The Washington State Department of Fish and Wildlife announced Friday the first — and potentially only — day of this year’s Cowlitz River recreational smelt fishery: 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. Wednesday.

The Cowlitz will be open five hours next Wednesday for smelt dipping. Whether the smelt cooperate is another question entirely.

The Washington state Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW) approved a one-day recreational smelt fishery in the Cowlitz ...

Washington will allow smelt dipping Wednesday from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. in the Cowlitz River. Commercial and test fisheries yielded high enough numbers to support at least a one-day dip and perhaps more ...

LONGVIEW — This year’s Cowlitz River smelt dipping season went out a lot like it started: without much happening. The Washington State Department of Fish and Wildlife said Friday that no one caught ...

The state House of Representatives passed a bill Wednesday that affects a rite of passage practiced by generations of Washingtonians with a license — smelt dipping. Smelt, also called a candlefish, is ...

The Multnomah County Sheriff’s Office seized approximately 2,500 pounds of illegally harvested smelt last Thursday during a joint poaching enforcement operation with Oregon State Police on the Sandy ...

Mar. 12—Anglers from across the Pacific Northwest took to the banks of the Cowlitz River on Wednesday, March 12, for the opening of the state's brief smelt dipping season. All it took was a few empty ...

Many men in waders, with long dip nets slung over their shoulders and buckets in hand, made their way down the steep hill to the banks of the river near Fishers Lane in Kelso Saturday morning.

A special 7-hour fishing season in Oregon brought chaos and a bit of lawlessness to the Sandy River on Thursday. As big pushes of tiny smelt worked their way upstream and into anglers’ dip nets, ...