Fishing In your Neighborhood Network -
Southwest Washington July 2023
Whether you're a seasoned angler or a homeowner with a passion for fishing, this comprehensive report will provide you with valuable insights into the local fishing conditions in Southwest Washington. In this month's report, I’ll cover various fishing hotspots including Ilwaco, Long Beach, Cathlamet, Longview, Toledo, Castle Rock, Kalama, Woodland, La Center, Ridgefield, Greater Vancouver, Battle Ground, Camas, Washougal, Stevenson, and the Gorge.
Big news off the press 14:39 6/28/23: Days before the 4th of July weekend fishery managers have closed the retention of Chinook on the Columbia for the entire month of July. This comes on top of the closure that happened just days before the last fall’s Labor Day holiday. I listened to the compact meeting and do not agree with the assessment or allocation data used in the decision-making process. Unfortunate news for those with plans for this holiday weekend. The only silver lining is it’s open to keep hatchery steelhead and sockeye salmon.
Let's dive into the current fishing conditions.
Ilwaco and Long Beach
Black Lake is reported to have been disappointing this spring and early summer. This lake only receives a couple of stockings each year. Some folks are indicating that the most recent stocking consisted of smaller fish. The otters and seabirds have intercepted most, leaving very few for anglers.
Crabbing is fantastic if you can get out on the ocean. On good days some crabbers have been brave enough to launch into the ocean on the north side of the Jetty (please use your best judgement before attempting this). If you wish to crab in Willapa Bay by boat there are a couple of options available to launch a boat, drop me a message and I’ll give you the details.
Jetty Fishing is hit and miss for bottom fish. Anglers are eagerly awaiting for the Columbia opening in August for salmon along the Jetty. Surf perch fishing is decent with the best results lately coming off the Cranberry Access point.
For the most part ocean conditions have been fantastic. There have been several reports of a good chinook bite. Anchovies and spoons have been working the best, with ole school Tomic plugs enticing a few bites. Live anchovies should be available soon at the Ilwaco Marina. This time of year, the chinook can sometime be found cruising the shallower water outside of the surf line. Look for birds, current seams, and floating kelp beds.
The coho are around, but on the smaller side as they begin to gain weight over the next couple of months. Reports out of Ilwaco indicate a good depth to start trolling is at least 200 ft. Once you find the fish, use a dipsy diver out about 30-40 ft back. A white hoochie with a chunk of herring is my favorite all time Coho destroyer. Brined anchovies are also a good option with a yellow and white hoochie. Fish your bait behind an 8” chrome dodger.
AllWashingtonfishing.com reports out of Westport that there are some wide-open Salmon bites. One fisherman was done by 10:00am with limits of bottom fish and Salmon.
Bottom fishing is excellent with a good grade of lingcod coming to the gaffs. Please consider releasing anything over 32” as they are considered breeders and not the best table fare.
Cathlamet to Longview
Reports are good for early season summer steelhead in the lower river. Anchoring off the islands such as Tenasillahe and Welch can be productive in early July. The river constricts in this area, providing a greater concentration of fish.
Fishing in the Willow Grove area of the Columbia has been slow. It’s especially disappointing considering the numbers of Sockeye running through right now. The tides for the past week haven’t been favorable for anchor fishing or plunking. As we move into July, things should certainly improve. If not for Sockeye, most certainly for Steelhead.
Hands down the best bait for summer steelhead is Looney Coonies brand Shrimp. You can order them online from the website or your local bait stop in SW Washington. These shrimp are manufactured locally in the Ridgefield area by Jim Milanowski, Limit Out Fishing Products.
This past week for June 25th the WDFW creel checks weren’t very exciting at all. In the Longview area 143 bank anglers kept eight steelhead, four sockeye and released one Chinook, three steelhead and two sockeye. Seventy-six boats fishing 163 rods kept 11 Chinook, one jack, five steelhead, four sockeye and released four Chinook and one jack.
Toledo and Castle Rock
Cowlitz River fisherman are beginning to enjoy the arrival of summer steelhead with plunkers reporting some decent success. The workers with Tacoma power aren’t handling a lot of fish, but the numbers are impressive thus far and should improve each week through August.
Effective July 1st the Cowlitz is not open for steelhead below the Lexington Bridge at I-5. My go to guide Dave Mallahan for Cowlitz river reports is currently fishing in Alaska for the next few weeks. I hope to have a first-hand report once he gets back and into the groove. Dave is one of the top guides on the Cowlitz river and a great teacher. If you are a new angler, it would be worth your while to book a trip with him to learn the Cowlitz from the best.
WDFW streamside checks indicated the following for the week of June 25th: Cowlitz River I-5 Br downstream – 49 bank rods kept two steelhead. 1 boats/2 rods kept one Chinook. Cowlitz River Above the I-5 Br – 30 bank rods kept five Chinook, two steelhead and released one Chinook and one steelhead. 11 boats/32 rods kept 19 steelhead.
For targeting summer steelhead on the Cowlitz, backtrolling coon shrimp with divers is a successful technique. The fish I’ve seen so far are smaller cookie cutter variety in the 4/5lb class. There’s always the chance of hooking into a Chinook, so take that into consideration when choosing what rod and line strength to utilize.
Riffe Lake coho are on the bite. Good gear combinations recently have been the Kokabow copper/purple flasher with purple hoochie, and chartreuse dodger with green hoochie. Combinations of green and pink maggots are working better than other hook toppers. The coho have been at the top water column, working their way down to 30-50 ft. later in the day. Trolled hoochies and wedding rings have been taking some fish on any given day. Usually this is one of the few lakes where tipping your hooks with salad shrimp rather than corn seems to work better.
The salmon at Riffe lake are landlocked Coho and Chinook, so the landlocked salmon rules have them as part of the trout limit. It wasn’t as big of a deal when Kokanee were part of the trout limit, but now that it is a separate and larger limit for kokanee the distinction is important.
Mayfield Lake received 3,400 decent sized stocker trout on June 14th which is in addition to the 4,050 deposited on June 7th. This time of year usually provides some epic Muskie fishing at Mayfield. There are a couple of guides I know who specialize in this fishery, so please reach out for a referral.
If you are interested in the excellent panfish available at Mayfield, avid angler Gerald Maines has this advice, “Look for structure along west side of lake in front of Mayfield launch all the way towards the bridge. Small 1/16 jigs tipped with quarter nightcrawler or maggot.”
Kalama
Kress lake is fishing good for panfish and the occasional Bass. Trout action has tailed off a little due to the warming temperatures.
The upper canyon of the Kalama is fishing well for fly fisherman chasing trout. Hatchery escapements for both steelhead and chinook dropped way off, as has fishing pressure.
Woodland
The Lewis river is in great shape (summer low) and not receiving much pressure. Returns of steelhead are on the increase. I anticipate a decent fishery this summer and plan on hitting it very soon. I usually start targeting summer steelhead after the sockeye run on the Columbia has ended. Back trolling a diver and coon shrimp is my go-to. At first light I’ve had success using a bobber and bait in certain holes. I live right on the NF Lewis, so if you need some inside info, reach out.
WDFW checks only sampled three anglers with no catch.
Horseshoe lake isn’t getting much fishing pressure due to the large amount of swimmers in the main park area. Trout fishing is pretty much done, but if you venture around the lake in a boat or kayak, there are some excellent bass and panfish opportunities. As a reminder, the speed limit on Horseshoe Lake is 5 mph and gas motors are allowed.
I plunked the Columbia for sockeye at Martins Bar, last Wednesday, June 21. It wasn’t busy, but the tide (current) wasn’t the best for lure action. One fisherman using a kayak to place his gear way the hell out, hooked and lost a chinook. With the lack of current close to shore, I’m confident that’s where all the sockeye were also. Tides for this weekend are improving with big outgoing tides for the several days.
This morning 6/28/23, I stopped at Austin Point to check out the boat and beach traffic. There wasn’t a soul plunking, probably in part due to the rabid mosquitoes in the area, personally receiving five bites in 15 minutes. For mid-week I was surprised by the number of folks trolling. During my visit I didn’t see one rod pop off. I plan to join them this weekend so hopefully some fish pics on the next report. Looking at the image below you can see how low the Columbia River is. Keep in mind this is at the bottom of the outgoing tide. It’s been awhile since I observed those pilings out of the water.
A Port of Woodland team member was working on the gate when I departed. When I asked about the plans to re-gravel the road, he stated that it won’t be done again this year. Having completed it earlier in the spring it didn’t last too long. Evidently there is a problem with a couple of user groups with no respect for the resource who are expediting the erosion of the gravel. He also warned about parking your truck and trailer unattended as there have been some prowlers from time to time.
Ariel, Chelatchie and Cougar
Merwin is still kicking out kokanee for the faithful. Green spin-n-glo’s with orange hoochies have been working well. Fish seem to be between 40ft – 50ft, so a downrigger is a big bonus. Watch the winds this time of year and anticipate lots of pleasure craft as the day progresses.
More and more anglers are using “Snap Weights” for kokanee fishing. This technique allows you to fish much heavier weights that using a dropper lead. Start by letting your gear out around fifty feet or so and then attach the Snap Weight. (make a mental note on the reel line counter) Continue to let our line until you get to the depth you desire. It takes experimenting with amount of lead and drop back to find the zone. Once you hook a fish, reel it in until you get a few feet away from the reel counter number. Pause, unsnap the weight, and continue reeling. If you speed up the boat as you remove the weight, it will help keep the little slack created out of your line. Awesome technique for those without downriggers, now it’s just you and the fish. For the low down, search “snap weights for kokanee” on YouTube.
Canyon creek is fishing well and best in the evening or early morning. It received almost 6,000 planted trout in Mid-May.
Merrill Lake Hex rendezvous is approaching quickly. I’ve been busy tying up some giant Hex patterns in anticipation of a visit in the coming weeks. It’s a dusk fishery with trout voraciously feeding on the emerging bugs and spent ones. So much FUN! Reach out if you need some details on the Fly Fishing only lake.
La Center and Ridgefield
Warm water fisheries are in full swing. The ponds and small lakes around lake river are prime for catfishing and catching a few crayfish. Mud Lake is one of favorite places to fish for catfish. If you are in need of Crayfish traps, Bob’s Outdoor in Longview has a great deal on them during their 4th of July Sale. Salmon and trout heads make awesome crawdad bait.
Greater Vancouver
I had a meeting at our Premiere Property Group office on Wednesday morning last week. Getting into town a little early I checked out Frenchman’s Bar. It was packed and the boat launch further down the road. Fishing at Frenchman’s has been slow for both plunkers and boats. WDFW checks indicated similar success for the past week with a catch ratio of 98 bank anglers keeping only five fish. The boats fishing the area didn’t fare much better.
While in Vancouver I also stopped at my favorite bank spots for sockeye, Who Songs. It was busy with about 14 folks fishing. The water is low enough that there is plenty of beach for everyone. The best spot for sockeye is on the point where the concrete slabs are. Sticking around for about a half hour, I only observed one sockeye caught and none on the bank. However, an associate fished that spot this weekend and did very well for sockeye.
My buddy Keith Fisher invited me to hit the Columbia with him last weekend. Our target were sockeye, getting out just before the outgoing tide. We fished for four hours in 3 locations and different depths with a total of one take-down resulting in a stolen Looney Coonie. The bite came at the end of the tide in 11’ water. There were two other boats fishing by us around the 205 bridge who were fishing deeper water targeting chinook. One of them hooked up to a nice fish and broke off to chase it down, unfortunately losing it at the net. He was fishing solo.
Battle Ground
It’s been over a month since the last trout stocking at Battleground Lake. Fishing for panfish and bass should be in full swing even if the trout aren’t cooperating.
Fishing at the ponds in the Old Cedars Golf course area has been very good. Angler Brennan Bloemke has been doing well for largemouth bass. Below is a picture with him and his personal best largemouth which he caught fishing a Texas Rig.
Bulkier worms with twist tails, multiple tails, appendages, or similar attention-getting devices usually are best in water of low visibility and thick cover. Use thin worms with straight tails in vegetation. In clear water, lighter, more translucent colors tend to work best sparkling metal flake colors are often the key to fishing success, which is what worked for Brennan.
Camas and Washougal
While the shad run may have peaked, fishing is still great. Anglers fishing the docks at Steamboat Landing are doing well, as are the boats that are fishing at the entrance to the of the Camas Slough.
The Washougal river did see some returns of summer steelhead the past couple of weeks. Low water tactics are needed while fishing early morning. This river gets many forms of recreational use (swimming and tubing) so take that into consideration.
Round Lake at Lacamas has been producing some smaller Bluegill. I don’t have any reports for the main lake.
Stevenson and the Gorge
Reports from the Wind River and Klickitat aren’t very positive as there were no checks by WDFW.
Fishing for Shad below Bonneville is on fire and an absolute S*iT show. The fishing pressure is insane with the numbers of people. Expect elbow to elbow combat fishing for at least a couple more weeks.
Skamania County is home to many high lakes. It’s that time of year when a couple days hiking with a pack rod can be rewarding in more ways than one. Here is a link to the WDFW website listing of the Skamania Lakes. I’ll do a follow up report on this fishery next month.
As of June 27, the five-day average outflow at Bonneville Dam is 153 kcfs, compared to the recent 5-year average of 265 kcfs. The current five-day average water temperature is 66° F which is warmer than the recent 5-year average of 63° F. Visibility is about 5.5 feet, compared to the recent 5-year average of 4.9 feet.
Hatchery Escapements and Bonneville Dam Fish Counts
As a real estate broker specializing in properties for fishing enthusiasts, I completely understand the importance of catering to the unique needs of home buyers who live the angler lifestyle. I aim to provide you with information that aligns with your interests and helps you make informed decisions when buying a home in Southwest Washington. If you have a report or a proven fishing product/technique you would like to promote, shoot me a message.
@FiNNREPORTS will be coming soon to Social Media, so keep a lookout
Tight Lines,
Ian Carter, Real Estate Broker
503-810-2737
ian@washingtonhomes.realestate