This week in SW Washington WDFW has set the 2025 spring chinook season! Tributary steelhead has been very slow due to the low water but seemingly turning around as the first few rain showers and snow melt off the hills. Early reports of spring chinook being caught on a few local tributaries. Merwin is still fishing well.
REMINDER, please verify the regulations before fishing any body of water. AND wear a life jacket.
Lewis Report – The Lewis jumped up to 7,800 cfs this week after being around 2,000 cfs for the past few weeks. Fishing has been slow, to say the least. I didn’t receive a single report from the river this week and when I stopped by Cedar Creek Sunday morning it was a ghost town. There aren’t zero fish around, but very few in the system.
Kalama Report – The Kalama has again been fishing hit or miss this week with a vast majority of anglers striking out. The water is finally coming up after looking like it does in mid-July along with some great color coming back to it as well. Curtis Youngren went out on Wednesday 2/19/25 and went one for two in his drift boat. I along with a good friend went out both Saturday and Sunday and fished the upper section of the river and both days we hooked into a few fish but only landed one each day.
Cowlitz Report – Last week, Tacoma Power employees recovered 42 winter-run steelhead adults over five 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 two winter-run steelhead into Lake Scanewa in Randle. River flow below Mayfield Dam is 4,320 cubic feet per second on Tuesday, February 18, 2025.
Washougal River – The Washougal was at near summer lows this last weekend and angler pressure was very low, Owen Corbett spent Sunday fishing the river and talking with the few anglers he met up and down the river and nobody had any luck. He fished again Wednesday 2/19/25 after a big rain and the water rose and his luck changed. He hooked two fish in the lower river, not landing either one of them and talked to two other anglers who both had landed a steelhead.
Columbia River – Springer Chinook dates set! There has yet to be a spring chinook to cross Bonneville dam but that isn’t to say they aren’t already in the river. A reporter on the Cowlitz landed a wild chinook so it’s only a matter of time before reports start coming in from anglers trolling herring out on the Columbia! The Forecast looks good for this year as it comes in just under the 10-year average at 217,000 total fish.
Merwin and Yale Lake – Merwin has been fishing better this week albeit a little spotty and most anglers are still having to put in some extra time to find their limit with most anglers walking away with just under their limit of kokanee. The fish seem scattered again this week with most schools being in a different column than the last. The best bite seems to be at first light and dies off a little throughout the day.
Lake Chelan annual tournament – There is an annual tournament held at Lake Chelan and this year it is happening next weekend specifically on Saturday 2/22/25 which anglers all over the state are currently refining their methods for. You can find more information and how to register here!
Local lakes and ponds – Both Klineline and Battleground Lake received a trout stocking on Tuesday 2/18/25 of 2,000 fish which comes a week after they planted both lakes with Rainbows as well. I stopped by both Klineline and Battleground Lake this week and on both days there was not a soul around.
Long Beach
Tentative dates are set and we should see approval after testing any day now!
Stay fishy,
Seth Kolshinski
Read this week’s Oregon fishing report.