In SW Washington fishing this week, fall weather is in full effect raising and coloring up rivers in the area. Late run Coho have started showing in all of the local tributaries and the Columbia as Chinook fishing has slowed. Fall trout fishing in the local tributaries has been great as well. Local lakes and ponds fishing has grinded to halt with this colder weather and cooler water.
REMINDER, please verify the regulations before fishing any body of water. AND wear a life jacket.
Lewis Report
The river is flowing at 1750 CFS with some good color to it, these recent rains have pulled some brighter fish up the river. A good friend of mine Ben Mulcahey has been fishing the river and has reported a really good Coho bite on hardware from the meat hole down to Hoppa which could be a good sign that the late run Coho have started to push up the river as they tend to be the better biters out of the two groups. Chinook fishing has slowed but they are more than still around with a lot of darker fish around but fresh rain has pulled a good amount of brighter ones in.
Kalama Report
No report this week, nobody around at the river as the weir is still in making a vast majority of the river unfishable.
Cowlitz Report
Last week, Tacoma Power employees recovered 5,317 coho adults, 2,942 coho jacks, 195 fall Chinook adults, 17 fall Chinook jacks, 104 summer-run steelhead adults, and 268 cutthroat trout over five days of operations at the Cowlitz Salmon Hatchery separator.
During the past week, Tacoma Power employees released 178 coho adults and 220 coho jacks at Franklin Bridge in Packwood and they released 2,224 coho adults, 1,398 coho jacks, and nine cutthroat trout into lake Scanewa at Scanewa Day Use Park. Creel reports this week read as the following- Cowlitz River I-5 Br downstream – 170 bank rods kept 15 coho, 19 coho jacks and released five Chinook, three Chinook jacks, six coho, one coho jack and two steelhead. 8 boats/19 rods released one Chinook and one coho. Cowlitz River Above the I-5 Br – 54 bank rods kept two coho, one coho jack, six steelhead and released six Chinook, five coho and three coho jacks. 4 boats/10 rods kept two coho and one coho jack.
Washougal Report
The Washougal has fished well from the mouth to the deadline and with every rain storm more and more fish shoot up the river dispersing the anglers. Beckham Schill is starting to pickup Coho on a daily basis running twitching jigs and spinners through the deeper holes from Sandy swimming hole down to the mouth.
Klickitat Report
No report this week. I reached out to two people but they both had not been to the river in the last week.
Columbia River
What a year it has been here with okay catch reports pushing into mid-October, late run Coho has been good this week, though Chinook has almost died off which is not surprising as it is mid-October. The river is starting to receive less and less angler pressure by the day as most people have moved to the tributaries.
Creel Reports for the Columbia read as the following-
Sec 1 (Bonneville) – 22 bank anglers kept eight Chinook, one Chinook jack, two coho and one coho jack. 4 boats/8 rods kept three Chinook.
Sec 2 (Camas/Washougal) – 22 boats/45 rods kept five Chinook, one Chinook jack, two coho and
released one coho.
Sec 3 (I-5 area) – 2 boats/2 rods had no catch.
Sec 4 (Vancouver) – Two bank anglers had no catch. 16 boats/37 rods kept five Chinook, one Chinook jack, 11 coho, one coho jack and released one coho jack.
Sec 5 (Woodland) – 7 boats/22 rods kept two Chinook, four Chinook jacks, seven coho, one coho jack and released one coho.
Sec 6 (Kalama) – 18 bank anglers kept one Chinook. 10 boats/27 rods kept one Chinook and two coho.
Sec 7 (Cowlitz) – No report.
Sec 8 (Longview) – Three bank anglers had no catch. 2 boats/3 rods kept two coho.
Sec 9 (Cathlamet) – One bank angler had no catch. 1 boat/2 rods had no catch.
Drano Lake
Drano lake is slowing heavily now with the Columbia cooling fish have started to continue their path to their home rivers without stopping in for colder water. There are still fish around as well as anglers but we are definitely pushing towards the final week of good fishing here. Creel reports show some promising results and even a sockeye in the mix, Nine bank rods kept one coho and released one Chinook. 45 boats/129 rods kept 43 Chinook, one Chinook jack, 28 coho and released three Chinook, two Chinook jacks, five coho, one sockeye and one steelhead.
Warm Water Lakes and Ponds
Nothing new to report here some bass anglers are still chasing the final few weeks of bass fishing but the lakes have mostly fallen quiet to angling pressure.
Stay fishy,
Seth Kolshinski
There is A LOT more for SW Washington Members here. And SW Washington members can find our complete Columbia River reports here.
Read this week’s Oregon fishing report.