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Lewis River Fishing Report

Updated Fri, Oct 23, 2026 from live gauge and weather data

Three dams, four runs: the Lewis below Merwin delivers winter steelhead, spring kings and a fall coho stack an hour from Portland.

4/5
Good. Solid day ahead.Stable-to-falling pressure and workable wind line things up.
Flow
2,550 cfs
Air / High
53 / 59 F
Wind
WSW 3 mph

Sources: USGS gauge 14220500, Open-Meteo, solunar calculated for these coordinates.

Satellite view
Friday
23
October 2026

Today's Fishing Report

Generated this morning from live readings: gauge, weather model, sun and moon. A fresh report is published here every morning.

4/5Good. Solid day ahead.Stable-to-falling pressure and workable wind line things up.

Lewis River is in transition: bait on the move and predators following. The river is running 2,550 cfs, steady over the week. Today brings a mixed sky, wind WSW around 3 mph, falling pressure near 1026 hPa and a high of 59. Water sits around 55 F for the season (estimated). With the waxing gibbous, the solunar majors run 9:50 AM-11:50 AM and 10:20 PM-12:20 AM: the windows to build the day around.

The plan, species by species

SteelheadExcellent

Main tributary season: fish seams, pool heads and tails and structure with drifted eggs, beads, nymphs or streamers, and plan trips around rising or falling water.

Smallmouth bassExcellent

Spring pre-spawn and fall: Iowa DNR notes the larger bass come up to shallow structure, where a shallow-running minnow bait or a spinnerbait just under the surface works.

Brown troutExcellent

Close to Vermont's 53-66°F optimum, browns feed more freely; in fall, pre-spawn fish move toward tributaries and gravel, so fish streamers and keep off the redds.

Tomorrow: Similar at 62 F. The solunar majors shift about 50 minutes later.Next report: Sat, Oct 24, 6:30 AMHow this report is made →

Before you go

Washington requires a fishing licence from age 16, from $39.95 for residents. What a Washington licence costs and where to buy it →

Chasing steelhead here? Check the size and bag limits with WDFW before you keep anything. The season dates for Washington, read off the agency, are on the Washington seasons page.

Water and weather

Live readings from Lewis River at Ariel.

Flow, last 30 days

USGS gauge 14220500.

1,4861,9052,3242,550 cfs09/2310/0310/1310/23

Today’s flow against 105 years of October 23

At 2,550 cfs, the flow at USGS gauge 14220500 (Lewis River at Ariel) is at the 40th percentile for the date: normal. In half of the 105 years of approved record the daily mean on October 23 was below 2,750 cfs; the highest was 23,000 cfs and the lowest 716 cfs.

p10 1,240median 2,750p90 6,278

Percentiles of the daily mean flow for this date, from the USGS Water Data Statistics API for gauge 14220500; today’s reading is the latest instantaneous value. Classes follow the ones the USGS used on its WaterWatch maps (retired at the end of 2025): below 10th, much below normal; 10th–24th, below; 25th–75th, normal; 76th–90th, above; over 90th, much above.

Right now

Latest readings

Air temp53 F
High / Low59 / 40 F
WindWSW 3-8 mph
Pressure1025.9 hPa, falling
Sky / Rain57% cloud, 0%
Sunrise / Sunset07:39 / 18:11
MoonWaxing Gibbous, 91%
Water temp (seasonal)~55 F est.

Bite planner

Hour-by-hour bite forecast for today. Tap a bar to see why.

5 AM8 AM11 AM2 PM5 PM8 PMsunrisesunsetPRIMEPRIME

Which day to fish Lewis River this week

Today is the pick of the week on Lewis River, at 4 out of 5.

Best day this week: today, Oct 23 — good at 4/5, falling pressure, usually the best window of a week.

Today, Oct 23 — Good

Stable-to-falling pressure and workable wind line things up.

Solunar majors
9:50 AM-11:50 AM and 10:20 PM-12:20 AM
Minor period
4:16 AM-5:16 AM
Sun
07:39 to 18:11
Moon
Waxing Gibbous, 91% lit
Sky and wind
Overcast, 7 mph
Rain chance
0%

Forecast-based scores, less reliable further out: how the score is built.

Species guide

The species that matter on Lewis River: seasons, structure and how to fish each one. Today's ratings live in the report above.

Steelhead illustration

Steelhead

Great Lakes tributaries from fall through spring; West Coast rivers have both summer and winter runs

Steelhead are rainbow trout that migrate to the Pacific or the Great Lakes to grow, then return up rivers to spawn; unlike most Pacific salmon they can survive spawning and spawn again. Main tributary season: fish seams, pool heads and tails and structure with drifted eggs, beads, nymphs or streamers, and plan trips around rising or falling water.

Smallmouth bass illustration

Smallmouth bass

Best: spring and fall, when bigger fish come shallow

A bronze-brown black bass of clear, cool streams and rocky lakes, with dark vertical bars instead of a side stripe. Michigan DNR says its southeastern coast, from Port Huron to Lake Erie, is known nationally for both the size and the number of its smallmouth. Spring pre-spawn and fall: Iowa DNR notes the larger bass come up to shallow structure, where a shallow-running minnow bait or a spinnerbait just under the surface works.

Brown trout illustration

Brown trout

Spring along Great Lakes shorelines; low light and overcast days in rivers; fall spawning runs

A European trout first stocked in the US in 1883 and now fished in rivers and lakes nationwide; it tolerates warmer water than other trout, and mature stream fish feed mostly at night. Close to Vermont's 53-66°F optimum, browns feed more freely; in fall, pre-spawn fish move toward tributaries and gravel, so fish streamers and keep off the redds.

When to come: the Lewis River calendar

Activity by species and month, and how the water warms through the year. Tap any cell.

Species activity by month

1 = slow, 5 = peak. Current month highlighted.

J
F
M
A
M
J
J
A
S
O
N
D
Steelhead
Smallmouth bass
Brown trout
SlowPeak

Water temperature through the year

Typical surface temperature for this water type; today is around 55 F (estimated, not a reading).

304050607080JanMarMayJulSepNovOct, ~55 F now

Angler reports

Real reports from real anglers, reviewed before publishing. The water log below tracks each day automatically.

No angler reports yet this weekBe the first: your report helps every angler who checks Lewis River today, and we feature the best catch of the week.

Water log, last days

Auto-logged from live data
Thu, Oct 22

4/5 Good. Solid day ahead. Stable-to-falling pressure and workable wind line things up. Steelhead led the card at excellent. High of 61 F, wind to 12 mph.

Wed, Oct 21

4/5 Good. Solid day ahead. Stable-to-falling pressure and workable wind line things up. Steelhead led the card at excellent. High of 71 F, wind to 6 mph.

Tue, Oct 20

3/5 Fair. Fish the windows. A steady pattern: dawn and dusk carry the day. Brown trout led the card at excellent. High of 72 F, wind to 7 mph.

Where roughly, what depth, what bait. Skip anything you want to keep secret.
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Before you go

License

Washington requires a valid fishing license for adults. Buy online from the state agency; one-day options exist for visitors.

Regulations

Washington license plus salmon/steelhead endorsements. Hatchery-only retention for steelhead and most salmon: seasons open and close by emergency rule: check current WDFW regs before every trip.

Access

Woodland ramps, Island access, Cedar Creek launch, Lewis River Hatchery bank water, and the Merwin Dam reach.

About this water

The North Fork Lewis River below Merwin Dam, Cowlitz and Clark counties, Washington: a hatchery-driven salmon and steelhead river joining the Columbia at Woodland.

Fishing Lewis River: the full guide

The north fork program

The North Fork Lewis drains Mount St. Helens’ south side through three reservoirs before its final 19 free miles from Merwin Dam to the Columbia: and those miles carry southwest Washington’s most dependable hatchery returns: winter steelhead (December-March), summer steelhead, spring Chinook (April-June), fall Chinook and a famously thick October coho run. Federal mitigation money keeps the hatchery pipeline full, and the fishery close-in and popular.

Salmon seasons

Springers arrive fresh off the Columbia in April: back-troll plugs or drift eggs in the deep slots from the Island area to the hatchery. Fall brings the double: kings from late August on the lower gravel bars, then coho flooding the whole river in October: twitched jigs and spinners in every soft seam. Run timing shifts with rain: the Ariel gauge dropping after a freshet is the bell.

Steelhead water

Winter fish stack from Johnson Creek up to the Merwin deadline: float-fished jigs and beads through the boulder runs, plugs in the deeper slots. Summer runs hold the same water June-September with lighter crowds. Bank access is generous: the Lewis River Hatchery, Island access and Cedar Creek areas absorb the drift-boat overflow. Respect the deadline markers below Merwin: enforcement is real.

Woodland logistics

Launches at Woodland (tidewater), Island access and Cedar Creek serve sleds and drifters: the lower river is big water: jet-sled country: while Cedar Creek up fishes drift-boat and bank. I-5 at Woodland puts Portland 30 minutes out: weekends peak accordingly. The reservoirs above (Merwin, Yale, Swift) add kokanee and tiger-musky side trips in the same drainage.

Common questions

When is the coho run?

October is the show: rain pulls thousands of hatchery silvers upriver in days. Twitch jigs in the frog water and check the gauge after each storm.

Can I fish it from the bank?

Extensively: hatchery, Island and Cedar Creek accesses cover the prime drifts: half the harvest comes from boots, not boats.

Why so many emergency rule changes?

Runs are counted in-season and quotas adjust: the WDFW rule page the night before is as important as your leader wallet.

Is fishing good at Lewis River right now?

Check the daily report at the top of this page: it is regenerated every morning from live data. Today's read: Good. Solid day ahead. Stable-to-falling pressure and workable wind line things up.

Nearby waters

Kalama River12 miLake Merwin18 miSandy River38 miCowlitz River46 miRiffe Lake53 miDrano Lake56 mi

Where this page's numbers come from

River and reservoir readings
USGS 14220500 — Lewis River at Ariel
Read from the USGS Water Data API (api.waterdata.usgs.gov). Latest value timestamped 2026-10-23 at 18:30 UTC.
Weather and pressure
Open-Meteo forecast model
Queried at 45.8512, -122.7804 in this water's own timezone. A model, not an observation.
Moon and solunar windows
Calculated on this site
Astronomical calculation from these coordinates and the date, not a third-party feed. How much weight it deserves.
The written guide on this page
Pablo Ruiz Quintero
How this page was made. The daily report is computed by our scoring engine from live readings; nobody types it. The written guide was drafted with AI assistance. Unlike our newer pages, it does not yet list the official pages its facts were checked against: that audit is under way, and anything it cannot verify will be taken out. Pablo Ruiz Quintero sets every guideline, the data-verification system and the minimum standards a page must meet to be published, reviews page structure and approves what goes live; the responsibility is his, and the AI carries out the work. We work this way because it is how one person can keep every page current with named sources. Errors are published in the verification log; the full policy is in the editorial policy.

Readings refresh on a 30-minute window. The full method, with every figure and its source, is on how our reports are made. Something wrong here? Tell us and it goes in the log with the date.