Anybody been out to Riffe Lake recently?
More specifically the fishing bridge by Tiadnapom Park.
Please feel free to PM me directly if you don't want to post it publicly.

Thanks,
Rafterman

yeah.. I've been out that way, but not fishing..

Riffe lake management is changing.... seems like the morons who run Lewis County have finally figured out that sport fishermen bring a lot of money when they come to visit...

so they've put pressure on Tacoma Power to make the lake more accessible during the winter... yes you'll find that the cosmos ramp is gated now when water is low but there was a big article in the local paper recently describing how the ramps at Taidnapum and the one near the dam are being extended so we'll be able to get our boats in the water even when the reservoir is way down...........

still not too much action at the fishing bridge but I met a happy guy who had just caught an 8 pound rainbow drifting worms near where goat creek comes in........


If you drive past taidnapum you go over a bridge and the road tees just on the other side of the river............

if you then turn left you will drive along the south shore of the cowlitz right up to and past Cowlitz Falls Dam........


the first creek you cross is "Goat Creek" and there's a place to park.. there are a couple other places to park and access the river further on but the further you go the higher the road is and the steeper the hike down to the river edge.....

this time of the year (before the reservoir is raised flooding the runs and riffles) it's a nice clean river with classic runs, riffles, pools, etc... very inviting to fish............

and, according to the guy who caught the 8 pound 'bow, there are some big fish to be caught.....

The biggest bow I ever caught was in Riffe. Long as my forearm. I C-n-R'd it but had witnessess. It was right off Dog Mountain with worm-n-bobber mid channel at anchor in a canoe. IIRC the lake was so far down if you walked to teh end of the boat ramp you die from the fall off the cliff.

That lake is almost always empty. I dont even bother with it anymore.
Like li'lriver said: Lewis County is full of morons. Use you gas wisely and go elsewhere. That way the tweakers and hillbillies wont getcha.

As a humble citizen of this humble county I can only tell you that some of us are trying to make it better.......

I think Riffe and the upper cowlitz have potential though.......

Hopefully the ramp extensions at Taidnapum and Mossyrock will be just a start..... the lake will start rising soon and reach full reservoir level in late may or early june.. Most sporties fish it during the summer when the ramps are accessible and this tends to be from about May to October......

and it should be noted that there is lots of competition for a sport fisher's attention during those months..... With better access during the low water times the lake will be available in January, February and march of most years and those months tend to be a bit lean in regard to other opportunities in the state....

because there are fish to be caught at Riffe Lake in the winter we just need to make it possible for sport fishers to get their boats on the water during that season....

Lake Scanewa fishery has really come alive the last few years because of tanker truck deliveries from the lower cowlitz... late october to Early January is a busy time on this lake.. lots of fish to catch and the access gets very crowded...... but there's only one decent access and that's right on lake scanewa... the fish actually run all the way up the cispus and the upper cowlitz... we need 3 or 4 access points (there are literally "none" right now) along each of these rivers to facilitate those with drift boats and those who want to try different spots with their jet pumps....

I'm working on a letter to county commissioners to recommend just that.. it should be in the mail soon...

Good luck. I mean it.

Loser County is full of Good Ole Boys that think Government spending in any form equals Communism. (Unless the money comes from outside the county.)

I'd bet my bottom dollar that if they tried to create access to the upper Cow/Cispus, the locals would schitt thier drawers.

The same type that fought that power plant from being built in Chehalis for nearly TWENTY years. Dont want no high-falutin' city folk & thier godless booklearnin' ruinin' the local way of life.
Tree-huggin Commies!

By all means, best of luck to you. If something like that happened, I might actually start fishing down there again.

Ichtyoid ~

I just saw a post regarding Riffe Lake to see how the fishing has been recently, and as I read on down through the replies, I see a post from you that does nothing but bad mouth the good people from Lewis County.....we all have our opinions don't we? Riffe Lake is my old stompin' ground....there are alot of good people there, and like anywhere else, lots of useless no-gooders. I was born and raised there and I still have alot of family members living there, as well as friends. It's funny you call them "tree huggers" when the vast majority of folks in East Lewis County work in a lumber mill......my father included. He's worked in the mills his entire adult working life. They rely on the forests to keep food on their table and a roof over their head, so they are far from being "tree-huggers". Opinions are a wonderful thing, but it really bothered me to see such harsh things being said about my background. You could have said what you needed to without the criticism.

I was going to tell Rafterman45 that my folks were down there last Saturday shore fishing by where the hangliders camp and land. It was a slow day, but they caught 2 14" rainbows. They had lots of other hits and a few other's brought in, but nothing to talk about. They are putting a new launch in just this side of Taidnepam, sort of across from the old Champion Rd. I heard they were going to extend it out much further so that there will be access when the lake is so low. It will be interesting to see how it turns out. They said that there weren't very many fisherman out anywhere from what they saw.

so what did your parents catch the 'bows on tanya???


I've caught a lot of different kinds of fish in Riffe over the years, but no rainbows...

bass, coho, catfish, etc.

now all of a sudden I'm hearing of nice rainbows being landed.....


and have you heard when the ramp extensions are going to be complete?????

I've always wanted to fish the lake during the winter low level time, but it's too much of a pain to get the boat into the water so I don't go.....

littleriver ~

They were just fishing w/ worm. My mom was using worm/bobber. She said it was eerily calm that day so she was happy as she likes to use a bobber.......too boring for me! :-)

I'm not sure when the launch will be completed. My husband has been hauling rock up there for the project, and he seems to think it's going to be quite awhile still, maybe close to a year he said.

I know what you mean by it being a pain to get a boat into the water when it's soo low. Last I did that was about 4 years ago. We had our 12' aluminum and had to haul it down a long rocky bank, but it was fun once we got out there. Didn't catch a dang thing, but got out of the house anyways.

Tanya You are spunky and a fisherman, You hubby got a keeper.

Thanks for the info everyone.

Ichtyoid,

Is it possible for you to add any constructive content to a post without also bad mouthing, flaming or just plain being insulting toward someone or something?

Just curious and watching.....

Hey, it's a true fact: The majority of the problems of Lewis County derive from the backwards, insular politics of the area.

How is pointing that out flaming?

Well you covered flamimg, how do you explain bad mouthing and insulting???????????

How is what I said about Loser County any different than what Littleriver said?

He said it is "run by morons", then later, I agreed with him.

Are you trying to say that there aren't hillbillies or tweakers in L.C.?

Because if you are, I'll laugh until my face hurts.

My original comment about your posts was not limited to this specific subject.

Are far as "hillbillies" or "tweakers", I did not make a comment on that subject. Therefore I have no idea what you are talking about in your last two sentences.

Then what specific subjects are you concerened about?
Enquiring minds want to know.

If you find post I make offensive, report them to a moderator. Dont be such a baby. We're all adults here.

The last 6 posts had nothing to do with Riffe lake so this Topic is closed...