I’ve never fished it, so I don’t know the run timing of that river. Your doing the right thing by getting out there early and exploring. Cover some ground and learn the river at this level. Once we get some rain you’ll be ahead of the next guy that is just starting and there should be a decent amount of fish.

 

The only thing in the Washougal are darked up Tules. Maybe some left over summer run steelhead. Personally, I wouldn't waste my time on that river.

 

Ive seen the word Tules thrown out there here and there. What is the meaning?

 

Tules are fall chinook salmon that return to rivers low in the Columbia River’s drainage. They spawn soon after getting to their home river, so their bodies are well into preparing for spawning when they arrive. Therefore, they are dark colored, their flesh is white without flavor, they tend to smell and sometimes have rotting flesh. In short - they are not good to eat.

Coho salmon also return to the Washougal, a bit later in the season, and they tend to be a bit better to eat, if you can get them to bite.

 

"tend to be a bit better to eat." True but don't confuse the word "better" with good.

 

You’ll know when the fish show in the Washougal. Folks will be crowded up at Oaks park by the bridge yanking on corkies pinned on below the hook. “1 yank per cast, gill plates or forward is a keeper” is the mantra. Flossing is what they call it in Alaska.

Its an odd scene. Lots of cars and folks who you’d not think fished by the looks of them. And who you wonder if they even know how to care for and prepare a fish.
But they all look to be having a good time.

 

So I see the god ole Shoug hasnt changed much....

 

Agree with Rowmanholiday. Plus, the drought has hurt the Washougal. Then if you snorkel the river, you’ll see all the pipes from pot growers that are sucking out the river water for their “crops”. Wait for the third good soaking rain. The first rain will be absorbed by the ground. The second rain will flush out the sunscreen off the rocks and dirty diapers off the banks. After that third rain, you might be able to find a Silver. Then the river is dead again for most of the year. Enjoy!
X

 

Thank you for all the information. It doesn't sound like the greatest place to go fishing for sure. My wife is due any day now and am trying to find a place to fish for salmon that is still in cell phone range. I really want to get out on the lewis river, they just upped the limit on coho hatchery to 6. I'm wondering if it's a good time to get on the lewis or if they're not there yet.

I'm glad they opened the Columbia back up, I hooked into a Chinook this morning. I usually have an open seat on my boat if anybody wants to join me. It's nothing fancy but it works. Older 16ft aluminum crestliner.

 

If you go down a little bit lower from where you were, there's a deep hole behind the police station. There's plenty of fish stacked in there. I did hear of a kid getting a nice coho out of it. But it's pretty much a floss show.

 

The company I work for replaced the railroad bridge that crosses the Washougal. I worked on the project for a few months. Never in my life have I ever seen such blatantly illegal and disgracefully "fishing".

 

And these are the same fish that gets the Columbia shut down, only to be treated like a red headed step child as they get close to the end of their journey. Straight out of the movie "Deliverance"!