Three lakes in the Columbia River Gorge have been stocked with large broodstock rainbow trout no longer needed at Goldendale Hatchery.
Kidney Lake in Skamania County was planted with 53 trout. In Klickitat County, Rowland Lake got 87 trout and Spearfish Lake received 105. The trout are either 5 or 10 pounds.
Swift Reservoir has refilled enough to allow boat launching again at Swift Forest Park. The reservoir on Wednesday was at elevation 988 feet. Boats can be launched at elevations of 975 or higher.
It’s likely to be muddy in Swift Reservoir, given that inflow to the reservoir has been in the 20,000 cubic foot per second range this week. Expect lots of debris in the water.
Elsewhere, winter steelhead fishing is a wipeout due to the flooding.
The East Fork of the Lewis River on Wednesday afternoon was flowing at 8,500 cubic per second (1,100 to 1,400 cfs is best). The North Fork of the Lewis at Ariel was at 30,000 cubic feet per second (average is 6,990) and the Cowlitz at Mayfield Dam was a high 14,700 cubic feet per second.
Angler sampling by the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife (before the flooding, obviously):
Cowlitz — Thirteen boaters with one winter steelhead kept plus two adult chinook and one wild winter steelhead released; 73 bank rods with one summer steelhead, three adult coho, three jack coho and one sea-run cutthroat trout kept plus five adult coho, one jack coho and one sear-run cutthroat trout released.
All the coho were caught at the barrier dam, while all the steelhead were sampled at the trout hatchery.
Lewis — Ten bank rods with no catch.
North Fork Lewis — Nineteen bank rods with three hatchery coho kept; 15 boaters with five adult chinook kept and one coho released.
Klineline Pond — Thirteen bank rods with 14 rainbow trout.
