i was at the cow yesturday fishin the clay banks. it was really slow, with four people in the boat we were 1 for 2. my mom had brought in a nice 14# hatchery buck. other than that there was nothin. where are all the fish, shouldnt they be here by now?

sullie13

You must have missed what I had posted eariler! It should enlighten you to why their may not be anymore big runs of early winter run steelhead returning to the Cowlitz from now on.

I will once again repost an answer that I had given to Salmo G in a thread last week. Here is what I had stated;

"Salmo, let's not forget what the "Settlement Agreement" really says, and the power and weight that it WILL CARRY! You need to reread the fine print! Under part 6 of the Settlement; (Guidance for Future Interpretation and Decision-Making) this is stated:

6.1.4 "The emphasis of this Agreement is ecosystem integrity and the restoration and recovery of wild, indigenous salmonid runs, including ESA-listed and unlisted stocks, to harvestable levels." And 2; "ESA constraints will be a factor in determining the upper bound of production at the remodeled hatchery complex. Hatchery production numbers are expected to be adjusted downward as wild stocks recover."
6.1.5 "Fisheries management and hatchery production will be consistent with the overall goal of restoring and recovering wild stocks in the Cowlitz River basin".

And finally, the final [Bleeeeep!]-bit that fully supports what I have been trying to tell you guys has finally been verified by what the PCHB (Pollution Control Hearing Board) has just ruled on for Tacoma Cowlitz River 401 permit. It may be new to you because the 69 page PCHB ruling just came out late Friday. And I quote from page 41; "…The rational for the 1988 Agreement" (winter fishing flow agreement) "was to provide flows for the "early winter-run" steelhead, which return in the months of December to February. The hatchery produced early winter-run steelhead (a none-indigenous species) WILL BE PHASED OUT to promote the strengthening of the native late winter-run steelhead. The time frame for late returning winter -run steelhead is in March and May. A small amount may return earlier, but not in any numbers sufficient for sports fishing…"

Salmo, this was a judicial decision and ruling made by the PCHB that was formed from the sworn testimony and statements that were made during hearing by WDFW staff! It appears that it's "only you" that still believes that the early winter- run steelhead programming will be maintained.

I'll rest my case!!

Cowlitzfisherman

thanks for the info Cowlitzfisherman.

I was there yesterday also and it was slow at best. The bite did come around 3pm at the clay bank. We got one great winter run in the boat at first light and lost anouther down by the log cabin drift. Did not touch anouther till late afternoon when we got a winter and a some what bright silver. The silver made it to the boat the steelhead said get lost up tight by the clay bank. But it was still a good day to be out of the house.

drift boat, were u in a boat or on the bank? what boat were u in? i was in dave baughs boat XLT guides.

I was in Hook-EM-Up's boat.We lost more than we cought.