Southwest Washington Fishing Reports
2002 Report Archive
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WDFW Sport Sampling Results for December 31, 2001-January 6, 2002
Sport Sampling Summaries - PDF Format

Salmon/Steelhead

• Cowlitz River - Creel sampling last Thursday showed pretty good steelhead fishing, especially around Blue Creek. Barrier Dam - 30 bank anglers with 4 steelhead; Blue Creek area - 17 bank anglers with 12 steelhead and 1 coho, 37 boat anglers with 41 steelhead; Mission Bar - 9 boat anglers with 3 steelhead.
• Blue and Mill creeks (Cowlitz River tributaries), re-opened to fishing for trout through Jan. 31. Up to 3 hatchery steelhead may be retained in the daily limit. All steelhead with missing right ventral fins must be released. Night closures and non-buoyant lure restrictions are in effect.
• Flows below Mayfield Dam have increased this morning from 6,140 cfs at 4 a.m. to 8,650 cfs by 8 a.m.
• North Fork Lewis River - Last week, 31 bank anglers kept 6 steelhead and 14 boat anglers kept 5 steelhead and released 3 others. Steelhead returns are slowing down with only about 20 fish in the trap at Merwin Dam today. Flows below Merwin Dam have increased this morning from 5,400 cfs at 5 a.m. to 9,700 cfs by 8 a.m.
• East Fork Lewis River - No report on angling success. Flows at Heisson have increased 4.4 feet in the last 24 hours.
• Grays (including West Fork), Elochoman, Cowlitz (from barrier dam downstream), Coweeman, Kalama, Lewis (including North and east forks), Washougal (including North Fork), White Salmon rivers and Salmon Creek (near Vancouver) - Up to 3 hatchery steelhead may be retained in the trout daily limit effective last Saturday (Jan. 5). The increased bag limit runs through Mar. 15 except through Jan. 31 on the Cowlitz River, through March 31 on the White Salmon River, and through May 31 on the Kalama River. All steelhead with missing right ventral fins must be released on the Cowlitz River.
• The Dalles and John Day pools - Anglers are catching some hatchery summer-run steelhead.
  

Sturgeon

• Lower Columbia below Bonneville Dam - No report.
• Bonneville Pool - Counting fish released, boat anglers averaged nearly 2/3 legal per rod last week. Fishing off the bank was generally slow.
• The Dalles Pool - Boat anglers averaged about 1/3 legal per rod last week. Fishing off the bank was slow.
• John Day Pool - Slow for legal sized fish.
  

Walleye and Bass and other warm water fish

• Bonneville, The Dalles, and John Day pools - No in-sample effort was found for other species last week.
  

Trout

• No report.

Smelt

• Cowlitz River - In general, it sounds like abundance was higher earlier last week and had dropped to low levels by the weekend.
• Commercial - Two commercial fishers dipped 1,400 pounds on Wednesday Jan. 2. Five boats yesterday got nothing.
• Sport - Poor catches last weekend. Only one smelt was observed caught. Some seals and birds are working in the area. Water temperature was 45-46 degrees.