Cowlitz River mouth

fishuntr2 · 07-29-2002, 05:47 AM

Had some time to fish sunday morning. Got on the water after 8:00 am and motored over from Raineer to below the Cowlitz. There must have been a 100 boats or more, mostly anchored in the Cowlitz or right in front. I anchored below the mouth in 30 ft. of water and started fishing. Around 10:30 I caught a steelhead on a red k10. 10 minutes later I caught another. I cleaned up and motored back to the launch. Home by noon with 2 fish! Now someone at work asks why I didn't catch my allowed third steelhead. I thought the limit at this time in the Columbia was 2 fish, although I did see that 3 could be kept up till July 11. So what is the current possesion regulation?

proguide · 07-29-2002, 10:20 AM

I believe the limit is 2 steelhead. I arrived around 4 pm I know right after the tide was done. I was just goin to get out for a nice boat ride.anyway.With only a couple of boats still anchored up we started to troll along the island to kalama. I was trolling a spinner and my wife a yellow tiger striped spin glow. We only trolled for about 15mins when my wife says I think I am hung up so I take her rod and take the boat out of gear. Nope not hung up a 12 lbs steele gave the rod back and shortly after I netted it . yeeha!

steelheadslayer · 07-29-2002, 01:26 PM

fishhuntr, length of dropper and leader. I haven;t been out much yet this year, (painting house) so any advance tips would be appreciated. What's your boat, maybe I'll swing by and say Hey. Congrats on the fish :smile:

fishuntr2 · 07-29-2002, 02:16 PM

steelheadslayer...about a 3ft dropper and maybe 4ft on the leader. I'm setup for salmon so am using 25lb leader. The trick that worked for me was to backbounce my lure till it just entered the edge of a current seam and started to work good. Before the lure would get to the seam, the pole tip was barely moving but as soon as the lure started to work good, that was the ticket! Just down from the mouth, the current is easily read, I anchored above where the current seam swung below my boat and proceeded to fish. My boat is a grey alumaweld with a full top and side curtains. An American flag off the vhf anntennae. Might be there friday am.
Bob