Fishing report 2/13

Only a handful of dippers tried their luck for smelt in the Cowlitz during the snow storm on Saturday and none were sampled with any fish. This Saturday, from 6 a.m. until noon, is the second of four that sport dipping is allowed.

The outlook for dipping is not encouraging. The lower Columbia is 36 degrees at Bonneville Dam, not a temperature conducive to smelt movement.

The Lewis River below the forks, plus the North Fork of the Lewis upstream to Merwin Dam, are closed for spring chinook beginning Monday. From Johnson Creek to Merwin Dam is closed to all fishing through May 31.

The Kalama River also closes from the mouth to Kalama Falls Hatchery for spring chinook beginning Monday.

No legal sturgeon were sampled last week in any of the mid-Columbia pools. Monday is the final day of sturgeon retention in Bonneville pool.

Klineline Pond was stocked with 2,355 catchable-size rainbow trout last week.

Anglers checks from the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife:

Mid-Columbia — Bonneville pool, 12 bank rods with no catch; five boaters with 19 sublegal sturgeon released.

Cowlitz — Nine bank rods with one steelhead; four boaters with one steelhead kept. Both fish were at the trout hatchery.