Cowlitz River
at Packwood, Washington · USGS gauge 14226500
For October 18, flow is lower than usual.
The last October 18 it ran this low was 2025, at 251 ft³/s.
These readings do not say whether fish are biting, whether there is parking, or whether the season is open. The shop reports below cover what is biting.
Cowlitz River reports from local shops
Each shop writes its own report. Listed here: the date on each one and the hatches and flies it names. Their words stay on their sites; follow the link to read them.
Two local shops have posted a report on the Cowlitz River in the last two weeks.
Before you drive
| Overnight | 33°F, wind 2 mph Mostly Clear |
|---|---|
| Sunday | 65°F, wind 2 mph Sunny |
| Sunday Night | 41°F, wind 3 mph Mostly Cloudy |
| Monday | 60°F, wind 2 mph Mostly Cloudy |
How this water changes through the year
Over 22 years of record, flow on Cowlitz River peaks in May, when the median runs about 2,510 ft³/s, and falls to its lowest in September at around 432 ft³/s. Today's 285 is below even that seasonal low. The band on the chart is where the middle 60% of years fall, so a reading inside it is ordinary for the date and one outside it is not.
Access points
| Coordinates | To gauge |
|---|---|
| 46.6129, -121.6792 · at Packwood USGS gauge location. Not a listed public access point; check access before you travel. | 0.0 mi |
Sources and method
- Live
- USGS gauge 14226500, COWLITZ RIVER AT PACKWOOD, WA, 0.0 mi from the listed access point. Fetched 2026-10-18 07:19 UTC.
- History
- USGS daily values: flow 2005–2026, 7,933 daily values. Percentile is the share of readings within 7 days of this calendar date, across all years, below the current one (flow n=315 over 21 years).
- Rules
- Seasons, limits and licences are not on this site and are not copied from the agency that publishes them: Washington WDFW.
- Shop reports
- Chosen from the organic search results for “cowlitz river fishing report” (Ahrefs, read 2026-10-01), keeping shops and guides and dropping social media, forums and other aggregators. Linked, not quoted, and not endorsed. Report dates, hatches and fly names read from each page 2026-10-18, by matching a fixed list of insects and patterns: a name not on the list is not shown, and a report older than 30 days shows its date only.
- Forecast
- NOAA National Weather Service, api.weather.gov, for the coordinates of the nearest access point.
Independent presentation of public data. Not affiliated with, endorsed by, or approved by the USGS, NOAA or Washington WDFW.