I got to fish the beginnings of the Cowlitz “B” run with author Jason Brooks, and Gringo Pescador today. We were guests of Bruce Warren, FishingForFunGuideService.com. I could say it was a “guides day off” but truth be told we kept Bruce busy.

The day started foggy and colder than I expected. The first hour my hands (glove-less) were a tad on the cold side. As the day progressed the fog did burn off and we were quite comfortable. It was, in short, a glorious winter day on the Cowlitz, ending up sunny and 55 degrees.

Bruce had fished on Saturday and commented there were twice as many boats on the water, and that it had been a slow day for all. Rather than do the quarter mile hatchery hole hamster wheel he elected to take us downriver and tour the Cowlitz. We’re very grateful he did, as the three of us saw lots of water never seen before, and got to fish a lot of undisturbed water from below Blue Creek all the way to below Toledo! I have to say, I was surprised (in a good way) as I had never fished below Mission Bar. The river isn’t at all what I imagined. It will definitely change how I think about the Cowlitz and locations I may fish in the future.

We side-drifted eggs or shrimp, with double size 4 hooks and a small cheater tied between. As the day progressed it was clear the fish preferred the eggs to the shrimp.

I’d like to tell you the fishing was red hot and we caught 8 fish, but alas, the run is just beginning and we struggled for our chances. Bruce caught a nice hatchery cookie cutter in the 6 pound range. Gringo hooked into a pig of a fish that had us chasing up and down the river until the monster found a convenient root snag to wrap around and free itself (that one hurt, we would have loved to see it). Gringo also ended the day having another fish spit the hook back at him. Tough luck for him, but at least he got to feel some steel fight today. Jason and I never felt a fish. I didn’t mind, it’s not always about catching, right? We had a nice day on the river and did see some boat action.

On the water and back at the ramp the word was “slow all over”. Most guide boats had one, maybe a couple had two, and there were more than a few boats that got skunked, including guides. So our one for three wasn’t looking so bad after all.

Bruce says the fishing is just starting up for these B run beauties, so if you’re interested hit him up on his website, FishingForFunGuideService.com

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