This week in SW Washington groups of anglers have flocked to the beaches and boat launches of the Columbia as the sockeye, steelhead, and summer chinook runs have all exceeded expectations for the opening week. Tributary fishing continues to be on the rise as steelhead have started returning in droves in most local rivers. Merwin showing signs of life as the kokanee are biting again!
REMINDER, please verify the regulations before fishing any body of water. AND wear a life jacket.
Lewis Report
North Fork
Flows have held steady at 2,900 this week, just above the lowest flow for June of 2,700 cfs, with no rain in the forecast; this won’t change for the rest of June. I stopped by the golf course and there wasn’t a soul around Friday 6/14/24, Michael Wooten with Anglers Unlimited has fished the North Fork a few times recently and while he hasn’t caught, he has been seeing a few fish caught as well as hearing good reports on anglers back trolling coon shrimp.
Mainstem
I fished outside the mouth of the Lewis Saturday 6/15/24 and trolled for chinook while I did so I watched as boaters on anchor and bank fisherman plunking just inside the mouth killed steelhead after steelhead. Nearly every time I looked over a net was in the hands of someone.
Kalama Report
The Kalama is currently running at 338 cfs and is starting to get low enough that drifting the river in a drift boat could be challenging in sections.
Cowlitz Report
Beau Smith has been running trips for summers and has had multiple fish days, every day since he started at the beginning of June. Robert Day with Anglers Unlimited has been plunking Camelot beach with mixed success but he has also received good reports from Massey Bar.
Washougal River
Fishing has slowly started to pick up as more steelhead started returning to the river. Chris Burdine has been fishing nearly daily and has pulled a steelhead out every day for the last week.
Columbia River salmon/steelhead report
The Columbia has been on FIRE this week giving anglers the chance to catch chinook, steelhead, and/or sockeye all in the same locations.
Woodland
Fishing has been great for some and slow for others along Martin’s Bar and Austin’s point. I fished with two other anglers on Father’s Day, and we had consistent action all the way until we left with our limits of steelhead and sockeye.
Vancouver
Since the sockeye opener on Sunday 6/16/24 the rocky beach beneath Who Songs & Larry’s has been fishing great. Tanner Tyler has been fishing since Sunday and has landed his limit of sockeye daily.
My grandfather and I went down and fished with him Tuesday 6/18/24 and landed a sockeye and a nice steelhead, with the rest of our group each taking home at least one steelhead if not limiting. It sounded like an orchestra of bells going off throughout the afternoon as I don’t think there was a 15-minute period where there wasn’t a fish on for several hours.
Camas/Washougal
I received several reports of great success plunking off steamboat landing, Beckham Schill and his group had their limits of sockeye and steelhead on Sunday 6/16/24.
Shad
Shad fishing remains good near Bonneville where they are throwing shad darts or sitting on anchor with Dick Nites but lower in the river the shad fishing has seemingly slowed.
Sturgeon
Sturgeon catch and release remains great near Camas/Washougal but has been very slow towards Woodland and Kalama. Steamboat Landing and near Bonneville city have both been great spots.
Drano Lake and Wind River
The season is pretty much over for spring chinook at Drano and reports out of the Wind have been that there is next to no fish around.
Warm Water Lakes and Ponds
Battleground
Battleground received 2,000 trout on June 6th, but reports have stated the weeds out deeper where the trout are at now have gotten really bad and made it difficult to fish PowerBait off the bottom.
Lacamas and Round Lake
Father’s Day rolled around and there were tons of boats out on the lake, and I received a few reports of some good trout fishing, but they were really spread out and spinners flat lined trolled near the banks provided the most fish.
Merwin Lake
After a terrible spring fishery, Merwin has finally started to come alive again providing some better sized fish and more biters. Joe Adams went out late in the morning and finished with 14 kokanee and two nice rainbow trout.
Week after week Yale has proved to fish better than Merwin with some anglers barely leaving the dock before they have a fish on. Jason Powell has been hitting the lake early and bagging his limit before heading down the Columbia to do some plunking as he has usually limited before seven.
There is A LOT more for SW Washington Members here, including Ian Carter’s monthly update. And SW Washington members can find our complete Columbia River reports here. Check out Seth’s YouTube videos here as well, as he starts to post more!
Read this week’s Oregon fishing report.