Mid-winter is undoubtedly the slowest time of year to try fishing in Southwest Washington. About all there is to do now is look outside the window and wait until March.
Even the retention season for sturgeon in the Bonneville, The Dalles and John Day pools of the mid-Columbia River is at almost a standstill, as the boat ramps still are covered with snow and daily high temperatures don’t yet reach 40 degrees.
Angler checks from the Washington (WDFW) and Oregon (ODFW) departments of Fish and Wildlife:
Mid-Columbia — Bonneville pool, two bank rods with no sturgeon. (ODFW)
The Dalles pool, four boaters and two bank rods with no sturgeon. (ODFW)
John Day pool, two boaters and seven bank rods with no sturgeon; 10 boaters with two walleye kept. (ODFW)
Cowlitz — Forty-three bank rods with one adult coho kept plus two steelhead, two adult coho and one cutthroat trout released. All of the fish sampled, except the cutthroat, were at the barrier dam. Three winter steelhead returned to Cowlitz Salmon Hatchery last week.
