mouth of Cowlitz

The mouth of the Cowlitz is shot for summer steelhead this summer. Carrol's slough has filled in with sand, making it impassible and unfishable. The Columbia current has cut into the mouth at the end of the island making that stretch too deep and not much use for steelheading also.

The lower Columbia is plugged with summer steelhead right now. It is just tough to access them at the Cowlitz this year. I would personally find a wing dam with swift water at about 15-20 foot depth and dump over a flo-red/org flatfish.......and have a little faith the rod will go down!

We have not come home without fish in the past 3 weeks, fishing about 5 days a week............and there has to be a lot of fish if 'I' am getting that lucky!

Good Luck,

HT

Wow....I stand corrected. Sorry if I mislead you.That is the first positive report I have heard this summer. I talk with the ODFW fish checker boat very frequently and each day she tells me 'zero' or 1 fish for the Cowlitz. I run by there from Rainier frequently and have only viewed a handful of boats that most often give up and take off early in the tide. Things must have changed drastically in a couple days. I am glad to hear someone is being successfull there! Stay on them!!!

Good luck to you.....I guess, head for the Cowlitz!

I thank you for the info. I am new to steelhead. What is a wing dam? I have not fished lower in the CR than the mouth of the Cowlitz before. Any suggetions on location?

HOGTIDE said:

Wow....I stand corrected. Sorry if I mislead you.That is the first positive report I have heard this summer. I talk with the ODFW fish checker boat very frequently and each day she tells me 'zero' or 1 fish for the Cowlitz. I run by there from Rainier frequently and have only viewed a handful of boats that most often give up and take off early in the tide. Things must have changed drastically in a couple days. I am glad to hear someone is being successfull there! Stay on them!!!

Good luck to you.....I guess, head for the Cowlitz!

Click to expand...

A wing-dam is a string of pilings driven into the river bottom.
Usually placed at the upper end or alongside a river island to help prevent erosion.