The K - Not Its Best Day

[John H]

The Klamath at I-5 is looking like half water and half lake bottom sediment. I have not seen anything like it. It is a bad time to be a fish in the Klamath but I guess you have to get it out of there somehow. Hopefully it will move through fast and better days will come for the river. A hundred years of sediment and other crap coming down all at once.

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[MThompson]

That's discouraging. I guess I should be glad a got to fish it a few times before all this. So what do all the scientists say about a return to normalcy? Years? Decades?

[Bill Kiene semi-retired]

Wow John, looks like you could plow and plant that river now.





I was so fortunate to be able to fish with Joe Shirshac in the 1960s on the middle Klamath River.

We stayed in Joe's trailer and then drove, parked, walked down to runs and fished.

Not many drift boats in those days, not like today.

Joe liked to fish from Johnson's Bar upstream to Happy Camp.

Because of Joe taking us youngsters up there, we learned his runs.



Later, I was also very fortunate to get to go with Terry Thomas and his bunch to fish the Lower Klamath River.

With their good jet boat guide, we fished from Klamath Glenn upstream to above Johnson's Bar.

That lower river is wide and open with gravel and good for old farts like me.



Sadly, I might never get back to that amazing river, but I had some great fishing there.



If they get the dams out it should be better eventually.

Those shallow lakes on the Klamath above I-5 get real mucking in the late summer.



Back in the day, we would get the Klamath River folks into the shop in August getting ready for the Fall fishing.

[fivefingers]

When they took out the Elwa, steelhead returned past the dam (after it being there for about a century), and were seen redding up, after a few years. Nature is incredibly resilient if you leave it alone.

[MThompson]

When they took out the Elwa, steelhead returned past the dam (after it being there for about a century), and were seen redding up, after a few years. Nature is incredibly resilient if you leave it alone.

That's what I'm hoping.

[Bill Kiene semi-retired]

They are removing many dams now, World wide.

Stream restoration is happening a lot now too.

Most dams removed are smaller or not useful anymore.



In our Baby Boomer's lifetimes, after World War II, me born in 1945, they built most of the big dams in America.

It is heart warmer for me to see them coming down now, where possible.

Imagine the conditions of some of the rivers in the future with no dams.

Not just the return of our salmon and steelhead but hundreds of different aquatic life like Eels, Shad, smelt, etc.


For those born in 1980 and later, I don't think they got to see the quality of our fishing and hunting in Northern California.

[winxp_man]

That's what I'm hoping.

It will be all good 100% how many dam removals have taken place where fish came back and did their thing? Quite a few now. Given the chance the wild life does what it needs to do. ;)

[MThompson]

That sounds good. I've seen some recent drone footage on YouTube of the river running through the dams. Cool to watch. Hopefully we have decent runoff for awhile to flush things out. I couldn't help but wonder how the river will be in extremely dry years down the road without any storage. I guess we'll see

[Bill Kiene semi-retired]

After all 4 dams are down we will need a "100-year flood" again like in 1955 and 1964.

It might not affect me but I am excited that the America's grandchildren will be able to fish some free-flowing wild rivers.

[mogaru]

In this case, how do we know that something went very wrong? Easy, the media is not doing their job which is informing all of us of this catastrophe. I would like to be positive but at the same time I have to be realistic and something tells me that 100 years of muck, won't be swept in a few months, specially in a warm and dry state. I encourage everybody to get informed on this issue. There is another thread open under the conservation tab, which touches the impact on local residents water wells and wildlife.

[Larry S]

The state of Maine has had some notable successes with dam removals on rivers
such as the Kennebec and Penobscot. Granted, comparing California/Oregon to
Maine is sorta apples and oranges; still, there is hope.
Best to all,
Larry S
Sun Diego

[Fishtopher]

In this case, how do we know that something went very wrong? Easy, the media is not doing their job which is informing all of us of this catastrophe. I would like to be positive but at the same time I have to be realistic and something tells me that 100 years of muck, won't be swept in a few months, specially in a warm and dry state. I encourage everybody to get informed on this issue. There is another thread open under the conservation tab, which touches the impact on local residents water wells and wildlife.

There's tons of articles about the removal and some of the negative impacts that are being seen. Just because there are a few crazies who peddle misinformation about the removal doesn't mean the media is complicit in some cover up.

There was never any doubt that the first few months were going to be catastrophic for fish and wildlife in the immediate reaches around the lakes. Its well described in the EIS and is something that is being observed now. Hundreds of thousands if not millions of fish have perished (almost entirely invasive perch and sunfish) that previously lived in the lakes. There was an area below Iron Gate where the dissolved oxygen went to 0 and probably killed all the salmon eggs in that section. Keep in mind that the water conditions that the dams created kill millions of juvenile salmonids annually. The disease conditions affect fish not only in the Klamath but also fish from the tributaries like the Scott, Salmon, Shasta, and Trinity. Dam removal should significantly reduce the water quality and disease issues in the Klamath which are probably the biggest limiting factor for fish production.

[John H]

Fishtopher -

Thanks for your comments. It is nice to hear from someone who is well informed. In five years I will swing up a nice fall steelhead in clear, cold water and there will be no doubt the dam removal was a great benefit. In the meantime, I will fish for bass and stripers. :)

[TaylerW]

I’ve seen the Klamath almost everyday this season starting in late November. From the slides that resulted from the McKinney fire it was muddy with even a slight rain. Was here when the opened the doors on the dams. I’m optimistic but cautious. It’s been flowing pretty heavy with all the rain lately, the level recently dropped. The amount of silt and muck built up in every slow spot and corner is astonishing. It will take a significant amount of rain to clear this out.

[Bill Kiene semi-retired]

I fished the Klamath in the 1960s and on with local legend Joe Shirshac when the campgrounds were full of old folks in travel trailers

who spent a month to three months up there. The Half-pound runs and some medium size fish were plentiful.

In the 1950s when Joe first fly fished the Klamath he said the fish were larger, around 6 pounds on average.

Back in the 1960s we were first fishing with 9' #9 line 2-piece fiberglass Fenwick fly rods, large Pflueger Medalist or Hardy fly feels,

Dacron backing, 100' of mono shooting line, and 30' factory shooting head in type 2 and type 3 sink rates.

We used mostly size 6 Silver Hilton and Brindle Bug wet flies. Not much variety back then.

We used seamless rubber Seal-Dri stocking foot waders with canvas felt sole wading shoes.


Joe liked to fish from Johnson's Bar up to Happy Camp, depending on where the fish were.

We usually ate dinner at the Orleans Hotel where we met other anglers and exchanged our day's fishing reports.

Joe knew all the places to park at the trail heads to hike down into the canyons where the good riffles were.

We never ate breakfast because Joe liked to be on the runs as we could just barely see so we drove with headlights on

and hiked down into the runs with flashlights. A 10-pound Steelhead in the Fall was extremely rare and might not be landed by most.

Adult fish were 4 to 8 pounds and were extremely violent fish. We rarely saw any drift boats on the water in the 1960s.

One morning at Ice Cream riffle we landed a dozen fish that were all 22 1/2 inches and screamers. Close to 4 pounds we guessed.

Back then I thought that when I retired I would have a trail trailer up on the Klamath River in September, October, and part of

November, but sadly, it never happened.


At 79 and living in Florida it is most likely I will not be doing any of my favorite fly fishing, Fall Steelheading, but am excited to see

dam removals, Worldwide, and the prospects of wild Steelhead and salmon running freely up cold, clear rivers.





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