Klickitat River - Bank anglers averaged a chinook per every 4 rods last week. Some of the fish are still really bright. Through May 29, nearly 400 chinook had returned to Klickitat Hatchery. Flows at Pitt were 2,340 cfs today.
Lower Columbia from the I-5 bridge downstream to the Rocky Point/Tongue Point line - Overall, bank anglers averaged a steelhead kept or released per every 7 rods last week. Best catches were downstream from Longview with a fish per every 4.2 rods.
Over 200 bank anglers were counted along the Washington side during last Saturday's (May 31) flight.
Final spring chinook count at Bonneville Dam - 195,770 adults and 14,467 jacks.
Sturgeon
-
Ports of Chinook and Ilwaco - Charter boat anglers averaged 0.7 legals per rod while private boaters averaged one per every 4.1 rods last week.
Deep River - Limited data currently available.
Almost 500 private boats and 27 charters were counted in the estuary last Saturday (May 31).
Bonneville Pool - Bank anglers caught some legals last week. No in-sample catches observed for boat anglers.
The Dalles Pool - Boat anglers caught some legals.
John Day Pool - Slow for legal size fish.
Walleye
and Bass -
Bonneville Pool - The few anglers sampled did very well on bass. Bank anglers averaged 14 per rod while boat anglers averaged nearly 5 each. No effort for walleye was observed last week.
The Dalles Pool - The few anglers sampled did well for bass and walleye. Bank anglers averaged 3 fish per rod while the single boat angler released 12. Boat anglers also averaged 1.5 walleye per rod.
John Day Pool - Very good for bass and walleye. Boat anglers averaged over 5 bass and a walleye per rod last week. Bank anglers were also catching some bass.
Trout -
Mayfield Lake - Effort is light but catches are good and thousands of trout remain to be caught. Only 10 boats were observed on the lake last Saturday (May 31). Nearly 50,000 rainbows have been planted to date. Boat angler success rate on rainbow trout in Mayfield Lake averaged more than 2.2 fish per hour during this past week.
Horseshoe Lake near Woodland - Light effort observed during one day last week.
Merwin Reservoir - Boat anglers were catching 12-14" kokanee. The reservoir was reported 1.25 feet below full pool last Friday (May 30).
Klineline Pond - Bank anglers continue to catch rainbows and browns.
Goose Lake - Browns ranged from 14-16" and some cutthroats were being caught.
Several streams were planted with catchable size rainbows last week including Bird, Blockhouse, Bloodgood, Bowman, Mill, Outlet, and Spring creeks in Klickitat County. The Little Klickitat River plus Maryhill Pond also received fish.
Shad -
Lower Columbia below Bonneville Dam - Yesterday just below Bonneville Dam, bank anglers averaged 7 shad per rod while anglers at Steambock Dock in Washougal averaged slightly less than 3 per rod, both based on mainly incomplete trips. Boat anglers sampled at Camas/Washougal averaged nearly 4 shad per rod based on completed trips.
Nearly 200 bank anglers were counted at Bonneville last Saturday (May 31). In addition, 52 bank anglers were counted at Steamboat Landing in Washougal and 87 boats in the Camas/Washougal area. Over 185,000 shad were counted at Bonneville Dam yesterday.