Kalama river... Where are the trout?

mattsavage · Nov 21, 2022

So, over two days this weekend, I probably fished well over a dozen holes between the Modrow boat launch and the Weyerhauser gate on the Kalama River. On friday I caught 4-5 whitefish up near the gate, that was it. On sunday, not a single damn fish over 8 hours of fishing. Well, i hooked one, looked to be about 12", but most likely another whitefish.
I threw everything i had at them... A variety of beaded nymphs, perdigons, buggy streamers, dry droppers/emergers (there were still some big caddis and a good hatch of some sort of tiny pale mayfly coming off). I euro'd, floated, dead drifted, swung, stripped, jigged.... Nothing...
Are there no trout in the kalama? I thought for sure I'd get in to some sea runs in the lower river. Not even stupid little dinks and smolt...

Anyone know the story? I'd think a big free flowing river like that would be loaded with some variety of trout considering the steelhead and salmon that run up there...

Salmo_g · Nov 21, 2022

Have you not heard that trout, resident trout, that is, are not particularly common in Washington State's westside anadromous fish river? You cannot catch that which isn't there. I don't mean to say that there are zero resident trout in the rivers. There are some. Just not very many. And that's typical of most of the westside rivers. What made you think ". . . a big free flowing river like that would be loaded with some variety of trout . . ." ?

rooftop · Nov 21, 2022

I've only encountered sea run cutts on the Kalama, and like 2 ever, all up near the gate.

DoesItFloat · Nov 21, 2022

You're probably catching smolt. No bueno, leave 'em alone.

Dan Page · Nov 21, 2022

Have accidentally caught a few cutthroat there over the years, but they were rare for me. All in the upper river.

mattsavage · Nov 21, 2022

Salmo_g said:
Have you not heard that trout, resident trout, that is, are not particularly common in Washington State's westside anadromous fish river? You cannot catch that which isn't there. I don't mean to say that there are zero resident trout in the rivers. There are some. Just not very many. And that's typical of most of the westside rivers. What made you think ". . . a big free flowing river like that would be loaded with some variety of trout . . ." ?

No, I had not heard that. I've never fished western washington before. Why would i ever think otherwise? All the western oregon rivers that drain in to the same Columbia system are loaded with trout. Feels like a logical assumption to me... ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

WDFW should probably change the regs from "2 perday 14" minimum" to "no fish, dont bother..." Wouldnt want anyone to be misled.

thanks for the input.

RCF · Nov 21, 2022

You can always checkout the WDFW site for fishing/catch reports:

https://wdfw.wa.gov/fishing/reports/creel/southwest#2022

Salmo_g · Nov 21, 2022

mattsavage said:
All the western oregon rivers that drain in to the same Columbia system are loaded with trout.

Resident trout, or sea run cutthroat? I realize that the upper Willamette and McKenzie have resident trout, but those streams are far enough from the Columbia to ecologically be like "inland" rivers. As for logical assumption, I agree, and that's what I thought when I was young until I learned otherwise.

Tom Butler · Nov 21, 2022

Sorry you didn't find what you were looking for, this can be a tough time of year. I'd of been thrilled with a few of our native short finned grayling.

Evan B · Nov 21, 2022

mattsavage said:
No, I had not heard that. I've never fished western washington before. Why would i ever think otherwise? All the western oregon rivers that drain in to the same Columbia system are loaded with trout. Feels like a logical assumption to me... ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

WDFW should probably change the regs from "2 perday 14" minimum" to "no fish, dont bother..." Wouldnt want anyone to be misled.

thanks for the input.

The ones with those trout populations tend to be east of the Cascades. Once you get west of the cascades, the rivers tend to have PH levels not very conducive to growing the food sources that resident trout populations tend to enjoy, so their survival often depends on them migrating out to the ocean.

Which Western Oregon Rivers are you referring to? Only ones I can think of would be like the McKenzie... and can't think of much else that are West of the Cascades.

mattsavage · Nov 21, 2022

Evan B said:
The ones with those trout populations tend to be east of the Cascades. Once you get west of the cascades, the rivers tend to have PH levels not very conducive to growing the food sources that resident trout populations tend to enjoy, so their survival often depends on them migrating out to the ocean.

Which Western Oregon Rivers are you referring to? Only ones I can think of would be like the McKenzie... and can't think of much else that are West of the Cascades.

Mckenzie, certain forks of S*** and W***, C***, and anything that comes off the coast range in to the willamette. Those are all really good trout streams.
I guess that makes sense, alot of the rivers that come directly off glacial sources maybe arent necessarily the best. There arent many decent trout streams that come directly off Mt. Hood for instance, I think White River being an exception and the one fork of hood that has native bulls. I guess anything that comes directly off st. helens or rainier might be similar, unless maybe its a tailwater? IDK...
Thanks for the input! All part of the learning process.

mattsavage · Nov 21, 2022

Tom Butler said:
Sorry you didn't find what you were looking for, this can be a tough time of year. I'd of been thrilled with a few of our native short finned grayling.

No, it was a good time for sure. It was a great weekend to be out; nice weather and zero people (maybe that should have been a sign...) I was just surprised to not catch a single trout, not even a strike. The whitefish i did catch were fun, but, you know, trout are funnerer... One of them was fairly sizable, pushing 14". On a 2wt euro rod in heavish water, thats some fun action!

Stonedfish · Nov 21, 2022

There are streams in western wa that have decent trout populations. Some pretty much only have small fish, but others hold some decent size fish.
When they supposedly made the regulations easier or whatever they did a few years ago, some of best streams are now closed because they contain anadromous fish.
There are also some good waters above lakes and reservoirs.
These streams don’t have the hatches you’ll find on many big names systems east of the cascades but they do have their moments.
One stream I used to fish a lot had one of the best October caddis hatches I’ve ever seen.

To the OP. If you want to catch some trout, consider driving a bit north and fishing the Cowlitz. You can still catch searuns in November even on dries. Nymphs and swinging / stripping streamers will work as well.
SF

mattsavage · Nov 21, 2022

Stonedfish said:
To the OP. If you want to catch some trout, consider driving a bit north and fishing the Cowlitz. You can still catch searuns in November even on dries. Nymphs and swinging / stripping streamers will work as well.
SF

thanks, yeah, cowlitz is on the radar, working my way that direction.

Reason I've been fishing SW washington lately is I'm trying to find rivers that A: have fish B: decent access on foot C: easier wading. my father in law who recently relocated from W.V. to Vancouveris a big fly fisher, prefers the smaller streams but isn't really in to the scrambling over rocks and bushwacking these days. Unfortunately i'm finding there's not muchthat meet that criteria within an hour or so of vancouver.

mcswny · Nov 21, 2022

The other thing to mention is “decent trout stream” is very relative. There’s a lot of people (myself included) that can have fun catching dinks all day. And it sounds like you and your FIL are also of the same ilk (makes sense seeing he’s from WVA).

Makes me think of this John Gierach quote, “Maybe your stature as a fly fisherman isn't determined by how big a trout you can catch, but by how small a trout you can catch without being disappointed”

mattsavage · Nov 21, 2022

mcswny said:
The other thing to mention is “decent trout stream” is very relative. There’s a lot of people (myself included) that can have fun catching dinks all day. And it sounds like you and your FIL are also of the same ilk (makes sense seeing he’s from WVA).

Makes me think of this John Gierach quote, “Maybe your stature as a fly fisherman isn't determined by how big a trout you can catch, but by how small a trout you can catch without being disappointed”

Ha! Truth... I just need one, size doesn't matter. Pics or it didn't happen!

mcswny · Nov 21, 2022

mattsavage said:
Ha! Truth... I just need one, size doesn't matter. Pics or it didn't happen!

Just be careful naming to many names of rivers

PM me if you want to talk dinks on the westside (I live in N Portland)

mattsavage · Nov 21, 2022

mcswny said:
Just be careful naming to many names of rivers

PM me if you want to talk dinks on the westside (I live in N Portland)

True, loose lips... but, are there really any secrets anymore? I guess there was one in there i'd like to keep to myself. Oh well... ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Rob Allen · Nov 21, 2022

Trout in Southwest WA.

Generally your best bet is to fish above barriers to migratory fish. The fish will generally be cutthroat not rainbow.
Also, Generally they will be small streams with small fish and WDFW will have them closed to angling to protect baby steelhead.
Or they will open June first and close October 31.

I know one stream 30 minutes from Vancouver that has a migration barrier a couple hundred yards up from it's mouth and is full of cutthroat a big one is 11 inches. It's all on private property it was undeveloped when I used to fish it 40 years ago now things may be different also that migration barrier? It's a 30 foot waterfall you have to scale..
If I were trying to find what you are looking for I'd look on the Oregon side of the Columbia gorge.