Four Southwest Washington lakes will be closed for fishing from Monday through Thursday, then reopen for Black Friday after has been stocked with 2,000 chunky rainbow trout.
The four waters include Battle Ground Lake and Klineline Pond in Clark County, Kress Lake in Cowlitz County and Rowland Lake in western Klickitat County.
The trout will average 15 to 16 inches.
Limits of trout are being reported at Swift Reservoir and Rowland Lake, plus limits of kokanee at Merwin Reservoir.
Swift Reservoir on Wednesday afternoon was 10 feet below full pool. Boats can be launched to 25 feet below full.
• Late coho salmon returns to the North Fork of the Lewis River continue abysmal in 2015.
Aaron Roberts, manager of several hatcheries in Southwest Washington for the state Department of Fish and Wildlife, said last week that about 500 late-stock coho had returned.
The forecast was for 13,700 late coho to the Lewis. The hatchery needs about 2,000 adults (1,000 females) for egg taking.
Roberts said late coho trickle into the facilities into December, so the number is not final.
The early-stock coho return was about 3,700 to the Lewis. The forecast was for about 16,000.
• Several regulation changes occur with the arrival of December.
Among them is closure of the catch-and-release steelhead season in the Wind River between Shipherd Falls and Moore Bridge and closure of the Klickitat River for salmon, steelhead and trout upstream of Fishway No. 5.
In the Klickitat, salmon and hatchery steelhead fishing stays open through Jan. 31 from Fisher Hill Bridge to the BNSF railroad bridge.
Angler checks from the Washington (WDFW) and Oregon (ODFW) departments of Fish and Wildlife:
Mid-Columbia — Klickitat River mouth, four boaters with no catch. (WDFW)
John Day pool, 29 boats with nine steelhead kept and 24 released. (ODFW)
Cowlitz — Eleven boaters with one adult coho and one jack coho kept; 95 bank rods with two adult chinook, six adult coho, seven jack coho and eight steelhead kept plus 33 adult chinook, one jack chinook, seven adult coho, 11 jack coho, one steelhead and one cutthroat trout released. (WDFW)
Kalama — Five boaters with two adult coho kept and three released; 37 bank rods with three adult coho and one steelhead kept plus three steelhead released. (WDFW)
East Fork Lewis — Eleven bank rods with three steelhead released. (WDFW)
North Fork Lewis — Twenty-five boaters with 14 adult chinook and 15 adult coho kept plus one adult chinook and five adult coho released; 52 bank rods with one adult chinook and five adult coho kept plus three adult chinook, one jack chinook, one adult coho released and one jack coho released. (WDFW)
Klickitat — Four bank rods with no salmon or steelhead. (WDFW)
