Late run winter steelhead are beginning to show in Southwest Washington rivers and it looks like this year’s return will at least be better than last year.
Fishermen and guides on the Kalama and Cowlitz rivers are doing pretty well, although the wild steelhead fishery on the East Fork of the Lewis River is still slow.
The runs should build through March and into April, giving steelheaders another round of action before the runs end for the year. With the fishing for spring Chinook in the Columbia as slow as it is, doing a little steelheading right now makes sense.
Kalama River
Mike West of Fish the West guide service has been targeting the Kalama River and getting his clients into some fresh steelhead.
“We hooked 17 steelhead in three days of fishing recently,” said West. “Without that early run in the Kalama the late run has spread out a lot more over time.”
The term “early run” refers to the discontinued hatchery run of Chamber’s Creek stock that used to return to the Kalama from December to January. All the hatchery smolts planted out now in the Kalama are from a native strain that arrives between February and April. The switch was made to remove the non-native fish from the river.
The run of hatchery steelhead now arrives at the same time as the native wild run. Steelheaders must release the wild fish that have an intact adipose fin. Hatchery steelhead have a clipped adipose fin.
As far as the run stretching out, West said in many rivers that have switched to a native brood stock the hatchery returns have shown a propensity to spread out through the season, instead of showing up in a bunch all at once. Fish are spread out through the river itself, too.
“We find a small pod of fish in one pool, and then run a number of pools with no fish. Then we find another pool with a small school in it,” West said.
West has seen a few seals in the lower Kalama River, and when that has happened it has slowed the bite.
He has found fish from the canyon all the way down through the lower river.
The early success bodes well for the coming month.
“There’s been too many fish early for this to be a small run,” West said. “I do expect it to stay as good as it is, or get a little better.”
His best technique this year? West said it has been pulling plugs. The fish have had a liking for the Maglip 3.5 by Yakima Bait. He has been making some modifications to their color by hand-painting them to match what the fish want.
The Kalama is known for its big, wild steelhead. West has caught wild fish over 20 pounds in the river.
West said anglers should watch the river levels and fish on the drop following a freshet.
The Kalama has already produced a few spring Chinook. West’s brother Randy caught one Feb. 7, and took another one a few days later.
Cowlitz River
The Cowlitz River produces more winter steelhead than any other river in Southwest Washington. The hatchery run is from a native steelhead stock, and like the Kalama, these fish return from February to April.
This river is just beginning to heat up and right now is when Cary Hofmann of CNH Guide Service starts to fish it.
Hofmann says the returns are just getting stated. “It fishes well from March 1 through April 20,” said Hofmann. “The best fishing is from March 10 through April 10.”
The Cowlitz River has a few wild steelhead, but most of the fish caught are of hatchery origin and can be kept.
He prefers to side-drift the big river, but will switch to back-trolling with plugs sometimes. Hofmann said Cowlitz steelhead have a fondness for the Maglip 3.5.
Side-drifting, which is drifting small baits of eggs or yarn while the boat drifts downstream, is perfect for large rivers such as the Cowlitz and allows steelheaders to cover a lot of water quickly.
The entire river can give up steelhead, but the fish will eventually pull up close to the trout hatchery near Blue Creek about six miles below the Mayfield Dam. This area is a popular bank fishing spot.
Hofmann also likes fishing the Cowlitz right now, because there is a good chance to hook an early spring Chinook. The Chinook fishing will be good until May.
East Fork Lewis River
This river, which is known for producing giant wild steelhead, including the current Washington state record at 32.75 pounds, has been slow so far. The most recent survey showed that 26 anglers caught and released two wild steelhead. Expect this river to improve until it closes on March 16.
Anglers are reminded that many Southwest Washington streams will close to steelhead fishing on March 15 to protect wild steelhead. Always check the regulations before you fish any waters.
