Kalama fishing this weekend?

[JackOfAllTrades]

Anyone know how the Kalama is for steelhead/trout/salmon right now? I'm thinking about staying at the KalamaCampground this weekend, and wondering if that's a good choice, or if I should camp somewhere else and hit the Cowlitz?  We're coming down to watch my nephew in a 13u baseball tournament, but I'm hoping to get some time for line in the water too.
 
-Steve

[wildmanoutdoors]

Well they just opened it for retetion of Springers. Must have met the goal!

Id rather fish the Kalama than the Cow. So much nicer.

[JackOfAllTrades]

Is the KalamaCampground nice enough that I can leave my trailer/truck for hours and not have it bothered?   Not a tweaker camp ground?
 
-Steve

[WSU]

There will be lots of steelhead around.  You can count on them being anywhere from tide water (where you are camping) up through the canyon to the hatchery.  That is what I'd concentrate on.

[TheHunt]

I buddy which lives down there says they are just starting to show up.  But it is a morning show right now.

[BigGoonTuna]

steelhead fishing has been really, really slow there(and all the other small rivers down that way) this year.  my buddy went down there about a week ago and there wasn't a single guy fishing beginner's hole at 9 in the morning.  that should tell you something!  he fished all day and got skunked...this time of year, a guy like him would have almost been guaranteed to hook into something.

it's pretty sad any more, i remember being able to buzz down there after work when i was on night shift, limit out and be back in bed by 6:30 in the morning.

[floatinghat]

I used to fish the Kalama a lot and it rocked.  The river is only a shadow of her former self.  People in boats tend to be inconsiderate (small river, few fish), lot's of crime, and the fish have taken it in the shorts. I remember days of floating Red Barn to Beginners and counting over 50 steelhead in the am. Doesn't happen anymore unless you hit it the day the brats come in and the stars have lined up (go buy a lotto ticket).

Anyone who spent time on the Kalama can remember a black river bottom carpeted with fall salmon in the Beginners area every fall.   Salmon that dirt bags snag under the guise of flyfishing.

I would spend my time going to the Cow or EFL if you are looking for that small water feeling (check flows first).  The EFL would be a crack of dawn steelhead fishery.

Best of luck and enjoy the ball game.