Southwest Washington Fishing Reports
2002 Report Archive
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WDFW Sport Sampling Results for March 18-24, 2002
Sport Sampling Summaries - PDF Format

Salmon/Steelhead

• Cowlitz River - The water level went way up on Tuesday March 19 and boat effort decreased thereafter. Boats anglers at Blue Creek were averaging about a steelhead per rod until the water rose. Bank anglers at the barrier dam are still catching some steelhead. Flows below Mayfield Dam were 8,750 cfs this morning.
• Lewis River - Light effort and catches. Flows below Merwin Dam were 6,800 cfs this morning.
• Wind River - Light effort but boat anglers are catching some spring chinook.
• Drano Lake - Light effort but no catch was observed. Less than 10 boats at Drano Lake and Wind River each day last weekend.
• Lower Columbia below Bonneville Dam - Effort has intensified but catches dropped last week. Last Saturday (March 23), over 700 salmonid boats were counted from Bonneville Dam downstream. Effort was highest in the Cathlamet and Vancouver areas with 152 and 129 boats counted, respectively. Overall, boat anglers averaged a hatchery chinook kept per every 19.6 rods last week based on complete trips.
• Bank angling effort was also high last weekend. Over 200 bank rods were counted on the Washington shore from Bonneville Dam downstream and another 400 rods were counted on the Oregon side. On the Washington side, over half the effort was found just downstream from Bonneville Dam.
• Overall, bank angling was very slow from the Washington side last week with a hatchery chinook caught per every 69.2 rods based on mainly incomplete trips.
• Bonneville Pool - Boat anglers continue to catch some steelhead. The steelhead season remains open through March 31. Bonneville Pool is currently closed to fishing for salmon.
• The Dalles Pool - Anglers continue to catch some steelhead. No spring chinook were sampled there last week.
• Including night counts, 2,145 adult spring chinook have been counted at Bonneville Dam through Sunday March 24. The total is about 2/3 of last year's count to date.
  

Sturgeon

• Lower Columbia below Bonneville Dam - Some legals continue to be caught by boat anglers in the Kalama to Vancouver area.
• Bonneville Pool - Light effort and catches last week.
• The Dalles Pool - Boat anglers averaged a legal kept per every 4 rods last week.

Walleye and Bass and other warm water fish

• Bonneville Pool - No effort for either species was found there last week.
• The Dalles Pool - The small number of boat anglers sampled last week averaged 2.4 walleye per rod counting fish released. No effort was observed there for bass.
  

Trout

• Klineline Pond - The 175 bank anglers sampled there last week kept 130 rainbows and 77 browns. In addition, they released 4 rainbows and 13 browns.

Smelt

• Mainstem Columbia and its tributaries are scheduled to close beginning April 1.