Klamath Info Head's Up

[Jeff F]

As we now know, the Six Rivers NF is open. However, there is an "Area Closure" up there due to the McCash Fire burning in the Marbles and the area north and east of Orleans. The closure starts at the western edge of the Orleans Ranger District, which is just past Weitchpec on Hwy 96. Campgrounds are closed and it looks like parking along the highway to fish is also off limits. Campfires are prohibited for the rest of the year, even in established campgrounds with fire pits, which is not a surprise.

So it looks like a no-go for the middle Klamath this year.

[John H]

I am going to Happy Camp at the end of October. Hopefully that area is open then. Thanks for the info.

[Bill Kiene semi-retired]

Pray for rain.......

[Mark Kranhold]

Pray for rain....... Time to do the dance!

17433

[Dugger]

Praying and dancing ... both ineffective. Moreover, the authors will do neither. I will leave the Klamath alone this season and re-evaluate next year.

[Bill Kiene semi-retired]

Lower and Middle Rogue river?

[MThompson]

Came here to see if anyone had been up there yet. Not surprised at this news. Maybe next year. Or not.

[Bwag]

I’ve been up, was down low. There’s fish around, not many adults when I was there, I think most moved up the system after the flow increase. Plenty of decent half pounders.

17434

17435

[Jcolin]

Wondering if this closure on 96 is still in place? When i looked it up on caltrans the only thing i found was one lane directed road work near orleans. Google maps is showing both ways to happy camp open. Thanks

[Al Baltz]

Per the nice lady that answers the phone at the Klamath Nat Forest Service, Hiway 96 is open other than the control measure mentioned. Campgrounds should be checked on individually- seems some are open, others closed.
When are you headed up? I expect to be there early next week.

[Jcolin]

Thanks Al, I like to go up there third and fourth week of October. Checked inciweb this morning and they're making lots of progress on the McCash fire. Was 41% three days ago and now up to 61%, and that fires been burning since the end of July. I have heard good reports for steelhead in the lower Klamath and on the Rogue, so fingers are crossed that no new fires break out and the showers in the forecast next week are substantial.

[Al Baltz]

I'll be up for a few days next week and back a couple weeks later. I'll try to remember to post some conditions info. Check for a PM.

[Al Baltz]

A brief report on the Klamath Oct 5-6-7th. I stayed in the Happy Camp area and talked with several other fishers. Some fished the immediate area and were catching adults and half pounders. Others, myself included, went down river to the Somes Bar area. It seemed to me like a pretty good run of hot HPs down there. It rained a bit so the river came up and cooled down, but still clear. Some of the algae cleared out. The big slide repair west of Happy Camp is complete and no road closure/ controls there. A utility crew is doing some work east of Happy Camp and there were short waits to get behind the pilot car. Very clean air while I was there- some fire crews doing remedial SWPP work, but not much active fire fighting.
This is a good time to go if you can swing it. There are fish through the lower and middle sections.

[Bwag]

Went up for a few days, came home Wednesday, pretty slow on the lower section of the river. Most people I know or spoke with were getting a few half pounders and fewer adults, I managed to find one. Also heard the mouth closed which certainly can slow down the lower river. Always good to be up there fish or not, had a buddy take some good pictures of me and my pooch.


174941749217493

[MThompson]

Awesome pictures. In the words of the late great Thomas Hayter, "Timing is Everything".
I actually had a room booked for most of next week but cancelled mainly because I've been kind of a puss lately. Hopefully things go well for those that are willing to put in the effort.

[Bwag]

Awesome pictures. In the words of the late great Thomas Hayter, "Timing is Everything".
I actually had a room booked for most of next week but cancelled mainly because I've been kind of a puss lately. Hopefully things go well for those that are willing to put in the effort.

Luck don’t hurt either! Don’t know if cancelling makes you a puss, we’ve all got our levels of comfort, be it weather, camping conditions or otherwise, no sense in being in that place if you aren’t going to enjoy it. I’m relatively young, don’t mind suffering for the fish or ducks yet I know a day will come when that won’t be the case.

[Jcolin]

I just got back. Mostly fished Happy Camp area, fishing was great then got a bit tougher for me when the algae got bad after returning from the Rogue. My experience was there are way more adults and way less half pounders this season, at least in the runs I like swinging. Lots of 3-5 lb fish and lost a couple quite a bit bigger. Hopefully this rain will clear the river a bit. I still hooked fish in the algae but really don't like fishing in it and start to lose confidence in them being able to see my small wet flies.