Cowlitz River Steelheading

We had had very good steelhead reports coming from the Cowlitz River this past week. The "Blue Creek" section of the river has been turning out some outstanding reports for both the boat and beach anglers. If you happen to fish on a day when the power company is fluctuating the water level the fishing may fall off, making you work very hard for your fish. If the water has been stable for awhile then the fishing is good. The boat anglers have been fishing in a variety of ways, but free drifting E-Z eggs or Fish Pills with a little bit of yarn have been very productive. Some anglers have been fishing divers with coon stripe shrimp. The bank anglers have been fishing corkies and yarn combinations as well as floats and jigs. There has been a few Chinook caught in the catches recently and the numbers seem to be increasing this past week. Many boaters are electing to fish Chinook for the first couple of hours in the morning and then turn their attention to the steelhead latter in the day, as they are more willing to bite latter in the day, unlike the salmon.