Frank Adams of Orting, Wash., holds a winter steelhead he caught in the Cowlitz River near the trout hatchery. (ALLEN THOMAS/The Columbian)
For decades, the lower Cowlitz River reigned as king of winter steelhead fishing streams in Washington.
It still does, but what once was an early winter fishery is now more of a say-hello-to-spring opportunity.
Traditionally, about Thanksgiving, the fish would appear. December and January each could yield sports catches of 7,000 to 10,000 winter steelhead. The season catch might be 20,000 or more.
Often, it was hard to find a place on the bank to fish at the mouth of Blue Creek at Cowlitz Trout Hatchery.
“It used to transition from late coho fishing to winter steelhead without any kind of gap,’’ said Joe Hymer, a Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife biologist.
But it’s a new world on the Cowlitz River today.
Through 2011, the Cowlitz was stocked with about 300,000 early-returning winter steelhead smolts, 350,000 late-returning winter smolts and 550,000 summer steelhead smolts.
The early steelhead were from a stock that originated in Chambers Creek, a tributary of Puget Sound. The stock was used for winter steelhead releases widely in Western Washington.
The release of those early-returning Chambers Creek stock ended in the Cowlitz in 2012. Now, the plan is to release about 650,000 winter steelhead smolts, all of the later-returning stock, which was developed from wild Cowlitz steelhead in the late 1960s.
Wild lower Columbia steelhead were listed as threatened under the Endangered Species Act in 1998 and reaffirmed as threatened in 2006 and 2011. The Cowlitz is a big watershed and a key stream in recovering wild steelhead.
Wanting to maintain fishing opportunity, and recover wild steelhead, the state shifted to all late-returning steelhead with their Cowlitz River roots, according to Cindy LeFleur, regional fish program manager.
The late winter steelhead brood stock was taken after April 1 each year to keep it separate from the early stock.
“Because mixing with the early winter stock is no longer an issue, the run timing of the Cowlitz winter steelhead stock can be allowed to return to an earlier run timing that is probably more natural and may eventually run from January through April,’’ said John Seri, a Department of Fish and Wildlife biologist for the Cowlitz River.
“In 2016, we will begin taking Cowlitz winter steelhead brood stock on Feb. 1,’’ he added. “The current plan releases about 650,000 winter steelhead smolts annually, all of the Cowlitz stock, with broader run timing.’’
The most recent steelhead catch numbers — from last winter — show anglers catching 1,623 winter steelhead in the lower Cowlitz in February and 6,056 steelhead in March. Numbers for April 2015 are not available yet.
But in 2013-14, the last season in which complete catch numbers are available, 59 percent of the sport harvest came in March and April, with March the peak month.
Ten years earlier, 71 percent of the Cowlitz catch came in November, December and January.
Jennifer Weigel of Waters West Guide Service said the shift to a later-returning winter steelhead run in the Cowlitz River is not hurting her business.
“The amount of steelhead has not gone down,’’ Weigel said. “We used to catch a lot of A-run (early) fish. Now, we’re hoping from the end of February through April it will be really good.’’
She said there are other places to guide in November and December. Coho in Grays Harbor tributaries provide a fishery into January.
“But once it gets good on the Cowlitz, the phone will ring off the hook,’’ Weigel added.
The winter season on the Cowlitz now starts in mid-February on steelhead and segues into spring chinook salmon, continuing until about June. she said.
“March is a darn good fishery now,’’ Fisher said. “April can be an exceptional month of winter steelhead fishing in lower Cowlitz while most of the sport fleet is chasing spring chinook in the Columbia.’’
But he also said he believes the Chambers Creek stock of steelhead returned so much earlier than the native stock that there was little interaction between the two. Water conditions for the early-returning steelhead were not conducive to spawning successfully, he added.
While not advocating for removal of Mayfield or Mossyrock dams, the best habitat for real wild steelhead recovery is upstream, not in the small, lower Cowlitz tributaries, he added.
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