LD,

It's been a long time since I fished the Washougal regularly (9 years), and I'm no expert jig fisherman, but let me share what little I know.

I fished the W extensively in the 80s, and a lot during the 60's, as a kid. I fish it once a year or so now, when I go south for Christmas, but it remains one of my favorite rivers. I used jigs way back when in the fall, but never during the winter. In the fall, a black marabou crappie jig was murder on steelhead.

In the winter, my go-to rig was and is a small pearl pink corkie and pink yarn. Suggest you try that. Ad some eggs if you have them. I like the drifts at Hathaway park, especially during high water, and the Cottrell boat launch, which is the next launch upriver. After that, look for the obvious wide spots in the road, and explore from there. I've caught fish from most of them.

The bobber fishing I have done more recently seems to work best on drifts of even depth and some length. This doesn't describe much of the water on the W very well. I think it is more susceptible to traditional drift gear and hardware, such as spoons.

A little secret about this river. If you get a deep cold spell in December, where you get the cold east wind and freezing temps for a week, go to the paper mill, and fish the section right where the W enters the slough. When the weather is really cold, the steelhead will stack up in there, and you can have some great fishing for a couple of days. You won't be alone, but there is plenty of room. As soon as the weather warms up, they'll shoot up the river, but you can have some fantastic fishing when conditions are just so. This is a once every five years situation.

Good luck.