Just curious to your season ending Seelhead total. Do you keep track of the total number of steelhead boated/released? I

Is April 30 the end of all winter steelhead fishing in Washington, or just on selected rivers?

I cringed when I saw this, being that we lost most of December, January and February to Ma Nature ... but the total boated steelies for the year wasn't as bad as I had thought considering the number of days we got in ... 404 to the boat.

As far as I know ... most everything is now closed for steelies (well, tomorrow night) ... and most rivers close completely, but a few remain open for springers and perhaps an oddball here and there ... is the Kalama open??

Bob,

The Kalama (to my knowledge) is NOT open for spring chinook, yet. It is open for steelhead.

It may open for springers soon if hatchery escapement looks good.

I have a reliable source down there that says it's not hot now. But, it'll pick up the next month as summer-runs increase.

As far as I know, on the west side, there are only three rivers open after today. They are:

North Fork Stillaguamish (Fly fishing only)
Cowlitz
Kalama

I'm uncertain about the other SW Washington streams, Lewis, Washougal, etc.

Both the Cowlitz and Kalama have different regs regarding spring chinook, steelhead, etc. But, they are both open in the month of May. Tight lines.

[This message has been edited by eddie (edited 04-30-99).]

Hold on TH ... had one last trip today ... make that 411 now.

Thanks for the other info guys ... it is hard enough to keep up on the regs for this area much less the rest of the state!!

In a couple years the WDFW will be wondering why no native fish are returning to the Cowlitz or Kalama. Stupid "bubble" fishery mentality just kills off healthy runs.

stlhead

Cowlitz is all hatchery fish due to the dams. No native fish exist. And the Kalama is open because it gets early hatchery summer runs in May. I think the WDFW is doing good allowing these fisheries open year round because there are no native fish to harm. That's why they are open.

I used to fish the Kalama in the early 1980's
in May because there were both summer runs and springers, native and hatchery. Now I'm not sure about the Cowlitz but that's not the point I was trying to make. Closing down all but a couple rivers dramatically increases the pressure on the few rivers remaining open. Same thing in the salt water.