In 2015, over 25,000 spring chinook returned to the Cowlitz River in Southwest Washington.
However, in 2020 and 2021, returns to the Cowlitz River were expected to be so poor that fisheries managers were forced to close the river to angling for, or retention of, spring chinook to ensure the hatchery received its brood stock for egg-take.
This year the return is expected to be marginally better, at a little over 4,000 adults, which is well below the 10-year average of 10,600 adults, but managers were able to open the river to spring chinook through the end of April, with one fin-clipped hatchery chinook allowed as part of a two-salmon/steelhead daily limit.
Josua Holowatz, the WDFW biologist for District 10, which includes the Cowlitz, said that the poor returns in the last two years were due to terrible ocean conditions when the juveniles went to sea.
“When those fish went out, in 2017 and 2018, ocean conditions were terrible,” Holowatz said. “When you think about what the conditions were when they hit the ocean, they were not going to do very well.”
He reported that releases for those two years were about 1.8 million smolts, which was about 94 percent of the release goal, so short plantings were not an issue.
“People talk about other (factors), such as predators,” he said. “We can’t speak to that. It would be nice to know what happens to these smolts between the hatchery and the Columbia, and then the Columbia to the ocean. No one has the capacity to know that.”
Last year’s Cowlitz return beat the projections, although it is too early to know if that will happen again this year.
However, ocean conditions were vastly improved when this year’s returning fish first hit the salt water. So, some level of optimism is not out of place.
Fishing guide Dave Mallahan of Dave’s Guide Service in Toledo has been fishing the Cowlitz for decades, and has guided on the Cowlitz for spring chinook since 2010.
While he is happy to be fishing the river for spring chinook after a two-year hiatus, he is lukewarm about how good the fishing will be.
“It’s not even a third of what it should be,” he said of this year’s projection. “We’re going to give it a go and see how it goes. There was a spring chinook caught today by someone that was fishing for steelhead.”
Spring chinook fishing on the main stem Columbia has improved recently, and a few spring chinook have already been caught by anglers in the Cowlitz, offering hope for fishers like Mallahan.
He said he has seen these kinds of runs before.
“We have had some smaller runs in the past with only a one fish limit,” he said. “I’ve also seen some good runs — 2015 was a high-water mark.”
Mallahan reports that the fish can be found throughout the Cowlitz River, in both the lower and upper reaches.
He likes to fish the Interstate 5 area to start, as well as the Toledo area, but each year is different. He will be looking to find the holes where the fish are holding this year, but it takes a little work to find them.
And, spring chinook are finicky biters, and difficult to pattern at the best of times.
Still, they are well-known as the best eating fish that enters the Columbia, and are highly prized as fighters. Most anglers are willing to put in some serious effort, and a lot of time, for the chance of landing one.
In the lower Cowlitz, anglers fish for them by plunking from the bank with Spin-n-glos tipped with coon shrimp or sand shrimp fished right on the bottom. Boat anglers will anchor and fish with plugs or herring. Anglers also back-bounce salmon eggs, or salmon egg-sand shrimp combos. They also will be back-trolling herring.
“As long as the river is in shape you catch them down below,” Mallahan said.
Higher up in the river anglers still use these same techniques, and sometimes add the Brad’s Super Baits to the mix. Super Baits are plugs that can be filled with bait, such as tuna. They can be especially effective on spring chinook.
Bank anglers collect at the Barrier Dam up at the Cowlitz Salmon Hatchery, where they fish salmon eggs with bobbers, or by drifting the eggs.
Mallahan warns that spring chinook can be one of the hardest fish in the Northwest to pattern, and those patterns can change from day to day. It can make for a tough fishery at times.
“People don’t realize how hard it can be,” he said. “They book a springer trip and expect to go out and limit out. Sometimes you’re lucky to get a bite.”
One spring bite can make an angler’s day, and actually landing one is an accomplishment that offers the chance for some serious bragging rights.
There is one thing that Mallahan often sees newcomers doing on the river, and that is running their boat over areas that are being fished, or running it over another angler’s line. When you do that, you can scatter and alarm the fish, which puts them in a defensive posture, and they will not bite.
“That’s huge,” he said. “It’s one of my biggest pet peeves, boaters running over somebody’s gear, or they run over the water someone is trying to fish.”
Mallahan said he will switch over to fishing for spring chinook instead of steelhead after this next weekend
“I’m looking forward to it,” he adds.
Always check the regulations before fishing any water.
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Guided trips: Dave’s Guide Service 360-201-9313; https://gofishingwithdave.com/
