Kalama River Fishing Trip Planning

The Kalama River drains the southwest flanks of Mt St Helens in southwest Washington and winds its way through foothills and timberland until it dumps into the Columbia River just north of the town of Kalama, WA.

Kalama River Fall Salmon Fishing 2024

The Kalama River can provide the perfect small-stream fall salmon fishing opportunity for those who know how to time the water flows and target chinook and coho salmon.

The graphs below will get you started on timing the salmon run, however!

Updated status on hatchery fall chinook returning to the Kalama River

The above graph will be updated every Thursday typically.

When to fish for Fall Chinook on the Kalama River?

Fall chinook start returning to the hatchery in August, but the run really peaks in early September in terms of the hatchery returns. Targeting chinook in late August is probably a great opportunity to harvest bright chrome hatchery chinook.

Forecast for 2024 Kalama River Fall Chinook

Returns have been quite steady for most of the past 10 years, and 2024 is expected to be on par with recent years.

Updated status on hatchery coho returning to the Kalama River

The above graph will be updated every Thursday typically.

When to fish for Coho on the Kalama River?

You can expect to find coho in the Kalama River starting in late September, but you will need to time falling high water flows to hone in on the best time to fish for coho into the rainy season. A good fall rain will push hundreds of coho up the river and provide ample angling opportunity.

Forecast for 2024 Kalama River Coho

2023 broke a 4-year trend of steadily increasing returns of hatchery coho on the Kalama River. 2024 could be slightly improved from 2023 based on pre-season forecasts.

Kalama River Spring Chinook Fishing 2024

I love fishing the Kalama River like I love many smaller rivers with great definition, but I wish I lived closer so I could fish it more often!

The spring chinook run on the Kalama is a great place to target these fish in a Columbia River tributary after the main river shuts down.

Updated status on hatchery spring chinook returning to the Kalama River

The above graph will be updated every Thursday typically.

When to fish for Spring Chinook on the Kalama River?

You should look at this run timing graph with the idea that the fish are in the river 1-2 weeks prior to whenever the timing of this graph shows. That means starting to fish the Kalama River for spring chinook is a good bet in that last week of April and continues to be good through most of May and maybe early June in some years.

Forecast for 2024 Kalama River Spring Chinook

While some of the SW Washington rivers didn’t bounce back very well from the lows between 2018-2020, the Kalamas has almost reached the 2015-2016 boom years. But what can we expect in 2024?

The Kalama River spring chinook run in 2024 is expected to be slightly down from what it was in 2023, but if it matches 2021 as it’s forecasted to do, then that’s still a decent run of fish to target for anglers all over SW Washington.

Kalama River Winter Steelhead Fishing 2023-2024

The winter steelhead run on the Kalama is typically a decent bet due to the number of returning steelhead relative to the size of the river which is probably considered small to medium-sized depending on levels of rain.

There is both an early returning and late returning run of hatchery steelhead on the Kalama River.

Updated status on hatchery winter steelhead returning to the Kalama River

Updated status on hatchery late winter steelhead returning to the Kalama River

The above graph will update every Thursday typically.

When to fish for winter steelhead on the Kalama River?

As you can see, the winter steelhead kind of trickle in until mid-March when things really take off and into early April when you see the peak of the run typically.

Forecast for 2023-2024 Kalama River Winter Steelhead

Note: Smolts planted in the 2022 year will predominantly return as 3-year fish in the 2023-2024 winter steelhead season or in the case of summer steelhead, the 2023 summer steelhead season.

What’s exciting about the above chart is that 2022 represents a continued uptrend in smolt plants for the Kalama River basin, which if combined with improving ocean conditions, chances are decent for having a good season.

Even with increased smolt plants, the 2023 winter steelhead escapement was slightly lower than in 2022.

Hopefully, the 2023-2024 winter steelhead run on the Kalama remains steady and in line with the 2022 numbers.

How to fish for winter steelhead on the Kalama River?

I have several important resources on PNWBestLife.com and the YouTube channel to help you become a better winter steelhead angler.

The Kalama River has quickly one of my favorite places to target salmon and steelhead because of the usually good river definition and ease of identifying good holding water.

It all starts with reading water. Check out our guide: How to read water for winter steelhead.

Also, check out the YouTube video.

There are many presentation styles that can have success for steelhead on the Kalama River.

My favorite is the float fishing technique, and in particular, using small 1/8 oz jigs tipped with a bit of shrimp.

I’ve also got a complete guide to Winter Steelhead Fishing you should check out and again, an accompanying YouTube video below:

Fishing Regulations on the Kalama River for 2024-2025

Species	Date	Additional Rules
from mouth to railroad bridge below I-5 CRC (604)
Trout	Year-round	Min. size 14”. Daily limit 2.
Steelhead (hatchery)	Year-round	Min. size 20”. Daily limit 3.
Other game fish	Year-round	Statewide min. size/daily limit.
Salmon	Jan. 1-July 31	Min. size 12”. Daily limit 6 including no more than 2 adults. Release all salmon other than hatchery Chinook and hatchery coho.
	Aug. 1-Dec. 31	Min. size 12”. Daily limit 6 including no more than 3 adults. Release all salmon other than hatchery Chinook and hatchery coho.
from the railroad bridge below I-5 to Modrow Bridge CRC (604)
All species	Apr. 1-Oct. 31	Night closure. Anti-snagging rule.
	Year-round	CLOSED WATERS – from Modrow Bridge downstream to a set of markers approx. 1000’ below the temporary rack, while rack is installed in the river below Modrow Bridge.
Trout	Year-round	Min. size 14”. Daily limit 2.
Steelhead (hatchery)	Year-round	Min. size 20”. Daily limit 3.
Other game fish	Year-round	Statewide min. size/daily limit.
Salmon	Jan. 1-July 31	Min. size 12”. Daily limit 6 including no more than 2 adults. Release all salmon other than hatchery Chinook and hatchery coho.
	Aug. 1-Dec. 31	Min. size 12”. Daily limit 6 including no more than 3 adults. Release all salmon other than hatchery Chinook and hatchery coho.
from upstream of the Modrow Bridge to the natural gas pipeline crossing CRC (603)
All species		Internal combustion motors prohibited.
	Apr. 1-Oct. 31	Anti-snagging rule. Night closure.
Trout	Year-round	Min. size 14”. Daily limit 2.
Steelhead (hatchery)	Year-round	Min. size 20”. Daily limit 3.
Other game fish	Year-round	Statewide min. size/daily limit.
Salmon	Jan. 1-July 31	Min. size 12”. Daily limit 6 including no more than 2 adults. Release all salmon other than hatchery Chinook and hatchery coho.
	Aug. 1-Dec. 31	Min. size 12”. Daily limit 6 including no more than 3 adults. Release all salmon other than hatchery Chinook and hatchery coho.
from the natural gas pipeline crossing to the deadline at the intake to the Fallert Creek Hatchery CRC (603)
All species		Internal combustion motors prohibited.
	Apr. 1-Oct. 31	Anti-snagging rule. Night closure.
	Sept. 1-Oct. 31	Fly fishing only, except use of barbed hooks is allowed.
Trout	Year-round	Min. size 14”. Daily limit 2.
Steelhead (hatchery)	Year-round	Min. size 20”. Daily limit 3.
Other game fish	Year-round	Statewide min. size/daily limit.
Salmon	Jan. 1-July 31	Min. size 12”. Daily limit 6 including no more than 2 adults. Release all salmon other than hatchery Chinook and hatchery coho.
	Aug. 1-Dec. 31	Min. size 12”. Daily limit 6 including no more than 3 adults. Release all salmon other than hatchery Chinook and hatchery coho.
from intake of the Fallert Creek Hatchery to 1,000’ below fishway at Kalama Falls Hatchery CRC (603)
All species		Internal combustion motors prohibited.
Trout	Year-round	Min. size 14”. Daily limit 2.
Steelhead (hatchery)	Year-round	Min. size 20”. Daily limit 3.
Other game fish	Year-round	Statewide min. size/daily limit.
Salmon	Jan. 1-July 31	Min. size 12”. Daily limit 6 including no more than 2 adults. Release all salmon other than hatchery Chinook and hatchery coho.
	Aug. 1-Dec. 31	Min. size 12”. Daily limit 6 including no more than 3 adults. Release all salmon other than hatchery Chinook and hatchery coho.
from 1,000’ below fishway to 1,000’ above fishway at Kalama Falls Hatchery
All species		CLOSED WATERS.
from 1,000’ above fishway at Kalama Falls hatchery upstream to Summers Creek CRC (602)
All species		Selective gear rules, except barbed hooks are allowed.
Trout	Year-round	Min. size 14”. Daily limit 2.
Steelhead (hatchery)	Year-round	Min. size 20”. Daily limit 3.
Other game fish	Year-round	Statewide min. size/daily limit.
from Summers Creek upstream to the intersection of 6000 and 6420 Rds. CRC (602)
All species		Fly fishing only, except barbed hooks are allowed.
Trout	Year-round	Min. size 14”. Daily limit 2.
Steelhead (hatchery)	Year-round	Min. size 20”. Daily limit 3.
Other game fish	Year-round	Statewide min. size/daily limit.
from the intersection of 6000 and 6420 Rds. to 6600 Rd. Bridge immediately downstream of Jacks Creek CRC (602)
All species		Selective gear rules, except barbed hooks are allowed.
Trout	Sat. before Memorial Day-Nov. 30	Min. size 14”. Daily limit 2.
Steelhead (hatchery)	Sat. before Memorial Day-Nov. 30	Min. size 20”. Daily limit 3.
Other game fish	Sat. before Memorial Day-Nov. 30	Statewide min. size/daily limit.
from 6600 Rd. Bridge (just downstream of Jacks Creek) to Kalama Falls and tributaries
All species		CLOSED WATERS.

Please refer to WDFW’s emergency rules page for a full list of rules that are in effect.

It’s your responsibility as the recreational angler to know ALL of these rules, not just what is discussed here on the blog.