COUGAR — Boat ramps at Swift Forest Park and Yale Park on the North Fork of the Lewis River will be open again by Thursday after heavy weekend rains raised the water level in Swift and Yale reservoirs.
Briana Weatherly, senior environmental compliance analyst for PacifiCorp, said the ramps might be open Wednesday, but by no later than Thursday.
The water level in Swift Reservoir was at 983 feet elevation on Tuesday afternoon. That’s 8 feet higher than the 975 feet elevation at the end of the boat ramp at Swift Forest Park.
Reopening of the ramp gives anglers the rest of November to fish for the 51,000 rainbow trout stocked in Swift in early June. The water level dropped in mid-July to a point where boats no longer could be launched safely.
Angling has been limited to a handful of shoreline fishermen and a small number of car-top boats launched and loaded in the sand just upstream from the boat ramp. A cable stretched across the top of the ramp has prevented its use.
Swift has raised 9 feet since Thursday morning. Rapidly rising or falling reservoir levels often tend to put off the bite of fish though.
Yale Park boat ramp closed on Oct. 16, when the reservoir level fell below 468 feet elevation, the minimum needed for launching.
Yale Reservoir was at 470.90 feet elevation on Tuesday afternoon.
Weatherly said the projections for the reservoir levels appear to be high enough to maintain use of the boat ramps at least through November.
The upper North Fork of the Lewis River and Muddy River both were flowing at more than twice their average for the date on Tuesday.
