Just trying to get some reports for the cow, I have been out of town and need to know if it's worth the trip.

C'mon, one of you fishheads knows something!

stay home it is not worth the gas,friend fished it the 26th from his sled,80boats less than 10 fish taken

I was down there on christmas...I don't think I will ever go back, IT SUCKED!!!

I won't say that I "told you all so"!

The die-hards said that I was wrong, and that they were just running a little "late" …yeah who's right now?

Isn't "a little late" over now????

Cowlitzfisherman

Hooked 12 fish glow balling last night at the creek and and brought home two winter runs and saw lots of fresh fish taken. Lots......

Fished it on the 26th. From Blue creek to below mission bar. Fished from sunrise to sunset and caught nothing. Saw 4 fish taken all day.
I have fished the river 3 times in the last couple of weeks and have only caught 1 fish.

Um, CFM, it seems like the hatchery returns on every river in the state are down this year, as bad or worse than the Cowlitz. Rather than it being TCL or WDFW's fault, maybe this is just the result of the latest El Nino. Wouldn't be the first time hatchery returns have been a statewide failure because of warm ocean conditions like we experienced this past summer.

Hey spawnout, I sure hope your right!!!

"maybe this is just the result of the latest El Nino"
thats right, talked to a number of people that fished heavy through last el nino, everything came in really late in a big surge, and i mean late, like u could just call this the beginning of the first week they say. Anway goin down to the cow tomorrow in a sled, we'll see what happens.
waterboy

One to two weeks late…Maybe!
Two to four weeks late….not likely!

But 2 months late…It just isn't going to happen guys!
Why can't you guys see the light? They have (WDFW); over the last couple of years intentionally changed the run timing of the Cowlitz winter-run steelhead. They have already changed the run timing and now you are starting to see those results!

The November-December Cowlitz hatchery winter-run steelhead has already been phased way back and you just don't know it yet. Yes, you will always get a "few" early fish, but those days of the catching the 3000 to 8000 fish during that same time period are gone for good!

When will you listen to what I have been telling you?

They are not late….they are not coming!

Like I have said before, first high water event pulls all the fish to the Blue Creek area but that has not happen yet. Fishing will be fair to good for about one week…and when that's over, only a handful of steelhead will be caught again until some time in late February or March. At that time, you will start catching a lot of right ventral clipped steelhead. You will be required to released all of these fish, because they are being used to enhance a special steelhead fishery for the upper Cowlitz River area (the area above Cowlitz Falls Dam). The steelheads that are not caught in that fishery (about 99% of the fish) will then be allowed to spawn and create the newest WDFW joke or more commonly referred to as; "the Cowlitz River late run wild steelhead recovery program"!

We will see if my predictions are right…so far they have been right on the money!!

Cowlitzfisherman

Yes, I agree. They are not coming, so all you guys go somewhere else.
Sorry CFM, couldnt resist .
RL

According to Fridays Chronicle,the fish counts were only down by 40-50 fish from last year at this time.I don't know where Russ Mohney gets his info but thats what he wrote.
I'm sure you know where to check.Cowlitzfisherman.Maybe you could put up a link so we could check it out.
I'm curious cause fishin has really sucked other than a day here and there.
If the counts are relatively close could the poor fishing be the result of something else.Like low water conditions?
I'm really curious cause its several rivers and not just the Cow that has been off.

CFM, it's not just the Cowlitz pard, brat runs are either late or not happening this year. Thank God for December blackmouth

All you a-hole boaters can take your sleds and get the hell off the Cowlitz until you learn some manners. I've fished along the bank down on my families' property below Blue Creek since I was five years old, and every year the morons with money get thicker and thicker. I used to fish with my grandmother Mary Ellen down below the high bluffs, but she got so fed up with it that she quit fishing down there.

Hey Luke,

So how long have you owned the Cowlitz?

I think the fish are just coming in in smaller numbers this year. I hope they all get there at some point though

Hey Dan, you should ask that question to the jackasses in their boats who show no respect to a man who is fishing in a fixed location. Casting right into your line like you aren't even there, never moving or reeling in when you hook a fish, and racing their boats just inches from where you are standing. There are miles of river, but it never fails, a guy walks down to the river to fish and the boats move right in on him, it's ridiculous. It was so much nicer to fish the Cowlitz before the fishing and hunting news media began plastering articles across every fishwrap in the Puget Sound region about how good the steelheading was. I'd like to see drift boats only from the barrier damn to Toledo.

They're no different than the jackasses at the point who won't let you walk a fish down past them, or the jackasses that try to toss a spinner in between the 50 guys who are all drift fishing.

But, if the jackass jet boaters are going to be somewhere, then they might as well be at the Cowlitz. I mean, if you're a bank fisher looking to have some water without jet-jockeys blasting through all day, then the Cowlitz isn't where you want to be. It's like going to Phoenix and bemoaning the hot weather.

The bad thing is...........I don't see it getting any better down there.

You're right about it not getting any better down there Dan. Only law changes can change the way it is, because you can't change people's nature. I know there are bank fishermen who are assholes too, but it's easier to move around them. The reason I'm always going to fish the Cowlitz is because our land has been in my family since the 1880's, my grandmother Mary Ellen even has a fishing hole named after her down below Blue Creek.