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Jam to Kalama for summer steelies, chinook
Washington fishing map feature
By Tim Deaver
Fishing and Hunting News
KALAMA, Wash. — Very few would challenge that the Cowlitz River is king among
Columbia tributary salmon and steelhead rivers, but if that's the case, then the
Kalama River should be the prince.
The Kalama has two excellent hatcheries that help it produce some of the most consistent numbers in the state. Add to this such famous holes as Million Dollar Rock, Saddle Rock, Round House and, of course, Beginners Hole, and this river just plain reeks of salmon and steelhead. Summer-runs
August and September are slightly slower but usually produce much bigger fish. Best early fishing will be from the first hatchery down to Camp Kalama at the I-5 bridge. Boat anglers, you will have the best fishing early but low water usually runs most boats out by July. Run Wiggle Warts, Brad's Wigglers and Hot Shots in size 35 or smaller. Start with plugs in blue and green pirate, metallic pink and rocket red. Also try slow-rolling size 4 Blue Fox and Mepps spinners in metallic blue and green. As for bait, leave the divers at home and drift small shrimp or eggs with about 4-foot leaders and 8-pound mono. If you're bankfishing, spend most of your time at the Hatchery Creek Hole located above Beginners Hole, Beginners Hole and the tailout of Beginners that runs into the Willow Hole behind Mahaffey's Campground. The hottest bait going the last couple years has been steelhead jigs like Fish Doctor's Nightmare and Daymare and Hurley's shell pink and cerise. These jigs are best fished with Mike's shrimp oil and a small pinch of sand shrimp. Bobber lengths should be anywhere from 2 to 8 feet. If you driftfish, use small baits and light line. As summer moves on, you should too. By mid-July migrate upriver from Pritchard's to the deadline located just below the second hatchery. Best late-season holes are Deadline, Saddle Rock and Italian Creek. Fish typical lower river rigs with the addition of spinners in size 3. Also the canyon, as its called from Italian Creek to Deadline, is an excellent spot to do some fly fishing. A 6- to 8-weight fly rod loaded with a Cortland 444 sinking steelhead line and about 75 yards of backing with an 8X tippet will work quite nicely. Fish a variety of flies including egg imitations, black and green Woolly Buggers and Muddler Minnows. Kalama kings The Kalama's great summer-run fishing gives way to a fairly good Chinook fishery in mid- to late August with nice Chinook to 30 pounds caught every year. Most of the best fishing takes place below Modrow Bridge in tidewater to the mouth. Drift a bobber and large bait of eggs or toss size 6 spinners. You can also do quite well plunking glow balls and eggs at night until night fishing comes to an end Sept 1. Boat anglers can get some limited access on high tide around the state boat launch on the west side of I-5. This is a great place to troll weighted spinners with no dropper weight and magnum Brad's Wigglers in metallic greens, blues and rocket red. This fishery will stay strong till the last week in September.
Coho The Kalama's silver fishery has been red hot the last couple of years and this year's run should be good. Silvers can be caught as early as Sept 1, with the first run of early fish usually peaking about Sept. 15. This fishery is also a lower tidewater show with massive runs of silvers stacking up around Camp Kalama down to the mouth. Run either bobber and quarter-sized gobs of eggs or No. 4 Blue Fox spinners in green and chartreuse for early-run fish. From a boat, fish below the lower boat launch in the deep holes down by the mouth. Troll at high tide with Brad's Wigglers in black, green pirate and rocket red, and plunk Corkies and eggs at low tide. Best fishing will be from Modrow Bridge up to Pritchard's early then moving up to the canyon area towards the end of the month. Also the fly fishing only hole opens up to bait fisherman on Nov. 1, and that's usually pretty hot when it opens. Primary fishing techniques for late-season silvers are pitching size 4 spinners, drifting Corkie, egg and yarn combos and pulling plugs from boats. Fly fishing In my opinion the best fishery of all is the fly-fishing-only season which runs Sept. 1-Nov. 1. It encompasses the Kalama from the lower hatchery intake down to the pipeline at Mahaffey's Campground. This pretty much gives you the best of the best as far as salmon are concerned. The best two holes will be the Hatchery Creek Hole and Beginners Hole. It's not uncommon to see several thousand fish staging in these two holes waiting for a good rain. Bring at least an 8-weight rod loaded with a fast-sinking fly line like a 300-grain Deep Water Express and a heavy 10X tippet. Also dud up in a good set of chest waders. Most anglers like to wade across the tailout of Hatchery Creek Hole which will give a better approach to Beginners Hole just below. Also the tailout of Beginners, which leads into the Willow Hole, can be accessed; this spot usually holds lots of late summer-runs taking advantage of the spawning salmon. Best salmon patterns will be large Teeny Nymphs in orange, green and cerise and any and all Egg-sucking Leech patterns. Best steelhead flies will be small Teeny Nymphs and tiny egg imitations. Camping The Kalama River is located 5 miles south of Longview of I-5 at the Kalama River Road exit. The river has two major campgrounds: Camp Kalama located at the I-5 exit, and Mahaffey's about 4 miles east of the interstate up Kalama River Road. Both have RV hookups and their own private river access, which is an added bonus. Also anglers have some limited camping at Rainbow Park located off Modrow Road.
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Copyright © 2007 Last Modified 8-21-07
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