The water is dropping, the time is right, and there have been some smelt in there. Everything is pointing in a positive direction for the weekend.

The water around Castle Rock is not high but turbid, and it's hard to say what is going to happen to smelt in there.

All the rivers are pretty darn high, and the Lewis water flow was up to 30,000 CFS (cubic feet per second).

Sturgeon don't mind it if the water is high and dirty, and it is probably the only thing to do fishing wise. I'd try in the smelt zone from Longview down, and in the Willamette plume because the water is warmer there than up towards Bonneville Dam.

Near any source of water is a great place to find birds. Right after it rains, it's a good time. The birds are out.

We had one unsubstantiated report of some guys getting smelt in the river last Saturday, but nothing's confirmed yet. All I can say at this point is the conditions are right.