well my previous post didn't get a responce so i will try it again. How's the fishing been on the cowlitz ie. blue creek for steelhead and the barrier dam for springers. thanks in advance.

Talk to the fish checker saturday no fish checked talk with a Guide no fish.And poeple in the creek one fish not good but it's early for summers.There are Springer at Barrier but get them to bite is Good luck.

I fished the river mid last week at BC and saw one fish on the bank when i got there....only a handful of people and no fish landed in the 2.5 hours I fished. Worked the graveyard shift and had to go to bed. Water was on the rise and saw nothing. Good luck if you go.

Saw lots of fish at BC close to shore and MOVING. Landed a dinkee 10 pound springer on thursday afternoon, cut my finger open and left. Landed a 20 pounder on friday afternoon, with almost no one around. No wading needed. Use 15 lb leaders and jigs under fixed floats.


Water dropped over weekend, saw more people, fewer fish. Absolutly dead on monday. Best fishing with water levels over 6 k.


IMPORTANT! IMPORTANT! IMPORTANT!

I know a few guys might actually read this and benefit from the advice. Take it, its free.


Don't expect to land 16 pound bright sping chinook on 10 pound mainline with 8 pound leaders unless your last name is Wulff. I like to help net fish. I do mind hustling butt after someones fish only to watch the PREVENTABLE breakoffs. And 80% of the time its the same reason: wimpy leaders, tiny size 6 hooks, and drags that are locked TIGHT. There is a 1/4 mile of easy water to fight fish downstream of the upper barrier, use it.

If your going to spend a whole day, and a few dollars springer fishing, take care of your reels too! The tackle shop by the turnoff to go to Blue Creek will do reel maintance for a small fee. Dont spend 50$ in gas, 40$ in food, 25$ in bait and terminal gear, and lose your only hook up 'cause your reel is full of rust or grit. I've been asked to double check drags and almost cut my fingers when the drags wont give at all.

Regardless whether you insist on the lightest line possible or not, spend a few bucks on either seaguar or yozuri, or any other name brand fluorocarbon line recommended by the well seasoned folks on this board. Dont lose a $100 investment of your money and time to break offs from a $5, 1/4 pound spool, of baby blue, off brand mono.

Any stranger on the river who looks like they need help, I will give you gear out of my box, help you rig up, and never ask anything in return except that you have fun.


If you really have no idea what your doing hire a guide. I'm sure some of the good people here can help you. Just ask.

leave the bright yellow rods at home.

vince

parker- going back to my original point instead of just answering the question you felt the need to be an ass. do you have to put other people down to make yourself look better. who made you the gate keeper to this site. i already admitted that i should be posting more. maybe if i had been fishing since this winter i would have something to offer. off the internet and fish your the one with 1800 post talk about get off the internet

I agree, that post by Parker was a load of BS. Parker you say you get pissed at someone because all they do is receive other's info, then you go and make a post that has no relevant information. That's just brilliant. I know there are alot of people out there that can't get out and fish more than a few times a year. How in the hell are they going to be able to post up to date reports?

By the way Fishmaster, we camped down on the Cowlitz about 2 miles below Blue Creek all weekend and had five poles out on the bar with Spin-Glos and Kwikfish and never had a takedown other than some trout nibbling on the sand-shrimp. I did manage to catch a nice cutthroat drifting some bait, but that was it. Talked to my uncle who fishes another good hole below Toledo along with my cousins, no fish for them either. We saw one fish boated all weekend, I'm sure fish were caught up around the corner by Blue Creek, but the bite was really slow. We did see alot of fish rolling, looked to be springers but we couldn't get them to bite. They seemed to be hauling ass upriver.

Parker,your such a mean ass!!!!.Again,sounds like all take no give.Good luck,
STRIKE ZONE

P.S. Fishmaster,go buy some fishin news.

Vhawk,

Whoa! What’s so wrong with yellow rods? Ya’ think they scare the fish? I think many a salmon and steelhead has been landed on those 60s and 70s era fiberglass Eagle Claw fishing rods. I know I caught more steelhead on an old cheap fiberglass rod I made - although it is brown, not yellow - than the pile of graphite rods I’ve bought over the last 15 to 18 years combined. The fish didn’t know, or seem to care, that I wasn’t using the latest and greatest rod fiber material.
[end of rod material rant]

fishmaster, Luke,

Gosh, I didn’t realize it was national “let’s bash Parker day.” I don’t know Parker, and maybe he really is an ass, but I didn’t find his post out of line at all. Since when isn’t it a legitimate line of inquiry to ask about someone’s use of the BB? Since fishmaster posts requests for fishing information, and his latest post appears to be a complaint, or at least a lament, about the nature and quality of the BB, Parker simply exercised his free will option to look into fishmaster’s history of use of the BB and report the distinction that fishmaster tends to use this medium as a one-way street, and then complains that he doesn’t get the results he wants. In a medium like an internet BB, that’s legitimate game; don’t kill the messenger (Parker). Deal with the message.

Parker,

In case it is national pick on Parker day, I don’t want to miss my chance. You’re right, it is the Cowlitz. There are always fish there, sometimes more than others. I can’t imagine that anyone other than a rank newcomer doesn’t already know that. However, my last two trips were dry runs. Since you’re a boat whore, I should invite you to join me, so you can show me how to catch those damn things. But you’d probably try to get me to set aside the feathers and fur and dunk some of your gooey eggs in the water. Actually I was tossing flies for steelhead that weren’t much in evidence yet, and I haven’t a clue how to get those spring chinook to take a hook, except I think it involves getting up in the middle of the night so as to fish before daylight.

However, the river has been up, and is now dropping, running just over 5K. Maybe some summer runs are on their way in?

Wishin’ I was fishin’,

t.i.c.
Salmo g.

Parker, Parker, Parker ... tisk tisk. What an attitude. It's tudes like that which cause lead to fly over your boat from the bank.

This is a fishing forum not a whine session. As I said once before, good think there ar know-it-all 90%ers like yourself too keep the guys who enjoy fishing in line.

As far as fishmasters question, my wildlife agent friends said it is pretty slow on the Cow. I personaly decided to not go this morning.

parker, strikezone, salmo g. thanks for proving my point. seems there are only a few that don't agree for all others thanks for the report

oh ya wow i'm up to 91 post now

the best luck i have had getting the springers to bite at the barrier dam (and i have stood there & casted there my parts out into the cowlitz at least several ten thousand times) is 10 lb test straight thru (until about the 1st of july then 12 lb because they start getting dark & hanging down lower & from time to time you hook one somewhere other than the mouth & need the 12lb to get your parts back), never less than 8' long leader and not more 12' long leader (not for snagging as neither I nor anyone i have seen at the barrier dam more than twice can't stand the snaggers especially when they wrassle their foul hooked boots in front of you all day long, screaming their fool heads off FISH ON FISH ON & wanting you to to stop your life even though you & everybody else clearly saw it hooked in the arse & blacker than cooter brown's big toe), 1 ea. # 1 hook (don't use 2 hooks with the corkie in btwn that's for the dumb f___k snaggers) and (here's the critical part) = start with 1 single corkie, the smallest size available with small 1/4 or less pieces of yarn 3 colors (red or orange, pink and yellow/green) cut & tied into the eggknot, the color & size of the corkies matter: the best color i have found for springers is the kind that have 3 colors, (one has green in it the other has pink, both work): use shrimp oil or sardine oil or crawfish oil or shrimp/anise oil, any oil BUT USE IT FREQUENTLY --> if that color scheme doesn't work add 1 or 2 smallest size corkies that are black with the green dots on them... put the 3 color in the middle of the 2 black ones ... last resort, lose the yarn put on a pink & orange corkie or orange & glo-peach or red & orange, always the smallest size available!

if the water level is under 11.5 ft, then use 1 oz of weight or if you really know how to drift & know the snags, get a 1 1/2 oz weight cut off about a quarter oz of lead off it, ideally you'll need a weight more than an oz & smaller than 1 1/2 oz...

last tip, the fresh fish are in the fast stuff...

that's the abridged version, if need to know more e-mail me ...

Salmo, I was referring to the big bright yellow rod/reel combos i see in the gas stations or truck stops anywhere near salmon or steelhead water. If that is your preferred weapon of choice more power to you. But if someone was bragging to me how good they were and they pulled out one of those...hmmm. Even better would be a guide showing up with them.


Maxmad,
I could use 8 pound and maybe get even more bites. I prefer to count the springers that end up on the BBQ, rather then counting bites. My hookup to net ratio is about 3:4 for springers. If your fishing fast water why not bump up to 14 pound leaders or better?
I'm going to keep a good count next year, but my guess is that the average hookup to net ratio for the
wimpy leader crowd is 1:4 or worse. Out of five fish I have tried to help net (none came within 15 feet of the bank) all were lost to broken leaders. That was a big point of my post. Its not how many hook ups you have, its how many chinook you take home.
BTW the rest of your recipe is pretty close to what I use. Small corkies, little bit of yarn, sz #1 hooks, lots of scent oils. My leaders are never longer then four feet. I think that might be a regional thing. If you fish in Idaho (Clearwater, Snake, or Salmon rivers) you'll rarely find a leader longer then 3-4 feet. I was flabbergasted to see 6-8 foot leaders on the cow. I can see where they might be more effective once your hook is quartering downstream, but on the up stream part of the drift...I just don't know. Seems that a fish would end up hooking itself way before the line tightened up and you were able to feel it.

thanks for the reply too.

By the way, i have chased summer run chinook in very clear water with a flyrod. I don't find kings particularly sensitive to line size. I DO think they are more likely to bite smaller offerings when they have been pressured.

When I finally figure out how to post pics I will put up my 41.5 inch summer chinook I took on a fly last summer. South FK Salmon River near Cascade Idaho, still greenbacked and shiny.

Great info Vhawk and MadMax, two of the most informative yet succint posts I've seen on this site in quite awhile.

Wow "national pick on Parker day"....where is the end of the line?

8# is for smaller rivers!! ie wynoochee, etc. or from a boat on the cowlitz or a couple other place sthere where i have room to manuaver,
can't use 8# at barrier or blue creek, you'd be re-tying every other cast, i use 10# or 12# on the cowlitz --- as to losing fish, that's all about drag, pressure, & space... i don't have the exact ratio but, i certainly land more than i lose when fishing @ barrier or blue creek, especially barrier, i'm thinking i'm 9 out of 10?, i have no problem walking them down to the boat launch if need be...

Hey, RR, I read on a different board a very good review you posted and saw the blurb about you and TM bobberdoggin the Cowwowow.

I don't think I've ever seen anyone Flydogging the Cow, other than Joe in the Renegade Whiteman.

From the shot of TM with the sumberrun, I see that it is working for you.

Are you starting to see other sleds do this in the Blue Creek Run?

Or, are you about to start a new trend at Blue Creek?


You *know* what will happen if people see you Flydogging and catching fish. Next week *everyone* will be doing it! I'd laugh.

Oh yeah FishMeister. You want a report from the Cow - just privately email RR. If anyone knows what is going on with the Cow, it's him. He's The Man.

Parker, you definately have the "touch" when it comes to pissin people off, makes me proud! I have to admit, I'm a question whore sometimes too, don't know much about steelheading yet, but learning. Headin out on Sunday to Blue creek with some buddies in a sled, will post results after. Half tempted to do a little springer fishin since the big C is reopoened in certain areas now. One just wasnt enough!

It comes down to the 80/20 rule. Twenty percent of the fishermen catching eighty percent of the fish leading eighty percent of the fishermen on a lifelong pursuit of fishing enightenment to get in the 20% club. Come on Parker...throw us a bone.