In SW Washington fishing this week, sockeye fishing has slowed heavily this week with counts dropping fast. Steelhead fishing has started to pick up in the tributaries and on the Columbia with plunkers reporting success. WDFW and ODFW released their final joint staff report setting the 2023 fall chinook seasons as well with somewhat promising forecasts. Warm water lakes have been killer for Bass, Crappie, Perch, and Catfish as well.
REMINDER, please verify the regulations before fishing any body of water. AND wear a life jacket.
Lewis Report
The Lewis River is still in great shape water level wise for July, though we did see a drop in CFS from 2,500 to 2,000 CFS and the gage height did not change. Me and a good friend drifted the Lewis on Saturday 7/8/23 losing two steelhead but landing a beautiful Cutthroat trout.
Kalama Report
I drove up on Monday afternoon 7/10/23 to check out the river but there was almost nobody around, so I didn’t get the chance to talk to anyone. The water was low and clear but did not have any cotton flowing down it which is a plus.
Cowlitz Report
Last week, Tacoma Power employees recovered 344 spring Chinook adults, 165 spring Chinook jacks, 385 spring Chinook mini-jacks, 255 summer-run steelhead adults, and two cutthroat trout over four days of operations at the Cowlitz Salmon Hatchery separator.
During the past week, Tacoma Power employees released 71 spring Chinook adults and nine spring Chinook jacks into Lake Scanewa at Copper Canyon, and they released 167 spring Chinook adults and 19 spring Chinook jacks at Franklin Bridge in Packwood.
Columbia River
Sockeye fishing has slowed to a screeching stop as it seems even with around 5,000 fish going over the dam a day creel reports show some sockeye still being caught but a way smaller ratio. Steelhead numbers over Bonneville have skyrocketed this past week with almost 900 fish going over the dam Tuesday 7/11/23. I visited Frenchman’s Bar after work on Tuesday 7/11/23 where I had some friends fishing and they had released two wild Steelhead and harvested two hatchery Steelhead after only fishing for an hour or two.
Merwin and Yale Report
Kokanee fishing has still been productive although slower.
There is A LOT more for SW Washington Members here. And SW Washington members can find our complete Columbia River reports here.
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Read this week’s Oregon fishing report.