A second chance to catch steelhead on the Kalama River
Anglers on the Kalama River in Cowlitz County have extra opportunity to catch summer steelhead below the Kalama Falls Hatchery in 2022, as a popular fish “recycling” program returns for the first time in seven years.
For years, fishery managers with the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW) would intercept hatchery steelhead returning the Kalama Falls Hatchery and either pass them upstream (to improve fishing opportunity in the upper basin), or return them downstream to give anglers a second chance to catch them on the lower river.
Both of those practices were discontinued in 2015 as part of implementing updated hatchery management guidance, which included efforts to reduce the proportion of Hatchery-Origin Spawners — a metric known as pHOS — in areas with wild fish populations. A number of fish were jumping the barrier falls at the Kalama Falls Hatchery, and fishery managers were concerned about how many of these hatchery fish were bypassing the hatchery and making their way upstream to spawn. Managers at first attempted to guide these fish through the facility to be properly sorted, but this effort saw only modest success.
“Hatcheries serve an important purpose of bolstering wild populations while also providing fishing opportunity and improving overall return to state rivers, but fish management prioritizes allowing natural-origin — or ‘wild’ — populations to spawn in the wild,” said Jeremy Wilson, a fish biologist in WDFW’s Southwest Region. “If too many hatchery fish return to the spawning grounds, they can outcompete wild fish for that spawning habitat.”
So in rivers where wild and hatchery populations intermingle, managers work to balance pHOS with the proportion of Natural-Origin Broodstock, or pNOB.
But developments since 2015 — including replacement of Skamania hatchery steelhead with a locally derived steelhead stock from the Kalama River basin and an overhaul of the fish ladder and ladder trap at the Kalama Falls Hatchery — reduced the number of hatchery fish on the spawning grounds upstream of the hatchery.
Wilson took a look at the updated numbers and developed a model that evaluated pHOS under several hypothetical scenarios, using different natural-origin run sizes and other factors.
“We’ve seen a decline in the number of hatchery-origin fish making their way back to the spawning grounds in the upper Kalama, especially since 2019,” Wilson said. “With those declines, even our more conservative models indicated that we could safely resume the recycling program on the lower Kalama, giving anglers another chance to catch those steelhead.”
Returning hatchery-origin fish will only be recycled after escapement goals are met at the hatchery, helping to ensure continued returns, while natural-origin fish will continue to be allowed to pass upriver.
“It’s very exciting to see this recycling program return, and really underscores our efforts to balance conservation with providing as much fishing opportunity as we can in a complex ecosystem,” said Bryce Glaser, Fish Program manager for WDFW’s Southwest Region.
Summer steelhead typically return to the Kalama starting in April, and the run typically lasts through October, peaking in August. The recycling program resumed in late June.
The recycled fish will be released just downstream of the I-5 bridge, and anglers will have a second chance to catch these steelhead up to the Kalama Falls Hatchery. Once the Modrow weir is installed (usually in mid-July), fish will be released at the Modrow Bridge access area located above the weir.
Fishing for hatchery steelhead is open year-round on much of the river, but closes in some years during August (from the mouth to the railroad bridge below I-5) to help minimize impacts to upriver summer steelhead that may enter this area during migration. See the fishing regulations for size and daily catch limits, which vary by river section.
