Saw this in the P.I. today;

Fair to good reports are coming from the Cowlitz, where about 50,000 coho are expected in the next few weeks and where the state is likely to boost the daily limit (to four adult salmon, only two of which may be chinook) by this weekend.

I saw it too....Need to get my bottom down there asap. Was hoping to hear a few reports.
The dam seperated about 3500 silvers last week.

swung through there this morning. seen some boots caught but the silvers seemed to be lockjawed. Looked like most guys were doing the famous barrier tactic of flossing. Guy might hook up with some fish on eggs. Fish ladder had some good fish in it, and lots of kings rolling.

bring helmet & flak jacket

Fished the Nornandy Hole (Named after the D-Day Combat Zone) last night just below the marker. Not too crowded, plenty of elbow room. Was hoping to get into the first of the silvers, but did not see anything brighter than a dead crow.

There were plenty of hook ups on the ragged-out kings. Most guys were lobbing an 8 to 10' leader with a single corky. It's amazing how many fish bite with the outside of their jaw? Must be a recessive gene inherent in the Barrier Dam fish. Did see a few rotten hogs that people kept that were pushing 40lbs.

The only reason WDFW will give us a limit increase on silvers this year is to justify another extension for the gill netters on the Lower Columbia.

Even those fish counts have been high at the Barrier Dam; almost no silvers are being caught by sport fishermen. Most likely the only reasons why is because Tacoma Power is dropping the flows on Friday night and then jumping them back up again early Monday Morning! Not good for caching fish…makes Cowlitz fish move… not bit!

Most likely, fish won't bit under these conditions on the Cowlitz. Best to wait for the gill netters to get out before trying your luck on the Cowlitz for silvers!

Hope this reports will help the novelists who don't know what is really happening on the Cowlitz. Almost all silvers, at the current flows are flying straight through to the fish ladder at the Barrier Dam without touching bait, jigs, lures or any thing else.

Good luck if you don't believe me….you will need it!

Cowlitzfisherman
Is the taste of the bait worth the sting of the hook????

any reports from the mouth of the toutle?

TTT

I fished Barrier 3 times this week----decent elbow room, but I've yet to see a Silver. Lots of monster Kings that are green/gray/black/white/anything but chrome. ADVICE NEEDED HERE----fought a beast last night I just could't stop from running. Kept clicking one more notch on the drag, waiting, him taking more line, clicking one more notch on drag, waiting, etc, etc. You know how this ends. With less than half my spool left, he snapped my 15lb leader. What should I have done differently?? Let him keep taking line in the hopes he'd run out of gas before I ran out of line?? Damn, he/she was strong!!!

Potaire

Potaire

You should have grabbed your spool if you were using a spring rod and reel (if you were using a conventional reel, lock down the spool with your thumb!) and point your rod directly at your fish. 15lb. leader should break before you burn your thumb! Do not bend your rod (like when you are normally fighting a fish). Most of the time (90%) your line will break at the leader (If your leader is less then your main line), or your fish will swing into the calmer water out of the main current.

Almost always one of the two will occur If you continue to "fight" your fish; 1) your line will snap at your rod tip, or 2) you will get spooled!

And then again, some guys just like to fight those old kings until they are dead! Then there are no "real winners"! Those old kings just can't handle a fight that long and survive that kind of a battle!

It's best to leave them alone at this stage if at all possible.

Hope this is the advice that you wanted!


Cowlitzfisherman
Is the taste of the bait worth the sting of the hook????

I have talked to some good friends over the couple of weeks that have been hitting from the Toutle down by boat and haven't been doing much accept for some dark, dark Coho.

I have also heard that the bulk of the run is still in salt. And like C.F. said the others are shooting strait up to the Barrier Dam non stop and not feeding.

TTT,
fished the mouth of Toutle on Monday for about 7 hours and only saw a handful of fish caught, most were boots, but, my friend did manage about an 8lb chrome silver.

fished barrier dam every day this week inc. last sat & sun, you can find a place mon-thurs but fri afternoon thru sunday to dark = no more week ends @ barrier dam for me... saw 1 silver on a rope for every one's effort yesterday, i've fished corkies smallest to 2nd largest, 1 & 2 corkies of all colors w/ & w/o yarn w/ & w/o oil, as well as good eggs w/ & w/o a small corkie, weights from 1 1/2 to 3/4, in the fast stuff & in close, (haven't tried shrimp) = 1 ea. almost 10 lb chrome silver right at dark on 2 small glow balls w/orange yarn & herring oil, 1 oz weight hit it just as it started to tail out of the fast stuff ... PS don't stay long after the sun goes down, saw 2 tickets being written (while I was cleaning up my stuff & packing my bag) for fishing closed waters (night closure) saturday about 45 min after sun went below the horizon ... PSS the eggs were more fun, got alot more activity of fish easier to bring in w/eggs & 1 small corky (pink or orange work about the same), mostly jacks & some good size kings (boots) but, you don't hafta chase 'em because you can steer em...

hope this helps