Klamath OR Rogue - Oct 28th????

[itsbenlong]

Heading to either the Klamath or Rogue on October 28th and wanted to see if anyone has any up to date info on either. It seems like both are doing well but I hear that the Rogue has cooled down quite a bit and I am only swinging fly's........

My gut is telling me to head to the Klamath....starting in Weitchpec and head north.....

However, if a few folks think the Rogue could be the better bet, then I will go there first and then head down the Klamath if that doesn't pan out.

Any thoughts?

[Darian]

A friend returned from the upper Klamath on Sunday to report that it was a great trip (meaning many fish caught). I'd vote following the original plan for the Klamath of fishing from Weitchpec up river. How about adding the trinity on the Hoopa as well.... Whatever you decide, good luck!!! :cool:

[itsbenlong]

Hi Darian,

Thanks for the info.....The Trinity is a given.......Fishing the Klamath for me always includes the Trinity.....Package Deal.....can't beat it...lol

[JasonB]

Last few times I've fished the Rogue, it was pretty action packed (for steelhead fishing that is). I have very very little experience fishing the Klamath, so no comparisons to be drawn there from me. I will say that I think your plan sounds a bit more fun, on the adventure/aesthetic side of things. I would imagine that there should be pretty ample chances at some fish either way you go there so kinda more like which one suites your tastes or logistics better.
Good luck,
JB

[itsbenlong]

Thanks for your thoughts Jason!

I could probably just save all the strategizing and fish the Rogue, work my way down the Klamath and up the Trinity. I just don't want to use up too much time I could be on the water driving.......

I guess I am just trying to figure out which water will be better for swinging.

If anyone is going to be on either of them this weekend, let me know and I will hit you up for a report and go clean up on what you didn't have time to pull off. lol

[Larry S]

Ben,
Only advice I can add is "You do have the Streamtime maps, right?" Have fun. Looking forward
to a report.
Best,
Larry S

[itsbenlong]

I have about 10 of those maps, including the Rogue.......love those maps

[ricards]

In regards to the Klamath, you may want to forego Weitchpec, and blast straight on up to Happy Camp. I have a feeling most of the fish are up there. But definitely get a report, before you leave.

[jayclarkflyfishing]

There are fish above Happy Camp. I spent last week there and hooked adults every day. A friend had a phenomenal day on the upper river yesterday. Have fun and tight lines. I'm headed back that way on Monday for another week.

Jay

[Bill Kiene semi-retired]

Here is an old trick for fishing a Steelhead river with a road along it for miles like the Trinity and Klamath Rivers.

No parked vehicles along the river, no boats or rafts in the river, no anglers = no fish in that area......keep driving to you see people, vehicles and boats.

[JasonB]

Interesting to hear all the good reports from the Klamath, as somewhat recently there have been some pretty negative reports posted about. To me it all kind of reinforces the notion that reports for steelhead fishing are far to subjective, and dynamic, to have much validity. Not doubting, or trashing, anyones reports at all; just saying that sometimes it's just best to grab the rod and a box of flies and get out and make your own report.

Ben, hope you have some great fishing... and maybe even manage to find some steel. Oh, yeah be sure to post us a report too ;)
JB

[itsbenlong]

In regards to the Klamath, you may want to forego Weitchpec, and blast straight on up to Happy Camp. I have a feeling most of the fish are up there. But definitely get a report, before you leave.

I was just being lazy when mentioning Weitchpec......I usually hang out around there but fish quite a bit around Orleans & Happy Camp....will definitely hit that up if fishing the Klamath. Been hearing about fish all over really.....thanks for the info!

[itsbenlong]

Here is an old trick for fishing a Steelhead river with a road along it for miles like the Trinity and Klamath Rivers.

No parked vehicles along the river, no boats or rafts in the river, no anglers = no fish in that area......keep driving to you see people, vehicles and boats.

That is a good trick. However, I love nothing more than to find my own water and prove 'em all wrong. Doesn't always work out though...lol I usually spend a good part of the time hanging out my window spotting fish from the road and running up and down trails after risers and silver flashes. I have yet to go home skunked on the Klamath....knock on wood! Probably haven't fished it enough! That area is my comfort zone and love heading down from Weitchpec to Pecwan....A bit tougher to bank fish/wade but so few people....

[itsbenlong]

Interesting to hear all the good reports from the Klamath, as somewhat recently there have been some pretty negative reports posted about. To me it all kind of reinforces the notion that reports for steelhead fishing are far to subjective, and dynamic, to have much validity. Not doubting, or trashing, anyones reports at all; just saying that sometimes it's just best to grab the rod and a box of flies and get out and make your own report.

Ben, hope you have some great fishing... and maybe even manage to find some steel. Oh, yeah be sure to post us a report too ;)
JB

I hear you on that Jason.....We are definitely just grabbing the rods and a box of flies and hittin' some water. We will definitely find fish....not coming home until we do....lol

[Rick J]

The lower Klamath - downstream of Weitchpec has been kind of slow - the mouth is either closed or close to it so likely not a lot of fresh fish coming in

[itsbenlong]

Thank Rick.......! Good to know!

[itsbenlong]

Well, it looks like we are heading to the Rogue and then down around Happy Camp after, unless the Rogue doesn't allow us to leave. We have all week so we are not in too much of a rush......

[Rick J]

not too far to go to the North Umpqua from the Rogue for a day - probably one of the most gorgeous rivers anywhere though runs have been down so it may just be a casting game but quite a place to do it!!!!

[itsbenlong]

Funny you mentioned that! Always wanted to check that river out and was just looking at it on the map a couple hours ago. I can definitely use some casting practice whenever I get the chance.

[Tim P]

I fished the Middle Rogue from Oct 3-17, from first light to 3 or 4 hours later (7-10am or 7-11am).

Generally I got one fish on per session - either landed or not. My best session was 3 adults hooked, 2 landed. Also, there were usually 4-7 half-pounders C&R'ed per session.

The reason I am replying here is because of your mention of swinging exclusively. I did that too - for the first 12 days. But on days 10&11, everything ground to a halt - I couldn't even scare up a half-pounder. Coincidentally, this was exactly the two days I used a slow-sink polyleader on the Scandi rig rather than a super-fast sink tip.

On day 13, I went through some extremely good holding water with the swing rig (now with the fast tip back on the rig) and registered only a small tap. Then I went back through the exact same water with a nymph/drift rig, and caught four half-pounders and two adults :)

What does that mean? As a prediction for the future, nothing really - I had been noticing that I was getting progressively colder each morning and thought that perhaps the fish weren't moving as readily to a swung fly. At least for that morning, that presumption seemed to prove itself out.

The other caveat is that this was noticed immediately following a decent decline in water temps; trout/steelhead can habituate to a different temperature regime so long as temps remain stable, and we are having a long period of sunny, dry weather (but at the end of Oct that may not continue).

Anyway, if things seem slow for you and you are fishing in the morning & don't want to consider fishing with other methods, you might try fishing evenings instead - you'll get the benefit of a +3 F diurnal warming so long as this fair weather holds.

I didn't fish the K this trip, but did fish the T coming (oct 2) and going to the Rogue. Nothing but one small brown and some small salmon jacks (and lots of smolts of course) at the beginning of October, but I did manage 3 adults in ~7 hrs of fishing Fri evening and Saturday (10/19-20) between Del Loma and JC.

Good luck with your trip.

[itsbenlong]

Hi Tim,

Thanks for taking the time for this in depth report. I am definitely swinging my way through this trip. However, I will have a back-up nymph/drift rig in case things are tough on the swing. Hopefully I don't have to use it. Honestly, we will probably change rivers before we pull out the bobbers. By the way, I am not at all hatin' on that style, just love that take on the swing so much that its all I want and really care about. I almost don't care what happens after the take. It's all gravy after that! lol

Regardless, I am not opposed to drifting a few rigs through some deep troughs from time to time, just to get the skunk off.

In regards to what time we are fishing, this is our plan.......Sunup to sundown.......so it sounds like we will be fishing at just the right time for a good chance at something that swims.

It sounds like you had a pretty decent trip all around.

Thanks again for the report and the good wishes.....hopefully we will have more than a one liner post when we return.

[TaylerW]

Gettem! Love the feeling of a leaving on a trip. Good Luck!!

[Nip Hadlock]

A friend and I just did two days this last week on the Klamath with a guide, Jack Trout, and the fishing was very good!
More than a dozen adults to hand in two days.
Fishing downstream from I5 was much more productive (and secluded) than drifting with several other boats around from Irongate.
Egg patterns all the way...
Good luck!

[itsbenlong]

Well, I am back from my trip! My plans changed hourly as I prepared for it. I think I was heading to the John Day before I posted this with a friend of mine who ended up not being able to make it. A week later I was heading to the Rogue with another friend and then after this post it was a toss up between both the Rogue & Klamath. Well, I ended up going alone and instead of taking my usual Trinity to Klamath route, I head towards the Rogue and ended up in Happy Camp on the Klamath.

About 20 miles before Happy Camp on a cold overcast Monday afternoon, I decided that I had to get out of my vehicle and get my line wet. Can't catch steelhead driving down a highway and it was just too perfect, minus the rain, to not start fishing.

I hooked my first fish of the trip in about 5 minutes, swinging a Copper Head Mossback.......it was on after that!

I fished until dark and found a place to camp....it was so cold that next morning that I didn't really get started until 9 or 10am. It was also overcast most of that day, however it cleared up and was sunny and fairly warm the remainder of the week.

Now, I have been fishing parts of the Klamath for some years now and the same on the Trinity. However, I have never fished between Happy Camp and the I-5 and it is a different beast for sure. For anyone who hasn't been there before, it is covered in black berry bushes and the rocks in the river are slippery and extremely difficult to walk on. I think it has to do with many of them do not move, so when you step down your feet, ankles, body, etc...just twist and turn and slid all at the same time. I loved the challenge but have to admit, I bailed a few times and I am someone who rarely if ever does. Access is tricky and you just have to go for it and do whatever it takes to get to some of those places hiding fish. I loved it here. Thankfully I brought my Spey rod because in many places I would have been doomed using a single hand rod....(cause I suck at casting it in tight situations)....lol

Anyway, to the fish, flies, strategy, etc.....

I am not going to get detailed on numbers, but my least amount of fish in a day was 5 (only fished 3 hours on Monday) and my best day was 12 (fished all morning and all evening with a few hours break in the middle). I did not count any smolts, just half pounders and adults. I obviously caught more half pounder than anything. Many of them were those 2nd year fish that some folks call adult, some call half pounders, I call them steelhead and everyone of them was a blast to catch. These were all to hand and about 8 were between 20"-25".

Since I was alone and often out in the middle of the river, I didn't take to many photos. I don't really like to mess with the fish to much or for too long and have enough fish photos to put my friends to sleep these days.

I'll post a few......

I caught fish on 10 different flies, from an egg sucking leach's, brindle bugs, moss backs and other typical flies for the Klamath. I was using a 7wt Spey Rod and started out with a floating line but spent most of the trip with a T-11 Skagit MOW tips....

I spoke with a few guys fishing the area and many of them were not having any luck, picking up a fish a day and one guy said he hasn't felt a bump in 3 days.....However, I think they frequent the area and have there specific locations they like to fish and stuck with those areas and I had zero areas and tried anything I thought would hold fish.

I also happened to stumble on two different sections of river holding fish and I would fish one spot and pull 3 to 5 fish out and then hop in my rig and drive to the next spot and do the same, back and forth all day. The next day, I did the same but had to find where these fished moved to during the night. My last two days, Thursday and Friday, I had to really scramble until I found fish and break myself from returning to the same spots as before and wasting to much time in them. Basically, if I didn't catch anything or get a bump within 20 - 30 minutes, I would take off and try something new. My plan on Friday was to fish my way out of there on my way to the I-5. I ended up crossing the river at some point and taking a dirt road that followed the hwy on the other side. I think it was called Klamath River Road and it was long, bumpy and in a few places to many, a bit treacherous. The river access was private in many sections but I found two epic runs full of fish and one of them was in the shade all day. When I pulled up to it, Salmon were jumping all over and a few steelhead as well. I think I caught my first fish in about 30 seconds......

I know this might sound like fish were just everywhere.......they were not! I fished a ton of spots without a hint of any fish around. The other thing I did was switch my fly out constantly and I think it made a huge difference in catching 1 or 2 fish in a run or 4 or 5.....

Anyway, that is my story! Sorry it was so long, but I swear I help back on a ton of info.....A lot can be said or written from a week of fishing.

Before I go I have to mention that I have been using my Spey Rod for about 2 years and I just haven't felt like I have figured out how to consistently make good casts and also mend and swing flies the way I should be. The one great thing about going on this trip alone and fishing so much river without anyone around was I could just relax and cast. My first day and a half I was actually a bit discouraged, still catching fish though......however something clicked and it just all came together. I finally figured it out and what I was doing wrong. It was such a simple and subtle change that made all the difference in the world. It really helped me get my line out to places that I couldn't get it to before and definitely increased the number of fish I caught.

It was a great trip and I can't wait to return to that section of the river.

Thanks to everyone who replied to this thread. It is always great to hear about everyone's opinions and ideas on where and how to go about catching steelhead. I think the best advise I ever heard was go with your gut and just go and fish. So, that's what I did! :)

The one photo of a fish without a rod next to it was one of my largest fish....unfortunately my rod tip was tangled in the tree above it....hahaha

78937892789478957896

[M Duper]

Sounds like a great trip. Good looking egg sucking leach too. lol!

[Jeff F]

Sweet report, Ben! Had everything a good report should.

You fish like I do.....stick and move, stick and move. Covering water is the key to steelhead fishing, I believe. Or maybe I'm just too freaking impatient. Or I just like to explore and find new water. But, waiting for the fish to find me, ain't happening!

Thanks for posting.

~J

[itsbenlong]

Thanks Jeff!

Yep, stick and move.......I refuse to allow Steelhead to be a fish of a thousand of my casts.....I like to call it Fly Hunting.

[Larry S]

Ben,
Happy for you that you made lemonade out of the lemons - trip changes and all. Great report!
Best,
Larry S

[itsbenlong]

Sounds like a great trip. Good looking egg sucking leach too. lol!

Hey M Duper, is that leach your fly?

[M Duper]

Negative, but I've got half a dozen ready to go.

[itsbenlong]

I love that fly.....when it's on, it's on! It was most productive in the evenings for me. More than likely it had more to do with it getting down to where the fish were but I like to think it was my awesome choice of fly as well. lol

[Rockman]

7907[[/ATTACH]7906I just got home this evening from Dunsmuir, unfortunatley, I did not fish the upper Sac. due to some over due house projects I needed to work on. But I did get out all day Monday to fish one of the tributarys of the upper Klamath. As noted above in one of the post, eggs where the key. The salmon in this tributary were so thick, they are waiting for more rainfall to get up the river, but the steelhead where waiting behind them. On this river, I started out the day foul hooking a salmon, played it gently to try and get my two flies back, the fish co-operated till he felt my hand and off he went with both flys, I had only been fishing for about 5 minuets. I too, covered a lot of water. The key was to find pools with good current in them, the larger slow pools were not productive at all. Faster, deeper slots were very productive, I fished legs & eggs all day. Only 2 fish on the legs, the others came off of a egg pattern. I hooked around 30 fish on monday, but only landed about 15. I figured out why I lost so many to late in the day. One of the sucker spawn egg patterns was tied to heavy and the hook gap due to overdressing the fly was very small, as soon as I swithced flies, fish to the net precentage went up significantly. Half the fish were between 19" & 23", only 2 fish were small, a 10" and a 12" which I believe were just resident bows. Also landed a 10-12 lb. salmon with my 6 wt. Zaxis, he was hooked right in the middle of the lower jaw.I brought my good camera, but I only shot photos of a few fish due to my camera was in my pack which I had to take off to get to it. The weather was freezing when we started, but the day warmed up to the upper 40's and was very pleasant. It is a great time to be up there, glad others did well too!7904

[M Duper]

I love that fly.....when it's on, it's on! It was most productive in the evenings for me. More than likely it had more to do with it getting down to where the fish were but I like to think it was my awesome choice of fly as well. lol

Sometimes you have to drag the bottom! lol!