It’s now really winter steelhead season, although still three weeks to a month before the peak of the hatchery fish return.
Steelhead were checked last weekend in the Cowlitz, Kalama and Washougal.
Streamflows have dropped along with the temperature.
The East Fork of the Lewis River was at 7,000 cubic feet per second on Monday and down to 1,310 on Wednesday night.
The Washougal was at 15,000 cubic feet per second on Monday at Hathaway Park and 1,700 on Wednesday night.
Angler checks from the Washington (WDFW) and Oregon (ODFW) departments of Fish and Wildlife:
Mid-Columbia — John Day river arm, nine boats with one steelhead kept and one wild steelhead released. (ODFW)
Cowlitz — Twenty-seven boat rods with five steelhead and two adult coho kept plus two adult coho released; 85 bank rods with three steelhead, one adult coho and one jack coho kept plus three cutthroat trout and one legal sturgeon released. (WDFW)
Kalama — Forty-eight bank rods with one steelhead kept plus one steelhead, one adult coho and one adult chinook released; six boaters with one steelhead kept. (WDFW)
Lewis — Nine bank rods with no catch; two boaters with no catch. (WDFW)
North Fork Lewis — Twenty-three bank rods with one adult chinook kept and one adult chinook released; 19 boaters with eight adult chinook and one adult coho kept plus two adult chinook and two adult coho released. (WDFW)
Washougal — Fifty-four bank rods with five steelhead and one adult coho kept; 29 boaters with four steelhead kept. (WDFW)
Klineline Pond — Ninety-five anglers with 120 trout. The trout were caught mainly in the swimming area on either Power Bait or Rapala plugs. (WDFW)
Battle Ground Lake — Forty-four rods with 66 trout. (WDFW)
Kress Lake — Fifty-one anglers with 77 trout. (WDFW)
Merwin Reservoir — Two trollers with three kokanee and one landlocked chinook.
