Well, it’s only a month until the Pacific Northwest Sportsman’s Show in Portland. That’s about the only optimistic thing to say right now in a fishing report covering Southwest Washington.
A few winter steelhead are around. Streamflows spiked on Wednesday but will drop again soon. However, recent angler sampling by the state Department of Fish and Wildlife has not shown much in the way of fishing success.
The same can be said for the winter portion of the sturgeon retention season in the Bonneville pool of the Columbia River, where boaters averaged a keeper per 10 to 12 rods last weekend.
Even winter prospecting for kokanee in Merwin Reservoir is hopeless given the muddy water conditions that aren’t going to clear anytime soon.
Angler checks by the Washington (WDFW) and Oregon (ODFW) departments of Fish and Wildlife:
Kalama — Sixty-three bank rods with seven hatchery steelhead kept and four hatchery steelhead released; two boaters with one hatchery steelhead released. Worth noting: Washington requires all hatchery steelhead to be retained. (WDFW)
Coweeman — Three bank rods with one wild steelhead released. (WDFW)
East Fork Lewis — Twenty-two bank rods with one hatchery steelhead kept and one wild steelhead released; two boaters with three wild steelhead and one wild chinook released. (WDFW)
Mid-Columbia — Bonneville pool, 49 boaters with four legal sturgeon kept, one legal sturgeon released and 162 sublegals released; 41 bank rods with five sublegal sturgeon released. (WDFW)
• The Dalles pool, 19 boaters with three legal sturgeon kept plus seven oversize and 27 sublegal sturgeon released; 21 bank rods with one legal sturgeon kept plus three oversize and 10 sublegals released; four boaters with no walleye; 13 boaters with six hatchery steelhead kept and one wild steelhead released. (WDFW)
• John Day pool, 36 boaters with three legal sturgeon kept plus five oversize and seven sublegals released; 23 bank rods with one sublegal released; five boaters with one wild steelhead released; seven boaters with no walleye. (WDFW)
