Summer Run Steelhead start returning in good numbers by the second week in June and allows for a overlap in the fishing with the Springers. The Summer Run Steelhead will last into late October. Two of the rivers I fish for Summer Runs are the Cowlitz River a tributary to the Columbia River. The Cowlitz has a very large run every year, and is always in the top Five (5) rivers in the state for producing fish. I also fish a small river close to the coast of Washington called the Wynoochee River and use a drift boat to fish this river, when summer flows allow. Summer Run Steelhead average 6-10 Pounds. with a lot of fish as large at 15 to 18 Pounds. Fall Chinook start returning in September and continue into November on several rivers. These fish average around 20 to 30 Pounds with some as large as 40 pounds. The Cowlitz River has a good run of Chinook that start returning in the middle of August and tapering off by the first week in October at the same time Silver Salmon start returning and these fish average about 6-8 Pounds. with a large number of fish in the high teens in some rivers, with the bulk of the run on silvers over with by the end of October. The nice thing about the Cowlitz River is the overlap on fish runs in this system. Where you can catch Salmon and Steelhead in the same day. On the Satsop River the Fall Chinook and Silvers and Chum all come in about the same time September through November some years if water conditions are favorable a late run of Silvers in December. Winter Steelhead return in large numbers to the Cowlitz River System in November and last into March. These fish are known as 3 salt fish and have spent three years at sea getting big and fat. The bulk of the fish average 8-12 Pounds with many over 16 pounds.

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