This week in SW Washington, the rivers are coming back into shape after most blew out to astonishing levels in only one day. Steelhead fishing has suffered due to it as most rivers have been unfishable since Sunday. Trout fishing has still been slow but WDFW continues to plant rainbows in the local lakes. Merwin has been hit or miss again this week with most anglers finding a limit if not close to it.
REMINDER: please verify the regulations before fishing any body of water. AND wear a life jacket.
Lewis Report – The Lewis has skyrocketed up to nearly 12,000 cfs and is fishing poorly. I talked with several anglers who either floated the river or went out in their sled this week. The only angler to have a fish was Cameron Black with Gone Catchin Guide Service; nobody else had even had a bite.
Kalama Report – The Kalama has been very slow this week and is just finally coming back down after reaching a peak of 600 cfs. The slow fishing could be due to just a lack of fishing due to river conditions, but I received two reports from anglers this week, and neither had hooked a fish or seen one caught, but both were fishing when the river was pretty colored up and high.
Cowlitz Report – Last week, Tacoma Power employees recovered 31 winter-run steelhead adults and one coho adult over four days of operations at the Cowlitz Salmon Hatchery separator. During the past week, Tacoma Power employees released two winter-run steelhead into the Tilton River at Bremer Bridge and they released one winter-run steelhead and one coho adult into Lake Scanewa near Randle. River flow below Mayfield Dam is 4,610 cubic feet per second on Monday, February 24, 2025.
Washougal River – The Washougal River reached near-flooding levels and is finally coming back down to a driftable level. There were no reports this week as the water has been too high to fish since Saturday and just came back into shape Wednesday, 2/26/25.
The Washougal closes on March 15th, so these are the last two weeks we will have before it closes, and we have to wait until it reopens for summer in June.
Elochoman River – I got called Friday night asking if I wanted to head out to the Elochoman the next day and I blew it off as the run has all but been over for weeks now as I have heard, those who headed out there has returned empty-handed; that was a mistake. Owen Corbett and Tanner Tyler went out and hooked into four steelhead only landing two and witnessed the other two or three anglers at the hatchery hook at least one as well.
Merwin and Yale Lakes – Merwin reports have been light again this week which can be attributed to the weather as well as the Lake Chelan kokanee derby that went on this last weekend. Fishing has been good though, especially in the last few days with the sun coming out and more anglers hitting the water.
Local lakes and ponds – Local lakes and ponds have been fishing poorly as I stopped by Klineline, Battle Ground Lake, and Lacamas Lake this week and all had a brownish tint to them and the only lake that had any anglers at it was Lacamas with one solo angler fishing a bobber and worm at the dock of Lacamas Lodge. Trout plants still continue this week though with both Klineline and Battle Ground receiving plants again this week. Klineline received 2,700 rainbows and Battle Ground received 1,300 rainbows.
Stay fishy,
Seth Kolshinski