Kalama River, WA

So I came home (when I say home I mean the place I grew up) to Vancouver, WA to help my Mom move a little and my buddy Jon asked if I wanted to fish the Kalama River with him Sunday afternoon. He grew up out in Carson and moved to the north Portland area. He asked me some good places to fish out of Vancouver after he gets of work. Depending on what your fishing for and what you have at your disposal for water access there are lots of places to fish. If you want to wade fish though and catch some nice fish, I would always recommend the Kalama River. Located 30ish miles north of the state border this river offers a prime steelhead fishery, especially in the fall. So we today came and we headed to the river with on of his coworker.

Fishing this river for steelhead or salmon (coho was the objective this trip) I would recommend you throw a size 4 or 6 woolly bugger or egg sucking leash on the fly rod in a black or purple pattern. Between the three of us we tried these patterns and even an olive pattern. Jon had the fortune of hooking into fish two and landing one. I also had the fortune of hooking into two fish and landing a third. One of the fish I lost was a big Chinook close to 30lbs. Fumbling helping Jon with the camera (there is no flash in silent mode...) I managed to loose this fish but was able to land a smaller, maybe 20lb, Chinook salmon. The river offers hatchery fish along with native fish. Approximately 2 miles up river from the mouth the river is catch and release only with selective gear regs. I was un able to capture a picture of the fish I landed because when Jon moved to put the hatchery Chinook in a shotgun pose it slipt out of his hand safely into the water. This river is great and would recommend it for any slamon fly angler.

Summary:
Location: Kalama River, Exit 32 off I-5, near Kalama, WA
Time: 5:00pm - 7:00pm
Rod: 8 wt w/ sinking tip with 0x tippet
Tackle: size 4 or 6 egg sucking leach or woolly bugger in black, purple, and olive
Fish: 1
Species: Chinook
Biggest Fish: 20lb
Smallest Fish: N/A
Rating: 8.5/10

 Jon Fighting a Fish

 John Fishing

 The Kalama River and Jon's Coworker

Fighting a Fish Myself

You Can See A Few Fish Running Up River

Skykomish River, WA (Coho Salmon)

The Coho are starting to come in and so its time to try and catch some salmon that might be worth eating. Getting a late start Saturday we headed to the Skykomish River, to a new spot none of us had fish before. Before we got there however I spent some of my morning doing some research. Talking to the guys at Outdoor Emporium downtown and Creekside Angler out of Issaquah this is what I have learned about fishing for Coho. In the Puget Sound coho average about 8-13#, the like to eat the same things that humpies do but if you want to avoid humpies while fishing for coho then switch to a chartreuse color instead. Coho come in from the ocean via the Straight of Juan De Fuca and make a "Y" going around Whidbey Island to their respective spawning streams. Fishing in the ocean can be quite productive with pink or green flies around 2" or a little greater. Fish the same stuff in the rivers. At this point most the coho haven't made it that far up the rivers so, to fish a river stay low. This brought us to our new spot. The plan was to fish high bridge and another part of the Skykomish off of 192nd. Being as the Huskies were playing that evening we only fished 192nd. Dalton, Ben, and I all struck out on coho; I did manage to catch a pink. The pink are zombies right now and I would recommend calling it a season for those fish. Others around us caught a few coho. Saw one caught off the shore and gentlemen in boats were having much better luck. They like it deep is what we were told.

Location: Skykomish River, near mouth head of Snohomish, WA
Time: 1:30pm - 4:00pm
Rod: 8 wt w/ sinking tip; Dalton and Ben used spinners
Tackle: Pink Marabou, Pink Bunny Leach, and Green Muddler Minnow on the fly; pink and chartreuse 2" buzz bomb, dick nite's, jig, 4's or 5's vibrax and spoon on the spinner
Fish: 1
Species: Pink Salmon
Biggest Fish: 7#
Smallest Fish: N/A
Rating: 7.5/10