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 ...

Delta smelt are often at the root of water policy in California ... That cannot happen. The original delta was a sea of tule grases, marshes and wetlands extending from Sacramento down to the East Bay ...

Dozens of fishermen from Oregon and Washington test their luck during a one-day chance for smelt dipping on the Cowlitz River on Tuesday afternoon. (Amanda Cowan/The Columbian) Smelt dipping will ...

The Delta smelt is a small, three-inch-long fish native ... by water flows through the estuary since it cannot thrive when sea water makes up more than one third of the total.

“Sea lampreys killed more than 100 million pounds ... in the 1960s to gobble up the smaller creatures. The tiny shiny smelt, themselves an invasive species, also have dramatically declined ...

Mar. 8—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 ...

Since the Delta smelt, a food source for larger fish including salmon and sea bass as well as sea lions is near extinction, the government has been pumping less water out to save the fish for ...

It’s an old-fashioned winter," said David MacDougall of Brentwood, who's fished in Exeter for more than 60 years. "We haven’t ...

Before I get started this week, I'd just like to once again thank the folks who have come up and said how much they enjoy the ...