This week in SW Washington we finally have rain incoming! A solid two inches of rain is expected to hit SW Washington starting Thursday evening and lasting until Sunday morning which should raise the rivers and push some fresh fish into some low-water tributaries. Steelhead fishing has been slow in almost all systems this week as the low, clear, and cold water have seemed to heavily affect the bite.
REMINDER, please verify the regulations before fishing any body of water. AND wear a life jacket.
Lewis Report
The Lewis is flowing near minimum flows finally this week as we return to some sort of normalcy in the amount of water coming out of Merwin. At 2,300 the water is LOW and boaters should take extreme precautions to not hit anything. I talked with a handful of anglers who stopped by the hatchery on Sunday for a few hours and they didn’t have a single bite or watch another angler hook a fish. I talked with one drift boat when I stopped by after work on Monday 1/27/24 who had one fish laying on the floor but they went one for one with that singular fish being their only opportunity.
Kalama Report
The Kalama along with all other non-dam controlled rivers are very low this week, I talked with a few anglers that fished the Kalama this weekend with one stating it was “the lowest I have ever seen for winter in my 45 years of fishing it”. While some anglers like trusted reporter Shawn Chase found some fish over the weekend he was one of the few, with only one other person out of the five or six even hooking into a fish and most other anglers making the comment about not seeing one hooked. Shawn Chase found his fish in deep holes and fast turbulent water where the fish could find protection and he went two for four missing two opportunities.
Cowlitz Report
Last week, Tacoma Power employees recovered two coho adults, one coho jack, and 86 winter-run steelhead adults over four days of operations at the Cowlitz Salmon Hatchery separator. During the past week, Tacoma Power employees released two coho adults and five winter-run steelhead into Lake Scanewa and one coho jack and seven winter-run steelhead adults into the Tilton River at Bremer Bridge. River flow below Mayfield Dam is 7,620 cubic feet per second on Wednesday, January 29, 2025. Water visibility is 10 feet and water temperature is 42.3 degrees F.
The Washougal has been fishing SLOW this week with every angler I talked to all weekend coming up with nothing, Tanner Tyler reported talking with a raft that floated the upper stretches and had landed a wild but that was the only action I heard. Plunkers in the lower river didn’t have so much as a sniff on their spin-n-glows. It wasn’t until Wednesday night when a friend fishing with Mason Granzow watched as Mason landed a hen, they proceeded to fish for the rest of the afternoon together not getting so much as a bobber down for the rest of the day.
Merwin and Yale Lake
Merwin has slowed a tad this week with a lot of fish seemingly gone deeper and the limits of kokanee few and far between with most anglers taking home between five and seven fish. Conditions have been icy all week and snow levels will be right around both lakes’ elevation so be cautious when going this week. Water temp has sat around 41 degrees and held consistent down to 70 feet in almost all areas of the lake.
Long Beach
Mid dig this week although clamming hasn’t been all that popular due to the cold evenings. Clamming has
Jan. 31, Friday, 7:44 p.m.; -0.7 feet; Long Beach, Twin Harbors, Mocrocks
Feb. 1, Saturday, 8:21 p.m.; -0.1 feet; Long Beach, Twin Harbors, Copalis
Stay fishy,
Seth Kolshinski
Read this week’s Oregon fishing report.