Cowlitz River Report

[cobble cruiser]

Thought I'd throw up a report for all you Cowlitz river fans. First of all, I was out there last Saturday and the fishing seemed a bit on the slow side according to Cowlitz river standards. A buddy and I went 1 for 4. We just couldn't quite put 'em in the bag and the one we did get was slightly keltish so it didn't leave the river. However, yesterday one of our cronies (Scott Howell) came into the office and gave us some encouraging news from wednesday. They mostly stuck to the Blue Creek stretch where there was 6 or 7 guide boats hammering the same drift over and over. You know what they say; "when in Rome"! Scott and his brother proceeded to hook 8 fish freedrifting #12 orange corkies and eggs! He showed me one pic of a really nice 36" buck that ripped down through the hatchery hole, through the rapids and finally landed down at the wall below blue creek! He also said he must have seen 50 steelhead caught that day! Sounds like some good timing to me.

Howell 2011.3.30 Cowlits 36 long 2 cw.jpg (34.8 KiB) Viewed 7448 times

[attachment=1Howell 2011.3.30 Cowlits 36 long 2 cw.jpg[/attachment]

[bobberdown123]

Dang that's a nice hatchery fish! Glad to hear one of our late season fisheries is pickin up...gettin tired of seeing pics of all those big broodstock fish the oregon boys have been pulling out lol

[nascarrich60-1]

I finally broke the ice with that high-end $$$ Fetha Styx Salmon/Steelhead Pole that I won through a photo contest. Down around the wall area from the bank with about 10 others working that stretch of river up to the tip of that bar the river goes around. Hooked a 26" hatchery buck using a double small orange corkie combination. Great fight as it jumped twice and made some serious power runs.
During the day I watched maybe 12-15 hookups with about 6 brought to the bank. Two were native steelhead that showed no signs of a mis-clip.

[Nelly]

Nice job guys!
Way to go hit a productive fishery instead of pounding your head against the wall on the Columbia for those elusive springers.
I get more than a little bit of tunnel vision with chinook but your pics & reports have me seriously considering the Cow next week!

[Mystical Legends]

Nice fish guys! It's been good...NO, It's been off the hook for a couple weeks now. It slowed Friday thru the weekend but picked up with the higher flows. Wasn't as many caught today as yesterday but still off the hook. Todays fish...I'd give it a 10

[Nelly]

Geez, Phil... Shouldn't you me scratching for springers???

When are you going to slow down long enough to do a segment with us on the radio show?

[Maury]

I got out with a few buddies on the 26th and brought in this 34 in hatchery hen. It was a blast and it was my first Steelhead. We were down from the Wall a bit and only saw a few other hookups.

[Robbo]

Congrats on your first steelhead Maury. Hopefully you can keep from going off the deep end like the rest of us

[Mystical Legends]

If you think I can add anything to your show, ( positive ) just let me know I'd be more than happy to do it. Starting mid month I'll be on Drano every Saturday till the end of May.

People often talk about the Cookie Cutters in the Cow...What's wrong with these Cookie fish??? There's two sizes again this Spring the typical 5-7 pounders then they jump to 13-17 pounders...hens that go 15 to 18 pounds..day in and day out..WOW! These fish are freakin some of the nicest fish around...good quality that in my mind can only be rivaled by the Quinalt..someone is doing something right. Numbers, size =A+

[nascarrich60-1]

Great collection of photos Phil! I'll take the cookie cutter steelhead, blackmouth, springer & summer run Chinook any day. If I hook & net something big to bigger then it is my day!
Skunked today fishing Pt no Pt & Skunk Bay. Did not see a net being used or any radio chatter of one being caught. Usual suspects from Driftwood Keys out there and they struck out also. Better luck tomorrow.