Fishing report 12/24

Winter steelhead fishing in Southwest Washington isn’t what it once was, and the opportunities for the weekend depend largely on how fast the waters drop.

Traditionally, the week between Christmas and New Year’s Day is the peak of the hatchery-origin winter steelhead return, but who knows with more than 14 inches of rain this month.

The North Fork of the Lewis at Merwin Dam was down on Wednesday to 3,620 cubic feet per second, a very nice winter flow. The East Fork Lewis at Heisson was 2,490 cubic feet per second, which is on the high side.

The Washougal River on Wednesday was 3,500 cubic feet per second. That’s too high and there was too much color, but the stream should drop and clear.

Angler checks from the Washington and Oregon departments of Fish and Wildlife:

Cowlitz — Four winter steelhead along with 38 adult coho, 12 jack coho, a summer steelhead and a cutthroat trout returned to the salmon hatchery separator.

Coweeman — Seven bank rods with no steelhead. (WDFW)

Kalama — Thirty-one bank rods with two hatchery steelhead kept and two wild steelhead released. (WDFW)

East Fork Lewis — Ten bank rods with one wild steelhead released. (WDFW)

Mid-Columbia — John Day River arm, two boats with one steelhead kept and one released. (ODFW)