Cowlitz River Steelheading Has Been Good

Though the steelheading on the Cowlitz River started a bit on the late side this season, the fishing that we have been seeing lately has been quite good. The river has been a tough show for both the bank and boat anglers as the river has been extremely high. With high conditions the river does not lend itsself to the best bank fishing as it limits anglers to a minimum of bank where they can fish and when they do hook a fish the flow is so heavy that most of the fish are lost when one cannot follow their fish. For the boater the flow has also been something to contend with, requiring good boat handling.

The size of the fish has been quite good with the smaller fish 7 -9 pounds and many in the mid teens to low twenties.

This fishery should continue for at least  a few more weeks before we start to see a slowdown and perhaps it will last later as the fishery started quite late.