What we have going on with the weather right now is the worst thing possible. I worry about this happening every year and now it looks like we are "getting it" in spades.
With all this low snow melting, all the tributary streams that dump int the Cowlitz are full and muddy. The Toutle, of course, is high and muddy.
Tacoma Power and Light -- who controls water releases on the Cowlitz have just increased flows from 13,000 cfm to 18,000 cfm, and they will continue that same high release due to the rapid snow melt that is inevitable in higher elevations. What this all means is that the Cowlitz river is going to be high, muddy, and out of shape for quite some time. Due to the amount of low and upper elevation snow that will have fallen by the end of this week and the fact that Spring thaw HAS to be just around the corner, I don't look for the Cowlitz to be fishable until the middle of March at the earliest -- if even then. It's entirely possible that Spring Chinook fishing on the Cowlitz will not take place this year until April.
And this is really a shame, since I see that they recovered the first Spring Chinook back at the Barrier Dam last week. That means that they are swimming right past my place every day, and the river is blown.....
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