Has anyone been fishing the Cowlitz lately I havent there for a couple months because it seemed like it started to slow down.
But it looks like the flow is up now and maybe there might be some fish in there.
Any reply would be cool.
Thanks

The river still has low vis about 4-6". Hopefully this should clear up in a week or two, Mayfield dam releases water from the bottom to generate electricity and the silt from the last storm and the 20,200 CFS Flows. Good Luck!

RiverLiver

I though that you would like to know a little bit more about Mayfield Dam, and why the flows are so dirty. The reason for the "dirty" water is not because; Mayfield releases water from the "bottom". Mayfield dam has very shallow intakes for its turbines. The maximum operating range is from 425 feet to 415 feet. The minimum operation elevation is 415 feet.

The intakes on Mayfield are extremely shallow and that's why the elevations at Mayfield never drop below about 15 feet. The "dirty" water usually comes from the high flow events of the Tilton River. During the 20,200 cfs flows of our last high water even, over 12,000 cfs was coming directly from the Tilton River. When flows get over 8,000 cfs, you can expect to see Mayfield reservoir become dirty within 4 days of such a flow event. There is literally "no area" for the silt from the Tilton to settle out before it reaches the intakes at Mayfield.

Now Mossyrock dam is total different story! The intakes at Mossyrock vary from 248 feet to 285 feet. That's why Mossyrock Dam fluctuates so much during the summer when Mayfield stays almost the same height. When Mossyrock gets dirty, we're in for a long period of "dirty water". I Hope that this will give you a better understand of "why" the Cowlitz gets dirty.

Remember, when flows reach over 8,000 cfs on the Tilton, the Cowlitz will mosy likely be "out" 4-5 days later


Good luck and good fishing!


Cowlitzfisherman

try this link:
http://www.ci.tacoma.wa.us/tpunews/fishreport.htm

you'll note water visibility is less than a foot, muddy..... & 50 steelies per week...hmmmm

COWLITZFISHERMAN,
tHANKS FOR the info, that answers some of my other Q's I had. Hope to see you on the river one day! I'm heading down today 2/12 to do some work on my place on the river, hope the h2o has cleared a little more even though the cfs and gage height are back up.

MadMax,
The linc you posted says 50 steelhead in a day not a week.They only ran the seperator 1 day in that week if I read it right. 50 in a day is better than it had been doing in january.