Cowlitz River Sea-Run Cutthroat Trout Flyfishing
Lights-Out Action, Lots of Fish on Big Southwest Washington River
The Cowlitz River is a one-hour drive from Portland, Oregon and two hours from Seattle, but few anglers take advantage of the great sea-run cutthroat trout fishing.
Plenty of anglers hit the river - especially at the Blue Creek and Barrier Dam spots - during runs of chinook salmon, coho salmon and steelhead.
All those huge fish may hide the smaller - but very fun to catch - cutthroat trout. But many fly anglers quietly fish the river for cutts that run from 12 to 18 inches long and average between 14 and 16 inches.
Where to Fish for Cutts
Sea-run cutts spend much of the year swimming around the massive Columbia River estuary, but they come back to the Cowlitz each year to steal salmon eggs out of nests - and spawn themselves.
Cutthroat trout can live after spawning and spawn multiple times.
This means that cutts like to hang out near gravel bars, bouncy riffles, spots where shallow riffles drop off into deeper water and bankside current seams.
Anglers often see sea-run cutts rising to insect hatches, especially Blue Wing Olives and caddis.
How to Fish for Cowlitz Cutthroat
Anglers walk the banks or drift downstream in rafts or drift boats.
When likely water is spotted, the boat is beached, and anglers swing streamer flies, such as Wooly Buggers in size 10 or 8, in spots where the shallower water drops off to deeper water.
It's also a good idea to cast an egg fly on a weighted leader. Anglers put a strike indicator - a small foam float or tuft of egg yarn on the leader to act as a bobber. The indicator goes underwater when a cutthroat trout wallops the egg fly.
Some anglers tie a dropper leader onto the hook bend of a Wooly Bugger streamer and then tie an egg fly onto the dropper leader. This rig lets anglers fish two methods at once - and often tempts a big summer steelhead - an ocean-going rainbow trout - to strike.
Anglers fish five-weight or six-weight fly rods with floating lines and 3X or 4X leader tippets. Anglers drop down to 5X tippets when fishing dry flies to rising fish.
Cowlitz River Access
Highway 12 roughly parallels the Cowlitz River from Interstate 5 up to the Barrier Dam, but there is a lot of private property along the river. That makes finding bank-fishing spots tough.
Many anglers park at the Blue Creek Trout Hatchery or the Cowlitz Salmon Hatchery at the Barrier Dam and walk up and down the river. Blue Creek does have some great cutthroat trout water nearby.
However, Blue Creek and Barrier Dam swarm with salmon and steelhead anglers much of the year.
Anglers can get maps of the area and find spots away from Blue Creek and Barrier Dam. The Cowlitz is uncrowded in most places. There are spots near the town of Toledo and between Blue Creek and the Mission Bar boat launch.
Drifting the Cowlitz
A drift boat or raft gives cutthroat trout anglers unlimited access to miles of uncrowded, lightly fished water.
Many anglers put their boats in at Blue Creek and take out at Mission Bar.
Anglers new to the river - or without a boat - often hire a guide to learn the water and glean a few tips.
Wild and Hatchery Fish
Most Cowlitz River cutthroat trout are hatchery fish that were released into the river to grow big and fat in saltwater before returning. These fish are marked with missing adipose fins, which are the fatty fin between the dorsal fin and the tail.
Wild cutts have intact adipose fins and must be released.
A Nice Cowltiz River Sea-Run Cutthroat Trout
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A Good, Uncrowded Cowlitz River Spot
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