Southwest Washington Fishing Reports
2002 Report Archive
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WDFW Sport Sampling Results for August 26-September 2, 2002
Sport Sampling Summaries - PDF Format

Salmon/Steelhead

• Grays River - Opened to fishing for hatchery coho beginning September 1. New regulation for 2002 - Line and weight and lure or bait must be moving, not stationary.
• Elochoman River - Opened to fishing for chinook and hatchery coho beginning September 1. New regulation for 2002 - Line and weight and lure or bait must be moving, not stationary.
• Cowlitz River - From the I-5 Bridge downstream, producing chinook, coho, steelhead, and sea-run cutthroats. Lots of boats are launching in the Camelot area.
• Toutle River - The North Fork and Green River are producing hatchery coho. The North Fork had about 2 feet visibility while the Green River was super low and clear. The South Fork Toutle is producing some hatchery summer-run steelhead though public access is very limited due to fire danger.
• Kalama River - Most of the fall chinook hooked were released. Many of the fish were snagged.
• Lewis River - Producing some hatchery summer-run steelhead though effort is light in the North Fork.
• Washougal River - Fall chinook are present throughout most of the river.
• Drano Lake and the White Salmon River - Some hatchery summer-run steelhead are being caught though catch rates were lower than the previous week.
• Klickitat River - Bank anglers are catching some bright fall chinook and hatchery summer-run steelhead.
• Buoy 10 - Catch has begun to change from chinook to coho in recent days. Last week, chinook catch rates were 0.3 per angler. On Sunday Sept. 1, chinook catch rates decreased to 0.15 per angler. However, coho catch rates had improved to a hatchery fish per every 4 rods.
• Through September 1, an estimated 70,684 angler trips in Washington and Oregon had produced 18,374 chinook and 4,300 coho.
• Lower Columbia below Bonneville Dam - Chinook catch rates decreased over weekend. Overall, boat anglers averaged a chinook kept per every 3.7 rods last week. A few hatchery coho and hatchery steelhead also appearing in the catch. Fishing from the bank was slow last week.
• Effort was high last week. On Wednesday August 28, over 700 boats were counted from Bonneville Dam downstream. The highest count (216 boats) was found near the mouth of the Cowlitz River.
• The 142,000 adult fall chinook counted at Bonneville Dam in August 2002 was an all-time record for that month.
• Bonneville Pool - Boat anglers are catching tule and bright fall chinook. Overall average was 1/3 fish per rod.
• Hanford Reach - Boat anglers averaged a chinook per 18 rods last week.
  

Sturgeon

• Lower Columbia below Bonneville Dam - Little effort since the area went to catch and release. Through July, an estimated 36,000 sturgeon had been caught from the lower Columbia.
  
• The 2002 sport fishery will be managed for a catch of 36,500 with catches not to exceed 38,500.
  

Walleye, Bass and other warmwater fish

• No report
  

Trout

• Mayfield Lake - Boat anglers are catching some rainbows.
• Riffe Lake - Anglers are catching some landlocked coho.
• Waters planted with catchable size rainbows the last week of August:
  • Lake Scanewa (Cowlitz Falls Reservoir) - 2,000 fish
    
  • Skate Creek - 1,200 fish
    
  • Tilton River - 1,000 fish