Fishing report 12/31

One week, too much water. The next week, not enough.

Streamflows in the East Fork of the Lewis and Washougal rivers are significantly lower than ideal for using a drift boat, although bank fishing remains a winter steelhead fishing option.

The flow on the East Fork of the Lewis was at 739 cubic feet per second on Wednesday afternoon and will continue to drop with cold and dry weather. Ideal is 1,100 to 1,400 cubic feet per second. Flows in the Washougal River have dropped to slightly more than 1,000 cubic feet per second.

The North Fork of the Lewis River is a nice 5,910 cubic feet per second downstream of Merwin Dam. The Cowlitz River at Mayfield Dam was 14,300 cubic feet per second, a high but tolerable.

No angler checks were available this week from the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife.

Oregon’s check at the mouth of the John Day River tallied just two boats with one hatchery steelhead kept and one wild fish released.