CHEHALIS, Wash. — The Cowlitz River likely conjures up a variety of images for you, depending on your experiences with this popular southwest Washington river.

If anything, if you've fished this river before, you likely have some memories of big fish hooked — the Cowlitz can really kick out monsters.

You might also have memories of catching a lot of fish.

The river's famous for the quantity of sea-run cutthroat, steelhead and salmon that return to it every year.

But you might also have memories of shoulder-to-shoulder fishing, crossed lines, bank anglers shouting at boat anglers, drift boaters cursing at sled boats, and one big, fine mess at combat fishing areas like Blue Creek.

Carl Huswick of Lake Stevens yanked this pair of steelhead out of the Blue Creek area.

Your experiences on the Cowlitz, while not uncommon, confirm that this river is a waterway of sharp contrasts.

There are areas of the Cowlitz where you'll encounter more humans than fish, while there are other areas where you'll find a quiet, pristine, Northwest river full of big steelhead, SRCs, coho, fall and spring Chinook, and even smelt.

Flowing out of the Cowlitz Divide southeast off Mount Rainier, the Cowlitz River provides water to two impoundments: Riffe Lake, formed behind Mossy Rock Dam at nearly 1.6 million acre-feet at full pool, and Mayfield Lake, formed behind Mayfield Dam, at a modest 21,380 acre-feet.

Below Mayfield Dam, the Cowlitz flows past the Cowlitz Salmon Hatchery, down past the Cowlitz Trout Hatchery, past Toledo and Castle Rock, through Kelso and into the Columbia River.

As the calendar turns toward late November and early December, coming up from the Columbia will be a healthy run of winter steelhead that can keep rods jumping all the way to spring.

How good is good? Even though it's a solid 2 to 2½ hour drive from Seattle, a number of Emerald City-area fishing guides call the Cowlitz their home river.

While steelhead fishing around the Northwest can be notoriously fickle, guides consider the Cowlitz a can't-miss, go-to place where they can take paying clients to consistently score fish.

This river fishes that good.

Summer to winter

Summer steelhead fishing on the Cowlitz generally kicks off in May, with bright fish showing up well into August.

The summer-runs can be fun, fun fishing, accompanied by warm weather and lots of cooperative hatchery fish.

As with other Westside rivers, though, the winter metalhead season starts around Thanksgiving as the weather turns nasty.

Winter-runs provide excellent action all the way to March.

The peak of winter fishing on the Cowlitz really depends on weather-rainfall particularly.

In drier years, the winter fish run can stretch out over a longer period, while a winter that dumps a ton of rain early on can bring fish in early.

Overall, however, the Cowlitz is one of the most dependable steelhead rivers in Washington for winter fish.

Get away

If you haven't fished the Cow before, be prepared to be patient.

The boat ramps at the hatcheries can get busy and crowded, especially on weekends.

From the upper ramp at the Salmon Hatchery to below Blue Creek, bank anglers crowd in pretty tight.

After that, for the first few miles below Blue Creek, you'll find lots of drift boats and sleds.

However, as a rule of thumb, the further you slide down the river, the more river you'll have to yourself.

Fishing on a Saturday in mid-fall just above the Toledo Bridge, for example, our boat drifted through long stretches of lonely river.

After negotiating the gambit at Blue Creek, it was heaven.

Get on 'em

You'll see just about every conceivable steelhead fishing method used on the Cowlitz, and for all intents and purposes just about all methods will work at one time or another.

But, just as some fishermen are more equal than others, some methods will do better than others.

Most of the sled boaters and guides swear by free-drifting, and this is one river where it's relatively easy to do and incredibly effective.

Free-drifting is where your lines are out in front of the boat at 45-degree angles.

As the boat drifts downstream, keeping on pace or slightly slower than the current, your offering is drifted along the banks and through slower water on both sides of the boat.

The typical Cowlitz rig for free-drifting is a short ½ ounce pencil weight, a 5-foot leader, small baithook(s) with yarn (pink or fluorescent), and a cluster of eggs or a piece of sand shrimp.

Your sinker should be tick-tick-ticking the bottom as you drift downriver.

Most guides will use long "noodle" rods with ultra-sensitive tips for this kind of fishing. Main line can be up to 12-pound test, with leaders anywhere from 10- down to 6-pound test.

You could put the rods in rod holders, but for free-drifting it's better to hang on to 1) lift the weight free of any obstructions as it drifts downriver, and 2) to feel that elusive "inhalation" from a steelhead when it takes.

Drift boat anglers often pull plugs, like Tadpollies and Wiggle Warts, throw spoons like Steelees, or spinners like Blue Foxes.

Drifters also often anchor up and plunk, or peel off line to get their plugs into holes.

Another method you might see is called "hover" fishing, where anglers use a heavy weight to keep their offering right on the bottom as they slowly — very slowly — move the boat downstream.

Bank anglers plunk with Spin-N-Glos and shrimp or eggs, throw spoons and spinners, cast plugs, and drift egg and shrimp combinations.

You'll also see a fair number of flyrodder on the Cowlitz, throwing steelhead flies on sinking tip lines.

However, for winter-run fish, bait seems to be the key.

Recycles

Once steelhead successfully negotiate their way upriver to the hatchery, surplus fish are often trucked back downstream and released.

You'll know these fish by the round hole punched on their gill plates by hatchery personnel.

Regulations can vary too, depending on how many fish make it to the hatchery. If an abundance shows up, regulations may be changed to offer a larger daily limit.

On the other hand, daily limits can also be ratcheted down, again all depending on the return numbers.

Be sure to check the regs for the time period in which you're fishing.

Go-to

The whole of the Cowlitz below the dams will fish good for steelhead and salmon.

Upriver close to the dam, the area around Blue Creek, Gazebo Hole and the Pig Hole are sure-fire areas to try.

As you go downriver, Mission Bar has earned a reputation for excellent fishing. And Two Log Hole is an often undisturbed section that will hold fish.

Material from Fishing & Hunting News
published 22 times a year.
Visit them at www.fishingandhuntingnews.com