Cowlitz

[carvermoe]

Just wondering if there are any steelhead being caught in the cowltz

[Limhangerslayer]

Come on what river are you asking about??? Is it the Cowitz or Cowltz???   

[carvermoe]

Omg I am so sorry  for terrible error. I MEAN Cowlitz

[BTobsession]

Fish checker at blue creek had 1 checked at 2:00 today, out of ALOT of boats. And 6 at 4:00 yesterday. So....

[KB88]

Yeah...no fish keep on looking   

[allen]

Tuesday's TPU report, 33 at the hatchery seperator last week.  Still a little early I'd say.

[BigGoonTuna]

my bet is that it's gonna be a mad house since WDFW outlawed fishing from boats on almost every other river anyone would want to put a sled in.

my own experience with the cowlitz since the early returning fish were discontinued is that it seems like things start to pick up in early march, then fizzle out when it should be getting good.  what a disappointment.

[pnwbestlife]

Fish are being caught is the word I've heard...It's where I would be if I still hadn't scratched the steelhead itch!

[Bullkllr]

my bet is that it's gonna be a mad house since WDFW outlawed fishing from boats on almost every other river anyone would want to put a sled in.

my own experience with the cowlitz since the early returning fish were discontinued is that it seems like things start to pick up in early march, then fizzle out when it should be getting good.  what a disappointment.

And everything draining to the coast south of the Hoh closed today!

[HntnFsh]

26 trailers and a ton of rigs at Blue creek today about 10am

[elkrack]

I was in one of the boats. Arguably one of the nicest boats too   we landed a nice 13# hen had 2 other takedowns with no hook up. We saw a handful of fish caught

[WSU]

It looks like a complete CF on the webcam.

[millerwheeler]

Went last Tuesday 4 of us brought home 5. Lost 4 and can’t say how many bites may have been missed.

[HntnFsh]

Sounds like I need to get out there.

[BigGoonTuna]

It looks like a complete CF on the webcam.

took the kids for a drive on Sunday, blue creek parking lot looked like it would have between Christmas and New Years in the good old days.

[2MANY]

Awe the good ole days.

[D-Rock425]

Awe the good ole days.

when were the good ole days?

[fowl smacker]

Awe the good ole days.

when were the good ole days?

Back in the early to mid 90's if you weren't catching your steelhead limit on the Cowlitz in very short order you didn't have your line in the water.  The limit at some points were 6 steelhead and many many times, me and my uncle would have no problems catching 12 fish in a couple to a few hours.

[D-Rock425]

I fished it a lot in the mid 2000's and had some crazy days.

[2MANY]

80s.
AND they were good to eat summer runs and not these egg sprayers.

[steeleywhopper]

Fished it this last weekend and worked for the 8 we caught over the course of 2 days.

[JimmyHoffa]

Awe the good ole days.

when were the good ole days?

Old timers have told me that the steelhead and salmon fishing sort of peaked around 1967.  The population of people, river access, regulations, plants led to some really, really good fishing.  One guy I knew started steelheading around 1945 and said it was pretty good then.  Any creek or river, even some ditches had fish regularly.  Basically said that back then the main reason for a boat was that you would have too many fish to physically carry around.  Almost all agree that the fishing took a major dive in the mid 1970's.

[ASHQUACK]

Major dive in 1975. That's when the Boldt decision was handed down. There were still some good rivers up until about the late 90's. Now most everything that has a run is closed or fished out or simply a fraction of what used to be.

[M_ray]

Awe the good ole days.

when were the good ole days?

70’s and 80’s and 26 trailers would produce a hundred fish This time of year not just a handful. When it was hot The parking lot was full and there were trailers parked all the way down the road past the house on the east at blue creek.

[Bullkllr]

The Cowlitz winter run hatchery production spiked in the early 70s to levels never seen before or since. I was pretty young, but old enough to remember just how crazy things were for a few years. Bank fishing there were more fish on the bank than people. You literally had to watch where you stepped. Literally thousands, into the tens of thousands, fish caught per month during the peak of the runs. You could drive down what became the trail to Blue Creek. 

[millerwheeler]

Well here some more inspiration. .....ya it’s changed a lot over the years but still great memories to be had

[HntnFsh]

You could drive down what became the trail to Blue Creek.

I did that many a times. I remember watching a couple locals cleaning house on the little island throwing small green Rooster tails.

[WSU]

The Cowlitz winter run hatchery production spiked in the early 70s to levels never seen before or since. I was pretty young, but old enough to remember just how crazy things were for a few years. Bank fishing there were more fish on the bank than people. You literally had to watch where you stepped. Literally thousands, into the tens of thousands, fish caught per month during the peak of the runs. You could drive down what became the trail to Blue Creek.

I can’t imagine this. Literally can’t fathom that kind of fishing.

[4fletch]

I fished it a lot back in the 70's what good memories I am So lucky to have .limits all the time lots of 12 lb to 16 lb fish

[duckmen1]

Any general tackle recommendations for blue creek/cowlitz steelhead for bank angler. Used to other fisheries using float and jig or floating beads and eggs. But hearing its a drift fishing show with long leaders. Making me scratch my head a bit. Figured I would see what you guys had to say from personal experience of methods along this stretch of river. I have a little knowledge as well as some tackle for all method types so can be prepared to run a wide variety of setups. Thanks for any tips guys
 

[hollymaster]

Any general tackle recommendations for blue creek/cowlitz steelhead for bank angler. Used to other fisheries using float and jig or floating beads and eggs. But hearing its a drift fishing show with long leaders. Making me scratch my head a bit. Figured I would see what you guys had to say from personal experience of methods along this stretch of river. I have a little knowledge as well as some tackle for all method types so can be prepared to run a wide variety of setups. Thanks for any tips guys

Long leaders = flossing

[spoonman]

Any general tackle recommendations for blue creek/cowlitz steelhead for bank angler. Used to other fisheries using float and jig or floating beads and eggs. But hearing its a drift fishing show with long leaders. Making me scratch my head a bit. Figured I would see what you guys had to say from personal experience of methods along this stretch of river. I have a little knowledge as well as some tackle for all method types so can be prepared to run a wide variety of setups. Thanks for any tips guys

If you are in a boat it’s a drift or float game. From the bank either will work as well. It a a great river to learn to swing spoons on. I only fish spoons down there and pull more than my share of steelhead out of there swinging spoons. I use to run a sled down there multiple days a week (I don’t miss it) and it was just a drift game back then. Now it’s a float show as well with all these golf ball sized stupid beads. It’s just more fun to catch fish on spoons and you catch the fish that are more aggressive!

[brew]

my buddy's roommate guides down there...been eating a lot of fresh steelies....main method is side drifting a single bead.  They boated 6 today

[duckmen1]

Any general tackle recommendations for blue creek/cowlitz steelhead for bank angler. Used to other fisheries using float and jig or floating beads and eggs. But hearing its a drift fishing show with long leaders. Making me scratch my head a bit. Figured I would see what you guys had to say from personal experience of methods along this stretch of river. I have a little knowledge as well as some tackle for all method types so can be prepared to run a wide variety of setups. Thanks for any tips guys

Long leaders = flossing

Exactly my thoughts. I would rather run yarnies on a 28 inch leader paired with a hard or soft bead trailer then do the flossing game. Hopefully pull the presentation through the strike zone not the line. Or float jigs or beads, pull spinners/ spoons, or bait, steelhead worms. Lots of opportunity other than flossing. Nice to hear what presentations you all might enjoy using down there. I would love to pull one out on a spoon sometime.
Glad to hear there's a chance at a fish.
Are you guys mainly fishing the main river or the creek too?

[fowl smacker]

Any general tackle recommendations for blue creek/cowlitz steelhead for bank angler. Used to other fisheries using float and jig or floating beads and eggs. But hearing its a drift fishing show with long leaders. Making me scratch my head a bit. Figured I would see what you guys had to say from personal experience of methods along this stretch of river. I have a little knowledge as well as some tackle for all method types so can be prepared to run a wide variety of setups. Thanks for any tips guys

Long leaders = flossing

Not necessarily

[spoonman]

I’d say most boats are running 5-6’ leaders. It’s a leader length that puts the offering at the right depth in the water column. Now if you see Leo with 10’ leaders then that’s flossing. Also a flossed fish will be hooked from the outside in instead of the inside out.
Drift eggs, beads, sand shrimp, and number of other things, just run the right amount of lead. Float anything you want and you’ll hook fish as well. If the water is at 9000cfs or less fish seem to be in all areas but if the water is up (11000+) they tend to run close to the bank. I do better in higher water on the cowlitz swinging 50/50 spoons close to the bank. One thing I can say is to take one setup down there instead of 4 rods for 4 different techniques. You’ll never be proficient at one technique until you force yourself to just use that one rod till you catch fish. It’s rarely the case that the fish are only biting one lure. I would of never been as good at spoon fishing if I hadn’t listen to a old guy tell me to just take the spoon rod and a box of spoons till I catch fish. Flit fishing is the training wheels of river fishing, drift fishing can be a pain in the butt for all anglers and swinging lures takes time to learn where your lure is in the water column.

[Platensek-po]

We used to slay steel on the cowlings running plugs. Yakima baits dr death is incredible on that river. That or side drifting with a 2ft leader 2 ez eggs and pink yarn. Pulling plugs makes it easier to drink beer too tho. You can fish bobber and jig too from the bank. Focus on the 3-4ft deep water. Guys will be standing out there up to their chest and they are standing where the fish are. I used to fish the cowlitz a ton but it’s a mess down there and the fish just aren’t there in the numbers they used to be

[duckmen1]

My current take on blue creek. Heavy boat traffic in the area. Didn't see but one hookup on a boat. Out of many bank anglers saw a few hookups. Every single person there but 1 guy was a 10 to 12 foot long flossing leader kind of game.