Kalama River

I used to fish summer run SH on the Kalama regularly back in the day when the upper fly water was productive and the did not segregate the natives. Also the lower section for Coho after September. Does anyone care to share what they know of the runs on the Kalama anymore? I gave up reading about it after they did some further segregation of salmon at the Modrow bridge or something to that effect. It sounded something like the trap and move the salmon and ruined the fishery. Google has yet to give me the blog on the disgusted locals at the time.
 

Evan B

Bobber Downey Jr.
Staff member
Admin
I don't think a whole lot has improved based on what I hear from long time regulars. I've never jived with that river, but know many used to love it.
 

skyrise

Steelhead
Coho king, like you we used to fish whenever we could since my folks lived in Camas. I check the return numbers over the years and it looks pretty bleak compared what it once was for salmon & steelhead. Springer numbers are way down and coho/king numbers are fair some years and poor other years. Are they not planting that river like they used to ? Sad, had many a good day day on the Kalama. Late run coho we’re a blast.
 
Friendly Phil informed me correctly they started removing an inferior genetic strain of chambers creek fish. At the weir at Modrow bridge. Not sure if that still going on, but remember that's when locals mad and most quit going do to numbers.
 

SilverFly

Life of the Party
Forum Supporter
Used to fish it occasionally, and did well, up in the canyon FF for summers, and the lower river for winters on gear. Haven't fished it in over a decade. A buddy and I once did an experimental FF trip in tidewater using intermediate sinking lines and small/buggy flies. Took a while to find the right depth but finally hooked and landed a semi-bright 32# chinook (yes, it actually did smoke up good).

Other than that, the last time I fished the K was on the lower fly water during the early run coho run. Threw everything but the kitchen sink at those lock-jawed fuckers. My only success was not snagging them. I'm sure someone will chime in with "Oh just use a type 3.265 tip, with a 7' ,7 and 3/16" long leader, and a 6/0 Mongolian beetle larva imitation tied in chartreuse and pepto-bismol pink" ... (sorry, A-run coho on the Kalama are possibly the only fishing trips I regret.)

I dunno, there are probably still some good opportunities that are highly timing/weather/weir dependent, but I can think of far better places/fisheries to invest time figuring out. And, far more enjoyable places to be skunked.
 

Cowlitz Bottomfeeder

Life of the Party
I used to fish summer run SH on the Kalama regularly back in the day when the upper fly water was productive and the did not segregate the natives. Also the lower section for Coho after September. Does anyone care to share what they know of the runs on the Kalama anymore? I gave up reading about it after they did some further segregation of salmon at the Modrow bridge or something to that effect. It sounded something like the trap and move the salmon and ruined the fishery. Google has yet to give me the blog on the disgusted locals at the time.
The fishing in the fly only section was pretty good until just after Y2K. I remember catching 30+ Coho and kings during the two month long season. It wasn’t a snag fishery- the salmon would grab a retrieved fly. It was best before the sunlight hit the water and you could always tell when I school of fresh fish entered the hole because they were really bitey. The weir was in place below Moldrow Bridge and was supposed to stop the kings for sorting and collection but allow the Coho to pass through.

I don’t know what changed. For some reason “managing the fishery” means they manage to make it worse. Fishing in Washington can be very good, but you need to keep moving and searching for the next best thing.
 

SilverFly

Life of the Party
Forum Supporter
The fishing in the fly only section was pretty good until just after Y2K. I remember catching 30+ Coho and kings during the two month long season. It wasn’t a snag fishery- the salmon would grab a retrieved fly. It was best before the sunlight hit the water and you could always tell when I school of fresh fish entered the hole because they were really bitey. The weir was in place below Moldrow Bridge and was supposed to stop the kings for sorting and collection but allow the Coho to pass through.

I don’t know what changed. For some reason “managing the fishery” means they manage to make it worse. Fishing in Washington can be very good, but you need to keep moving and searching for the next best thing.
I'm sure Kalama early run coho have their "on" times (butt-crack dawn, after/during a good rain, when they're not being coho, etc...). I somehow always managed to fish when they were "off".

Never tried the K for late coho as there are closer places with less pressure. Late coho (N-Types) hit the river chrome/fat/snappy, and when the river is cool and fresh. Supreme fly rod quarry.
 
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Cowlitz Bottomfeeder

Life of the Party
I'm sure Kalama early run coho have their "on" times (butt-crack dawn, after/during a good rain, when their not being coho, etc...). I somehow always managed to fish when they were "off".

Never tried the K for late coho as there closer places with less pressure. Late coho (N-Types) hit the river chrome/fat/snappy, and when the river is cool and fresh. Supreme fly rod quarry.
It used to be an interesting fishery and the action occurred before the sun was on the water. It was clear and if you were standing on the road when the sun hit the water, you could watch the fish move into the deepest part of the hole. You could watch the school of fish part as a sink tip moved through the hole. And you could tell when someone was fishing a long leader on the sink tip. The tip was down but the fly was high in the water column. No chance of a take.
 
Used to fish it occasionally, and did well, up in the canyon FF for summers, and the lower river for winters on gear. Haven't fished it in over a decade. A buddy and I once did an experimental FF trip in tidewater using intermediate sinking lines and small/buggy flies. Took a while to find the right depth but finally hooked and landed a semi-bright 32# chinook (yes, it actually did smoke up good).

Other than that, the last time I fished the K was on the lower fly water during the early run coho run. Threw everything but the kitchen sink at those lock-jawed fuckers. My only success was not snagging them. I'm sure someone will chime in with "Oh just use a type 3.265 tip, with a 7' ,7 and 3/16" long leader, and a 6/0 Mongolian beetle larva imitation tied in chartreuse and pepto-bismol pink" ... (sorry, A-run coho on the Kalama are possibly the only fishing trips I regret.)

I dunno, there are probably still some good opportunities that are highly timing/weather/weir dependent, but I can think of far better places/fisheries to invest time figuring out. And, far more enjoyable places to be skunked.
Its interesting most of us have not fished there for years, hopefully some biologist will chime in on the history of taking most of the salmon out at weir due to genetics, and status of that science project. I know why I stopped fishing the only fly only water besides Hoko, they took all hatchery fish out and screwed that nationally acclaimed summer run. Not to mention fishing locations, but this river has a common name location map. A bunch of FF use to flock there in Sept below the first hatchery and had good coho success stripping green/red butt or bubble bee woolly worms, not buggers, after letting your intermediate line swing and sink for 20 seconds in the deep deep water, then stripping fast.
 
Used to fish the upper river alot, mostly in the winter when it was fly fishing only. Lots of good memories from that era. I make it down once or twice every winter just to take a look and fish some of the great runs up there.
 
Well, unless anyone wants to provide more info or wishes to debate on biologist science, can probably end this conversation. I think I figured the Kalama saga out after talking to Mike West. Not sure of date, but they have been trying to get rid of the Chambers Creek genetic STEELHEAD at weir for years. Sounds like they don't do much sorting but still trap em and remove a bunch. For the Coho fishing I was thinking of, the EARLY COHO run was discontinued. Thus, forget about first rain in September when flows perfect for flyfishing. Its a winter coho and steelhead run now. Don't have time to research the springers or other and probably just best for us all to keep driving by with wonders of what the Kalama River used to be like, as if it was the Toutle before the eruption.
 

Chucker

Steelhead
I think that the Kalama summer steelhead weren’t chambers creek fish. Skamania strain or something like that. Some of them were big and feisty, which chambers creek fish are not. Either way, they are gone now.
 

SilverFly

Life of the Party
Forum Supporter
I think that the Kalama summer steelhead weren’t chambers creek fish. Skamania strain or something like that. Some of them were big and feisty, which chambers creek fish are not. Either way, they are gone now.
That's what I always thought. They sure looked and acted like 'Shoog fish.
 

skyrise

Steelhead
I think your right about summer runs being skammania fish and I thought some winter plants were chambers creek ? There was talk of doing a brood stock for winters or summer runs but that was probably just a rumor ? But why not they have a couple of spots were they can sort fish out. Do miss fishing Italian creek area just not the hike to get down there.
 

Salmo_g

Legend
Forum Supporter
Although the Kalama had natural runs of wild spring Chinook, summer and winter steelhead, it became one of the most heavily stocked streams on the lower Columbia River using Mitchell Act funds. Mitchell Act is mitigation money for fisheries impacts of federal dams on the Columbia River. WDG and WDF, predecessors to today's WDFW thought it was a waste of money to stock fish upstream of Bonneville or other mainstem dams because of the heavy mortality losses at each dams. This was before the many fish passage improvements that got under way in the 1980s.

WDG stocked hatchery steelhead (Chambers Creek winter run and Skamania summer run) in the Kalama in numbers approximating 60 to 70k each. This was at a time when smolt to adult return rates of 5 to 10% were routine. 6 or 7 thousand returning steelhead made for some pretty good sport fishing, summer and winter. ESA listings have been the primary reason, as far as I know, for reducing, then eliminating some of the hatchery stocking. Chambers Creek fish have been eleminated, as their undesirable Puget Sound genetics are not appreciated by the ESA. Skamania summer runs are still stocked in reduced numbers. They are allowed since they are also a native lower Columbia River stock, like the native Kalama fish. I believe most hatchery steelhead are stopped at the weir at Kalama Falls hatchery, with only wild fish being allowed upstream toward the fly fishing only section.

I used to fish the Holy Water a lot in the 1970s and usually camped right there. There were about 4 potential camping sites there as I recall. The gate was added many years later.

The upshot is that wild steelhead returns are a small fraction of what they used to be, like everywhere these days. And they are a tiny fraction of what the large hatchery returns used to amount to, in those days when smolt to adult survival rates made expensive hatchery programs economically attractive.
 

Rob Allen

Life of the Party
IF!!!!!! I remember right the purpose of the wier is to remove hatchery chinook. The steelhed and coho might be delayed but otherwise unaffected. That said the good coho, "B" runs are the October/November fish which will come in when the water is high and will bypass the weir.
Talking about the lower weir. Not up at the Hatchery.
Anyone feel free to correct me..
 

Robert Engleheart

Life of the Party
Forum Supporter
Am I correct to remember a run of large steelhead that entered the Kalama and other SW Washington rivers in May and June, large fish as much as 20# and hot. What stock were they? Native, I presume. I snorkeled the east fork Lewis below Lucia Falls (?) and it was plugged with large fish. About the same time I started flyfishing in ‘68-‘69; never caught one over 10# but saw some that appeared much larger.
 

Rob Allen

Life of the Party
Am I correct to remember a run of large steelhead that entered the Kalama and other SW Washington rivers in May and June, large fish as much as 20# and hot. What stock were they? Native, I presume. I snorkeled the east fork Lewis below Lucia Falls (?) and it was plugged with large fish. About the same time I started flyfishing in ‘68-‘69; never caught one over 10# but saw some that appeared much larger.
On the Washougal we referred to them as "Springers" because they arrived around the same time as spring chinook they I imagine were intercepted by gillnets in greater numbers that other Summer runs, and because they were in the river for so long, often in the biggest pools of the most remote sections of river they were heavily poached and lastly, because they were the first arriving summer runs they were heavily preyed upon by hatchery programs.

They are the fish that made Portland area anglers fish 9wts and reels with 300 yards of backing. pretty rare these days.
 

DerekWhipple

Steelhead
Forum Supporter
Were those "springer" fish summers or late winter fish? I know that without hatchery genetics mixing and matching life histories, lots of rivers used to have native steelhead practically all year and the "spring" spawning window was pretty huge, like Feb-June. Reading McMillan and Haig-Brown, its pretty tough knowing I missed those fish (around here anyway).

As a relative newcomer who fishes most rivers within an hour of Portland, I still can't quite figure out if it's worth fishing the Kalama, especially with the weir. Obviously there are still some summers in the river these days, but it seems like all the rivers are depressed, so your chance on the Kalama is the same as the Portland area rivers that still have summer fish. Just pick any river with a summer run in the area, stick with that one, and learn it as best you can.

...or deal with the crowds on the Cowlitz if you want to know there are fish around. Sometimes I put up with it because I know there are fish there.
 
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