NF Lewis River Hatchery Hole information

[Cohoangler]

I fished the NF Lewis on Friday morning with a friend with a drift boat. We launched at the Cedar Creek boat launch (in 28 degree temperatures). We had a depth finder so we did some depth profiles of the area.

Here are the results:

In front of the waterfall - 20 feet (although the water depth directly under the falls are probably considerably deeper)

At the vertical water intake pipes - 30 feet

At the rock wall (directly across from the boat ramp) - 40 feet

Along the slab rock just downstream of the rock wall - 45 feet at either end of the rock and 50 feet directly in the middle.

Downstream of the slab rock - 40 feet gradually sloping upward to 11 feet.

The 50 foot depth at the slab rock was impressive. I didn't realize it was so deep. There were lots of fish on the depth finder. But as luck would have it, we didn't move a thing. No fish, no strikes. We used eggs primarily.

Lots of fish at mid water level. In fact, the depth finder showed considerably more fish in the middle of the water column than at the bottom.

[Snapset]

Now that is some valuable information. Thanks.

[Steelie Steve]

Thanks for the info. I knew it was deep but didn't realize it made the 50ft mark. :shocked:

:cheers:

[KingFisher85]

That hole got deeper all the way around. It used to only be 35 feet deep where the 50 foot hole is. With the floods last year pushed bunch of gravel up out of the hole and placed it behind the big rock there.
Since the water temp has gone up, the bite is gonna be really poor unless we get a really big push of fish in.
The water fall has been holding bright fish but there has to be someone snagging fish from out under it every time. :mad:

[Cohoangler]

KF85 - I agree regarding water temperatures. I was very surprised by the warm temps last weekend on the NF Lewis. I thought the water felt warm because the air temps were so low but the water felt like the mid to upper 60's. The bite will be just about zero unless the water temps get below 60.

I also hit the Kalama on Sunday morning but it was very slow. No fresh coho anywhere. I talked with a guy that floated past in a drift boat. He said the local folks have seen schools of coho off the mouth (in the Columbia) but they haven't been moving up into the Kalama. They may be waiting for some rain.