Andy Towell and I did the southwest Washington tour in pursuit of new water this weekend visiting just about every hatchery system in that part of the state. It was my first time in that area and enjoyed the small rivers that held large fish. We started at the Kalama and tried several areas up and down the river between the upper hatchery and the mouth. The lower hatchery had a few spent fish in front of it and several fly fishers but no one catching any fish, not like you would want to catch a spawned out boot but there were people trying. The lower river was more interesting and had several more fish in but still not as many as one would expect for the first week in October. We then visited the Gray, Elochamen, Neemah, and Naselle, all with fish ripening at the hatcheries. The kings were most plentiful next to the Neemah hatchery and they were dark but not full of scabs yet. The Naselle is in my opinion was the prettiest and had the best acce!
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ss for fly fishing, of coarse my opinion is biased by the multiple hook ups of big fish. Not exactly hot fishing but worth the trip.Andy had the big boy landed on his six weight, which I thought spring would arrive before he landed this twenty five pound monster, but it made for some good laughs and great pictures. I was lucky enough to release a 15 pound little guy. I hope Andy will post a pic or two of the kings, They were a little dark but nice to play with.
--- PATRICK PETERSEN
