Weekday sport and commercial fisheries (02/18-21/02)

Conditions:

Similar to the last report (2/19/02). There appears to be a strong presence of smelt in the Grays River, but accessibility issues effect sport fishing effort. Bird and seal activity around the County Line park area this morning would indicate that the smelt are still heading upriver. It is not possible to predict at this time which of the three tributaries (Cowlitz, Lewis, or Kalama) these fish will head to (or if they will remain in the mainstem to spawn). Low numbers of smelt remain in the Cowlitz. There still is a strong run in the Lewis but fish are not close enough to the shore for sport bank dipping during daylight. Lewis River commercial fishers are harvesting mostly spent males from the deep waters above the Woodland CC Street Bridge.

Catches:

Cowlitz River:
Sport - No creel data available. No test dipping since the last report (Tuesday February 19th test dipping: zero fish at Gearhart ramp and Carnival Market, up to 2 lbs/dip at Lexington).

Commercial - No catch or effort since the 14th (only a few hundred pounds landed that morning).

Lewis River
Sport - Very slow. The fish were out in deeper water. Anglers dipping from boats were doing ok.

Commercial - Catch levels have remain consistantly around 70,000 pounds per night (Sunday, Tuesday, Wednesday nights), for some time now.

Columbia River:
Commercial - No reported catch this week.

Sport Seasons/Regulations:

Currently, all tributary waters are open Saturdays, Sundays, and Wednesdays, 6am - 10pm through March 31st. There is a 10 lb daily limit in effect. These regulations are being reviewed. Fishers are advised to check hotlines early next week.

Updates are available at (360) 696-6211 *1010.