WDFW Sport Sampling Results:
December 5, 2005

Salmon/Steelhead -

Grays River from the Hwy. 4 Bridge to the South Fork and the West Fork from the mouth to the hatchery intake/footbridge - Opens to fishing for hatchery steelhead beginning December 15.

South Fork Toutle River from the mouth to 4100 Road Bridge - Selective gear rules went into effect December 1.

Lake Scanewa (Cowlitz Falls Reservoir) -

• Friday 12/2/05: 4 boat anglers kept 7 adults, 1 jacks and released 12 adults, 0 jacks. There were no shore anglers. Heavy snow kept most anglers away.
• Saturday 12/3/05: 8 boat anglers kept 7 adults, 0 jacks and released 1 jack. One shore anglers released 1 adult.
• Most of the fish currently being caught are in dark condition and effort appears to be decreasing.

North Fork Lewis River from Colvin Creek to the overhead powerlines below Merwin Dam - Opens to fishing for hatchery steelhead beginning December 16.

Salmon Creek (Clark County) - Anglers are reported catching some bright winter run steelhead.

Ringold - Estimated summer run steelhead catch for the Ringold fishery in November was 251 steelhead, 236 harvested, 10 wild steelhead caught and released. Anglers averaged 17 pole hours per steelhead for the month of November.

Lower Columbia early hatchery winter steelhead returns - Though still early, returns have been a mixed bag compared to last year. Some stations have larger returns; other are down. Angling effort has been light recently on the Elochoman, North Fork Lewis, and Washougal rivers.

Comparison of 2004 and 2005 winter steelhead hatchery returns through November:

Number of Hatchery Adults
Station	2004	2005
Elochoman	31	42
Cowlitz Salmon	250	49
Kalama Falls	67	40
Lewis (Ladder)	18	55
Merwin Dam (Lewis)	115	200
Skamania (Washougal)	67	10

Kalama River - Moderate flow-decreasing with good visibility

This past week (Friday & Monday) 47 hatchery winter steelhead were recycled to the lower river, while 6 wild winter steelhead were passed upstream of Kalama Falls Hatchery (KFH). Fishing has been fair for bank and boat anglers. The canyon has been producing a few fish for bank anglers, while the the middle section has been paying off for the drift boaters.

A recent rash of vehicle break-ins have plagued Kalama River anglers.

Sturgeon -

Lower Columbia from the Wauna powerlines upstream to Bonneville Dam - In November 2005, an estimated 6,043 angler trips produced a catch of 1,454 legal white sturgeon kept.

Trout -

Klineline Pond - 28 bank anglers kept 16 cutthroats and released 2. Anglers using lures such as Rapalas are having better luck than bait fishers.

Recent plants of catchable size rainbows:

• Icehouse Lake near Bridge of the Gods - 805 fish on Nov. 29
• Little Ash Lake near Stevenson - 811 fish on Nov. 30

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