This year’s Cowlitz River recreational smelt dip-fishing season kicked off Wednesday almost totally without its two most important elements: smelt and people dipping for them.

On Thursday, WDFW approved dipping on Wednesday and March 22 — the last day of the season. Saturday's dipnetting is also ...

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 nets for ...

Smelt dippers will return to the banks of the Cowlitz River as the Washington state Department of Fish and Wildlife has approved recreational fisheries for Wednesday, March 12, and Saturday, March 15.

Smelt! Yup, their passage up the lower Columbia has been marked by packs of sea lions and, more recently, by Washington’s ...

Our reward for surviving another trip around the sun is promises of spring — return to daylight saving time, daffodils, smelt ... Only the Cowlitz River will be open, and licenses are required ...

But even this bone-chilling place is feeling the effects of climate change. The ice fishing season for pond smelt opened on Feb. 6, the latest date since 1998 when such statistics were first recorded.