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 any fish, and no one received any license-related citations during the season, which ran Feb. 5 to March 22. “Smelt are naturally unpredictable, influenced by various factors including water conditions — and this season was no exception,” wildlife spokesperson Britton Ransford said. “While the tentative schedule provided structure, the fish did not cooperate by entering the Cowlitz River during the fishery.” The 2025 season was the first with a license requirement. That move was part of a broader shift this year that focused on announcing dipping days further in advance to give cities along the river a chance to prepare for the thousands of people who come for the popular Southwest Washington tradition.

While neither move was celebrated by area dippers, the latter angered many who made the trek to the river on opening day just to leave empty-handed. “As with any fishery, approved fishing days do not guarantee that fish will be present in large numbers, as smelt migrate on their own timeline,” Ransford said. Frustration has continued to boil online since the season opened, with many contrasting the present-day fishery to what it was like decades ago. Others wonder why a commercial fishery is allowed for a fish that requires such close management.

The wildlife department is required to manage the fishery because Columbia River smelt, also known as eulachon, are listed as “threatened” under the Endangered Species Act. Their numbers have varied widely year to year but are a fraction of historic returns. Fish and wildlife called off harvests in 2018, 2019 and 2023 due to small returns. Last year saw about 8,000 dippers pull 54,000 pounds of the tiny fish out of the Cowlitz in just five hours. This year, the fish didn’t make it from the Columbia into the Cowlitz in time for the season, which had to end March 22 because of the timing of hatchery releases of young chinook salmon upriver.

The smelt have since continued upstream and provided Oregon dippers with a rare Sandy River fishery earlier this week. That state required every dipper who was older than 12 to have a valid Oregon fishing license. Would-be Cowlitz River dippers can find the most up-to-date information for next year at wdfw.wa.gov/fishing/regulations/smelt.

About the project: The Murrow News Fellowship is a state-funded journalism project managed by Washington State University. Local partners are The Columbian and The Daily News. For more information, visit news-fellowship.murrow.wsu.edu.