Spring chinook are here! This week in SW Washington we have spring chinook just starting to swim up the local tributaries with the best odds being out on the Columbia. Steelhead has finally come alive on the Cowlitz and the Lewis has started to get a solid push of wild steelhead up the river. Smelt openers are here for those who like smelt dipping with three dates already passed last week, almost no smelt have been caught. Merwin has been a grind as of late with limits still being had but taking much longer than previous weeks. Tentative dates are set for a short razor clam dig but no approval yet. Sorry for the lack of a report last week. I was incredibly sick but feeling much better this week.
REMINDER, please verify the regulations before fishing any body of water. AND wear a life jacket.
Lewis Report – No change in flow rate this week as the Lewis is holding right around 5,600 cfs. The steelhead are really starting to push into the river this week as I received several reports of absolute lights-out days on the Lewis this last week. Spring chinook not so much, I caught up with guide Eric Brigham this week asking how the river has been fishing and he kept it short and said “not well for springers but there are a ton of wild steelhead around”. A trusted reporter Brandon Wubbon went out Saturday 3/15/25 and went two for five losing all three steelhead at the boat right before netting them. Most anglers have been bringing gear for both steelhead and chinook and with the first few chinook back to the hatchery I am surprised I have only heard of a few of them being caught this week. One good friend lives on the river and plunks out of his backyard daily and has hooked two this week only landing one chinook. Robert Day went out on Wednesday 3/19/25 and hooked one near Cedar Creek as well.
Kalama Report – The Kalama has been fishing well this week but seemingly slowing as I talked with a few anglers who took some trips out here and while most had opportunities to hook up not every one of them left with a fish this last weekend. Ethan Stone was among the anglers I talked with who went down the Kalama in his raft. They went one for two landing and releasing a nice wild just above the slab hole. I drove up the banks on Sunday and the bank had a few cars parked in pull-offs with anglers fishing the river below. I stopped and talked to a group packing up who had been fishing all morning and had a fish in their kill bag that they had caught near the deadline.
Cowlitz Report – The Cowlitz has been nothing short of on fire this week with a vast majority of people getting two if not three with the boats putting an absolute hammer on the fish. River Side Guide service has been out all week this week and has been putting a minimum of four fish in the boat a day most days this week. Full tilt outdoors has also been putting a large amount of fish in the boat this week as well with most of the fish being caught near blue creek. Plunkers on the Cowlitz have also been doing fantastic and even picking up a springer or two a day.
Cowlitz Smelt – There have been three dips this year on the Cowlitz and I have not heard of one singular smelt landed. The sea lions and birds are all over the mouth so they are just not upriver yet but they’re close. Wednesday 3/19/25 was the most recent dip and I received over thirty reports and not one angler had a singular smelt in their net. Saturday 3/22/25 is the next date open for smelt dipping and signs of them starting to come upriver are around, one angler who was anchored on plugs near Willows Grove couldn’t keep the smelt off his plugs. Find dip netting supplies at Anglers Unlimited in Woodland or Saint Helens.
Ridgefield area – Spring chinook is here and finally, anglers are starting to catch more than one or two here or there. Last year on March 19th we were talking about where the hell are the springers. This year we are seeing fairly decent success rates, especially near the mouth of the Multnomah Channel outside of the Ridgefield/Woodland area. The Oregon side of the river has been fishing much better compared to the Washington side.
Local lakes and ponds – More trout plants this week although the trout fishing has been slow, a coworker borrowed some trout rods last week to take his kids fishing over the weekend and he went to Battle Ground Lake and Klineline on Sunday and only got one bite at Battle Ground Lake but watched a few other people catch a few.
Long Beach – Razor clam dates are set although no approval yet and I wouldn’t expect to see one until next week, the next report won’t come out until Thursday 3/27/25 so check online here on Monday 3/24/25 to see if WDFW approves the dig. No surf perch report this week.
Stay fishy,
Seth Kolshinski
Read this week’s Oregon fishing report.