Help with Klamath River!

Good morning folks. In Sept. I will be going to the Klamath river to swing the spey rod for a few days. My buddy and I are camping at Kamp Klamath and currently going over our options where to head in and where to focus our attention. Can anyone give any advice? We plan to stay within the section from the blue creek confluence to the mouth. We will be walk/wading. It's our first trip and basically any help is appreciated.

I have been wanting to focus on trying the section listed above, however, after some research, the wading seems limited, my question is how limited for spey? would we be better off fishing between the salmon and trinity section?

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Originally Posted by Twowheelsonecamera

Good morning folks. In Sept. I will be going to the Klamath river to swing the spey rod for a few days. My buddy and I are camping at Kamp Klamath and currently going over our options where to head in and where to focus our attention. Can anyone give any advice? We plan to stay within the section from the blue creek confluence to the mouth. We will be walk/wading. It's our first trip and basically any help is appreciated.

I have been wanting to focus on trying the section listed above, however, after some research, the wading seems limited, my question is how limited for spey? would we be better off fishing between the salmon and trinity section?

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My advice: do not go unless we have a ton of rain.

If the weather remains record highs and if the water in the Klamath will be as low as predicted, you will see fish kills that exceed those in 2002 when 35 -70,000 fish died.

I was helping count dead fish on the Klamath in 2002 and I can still smell the fish plus I can still remember how I had to wade through dead fish to get to the river. Don't think the smell and images will ever leave.



Jim

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Originally Posted by JayDubP

My advice: do not go unless we have a ton of rain.

If the weather remains record highs and if the water in the Klamath will be as low as predicted, you will see fish kills that exceed those in 2002 when 35 -70,000 fish died.

I was helping count dead fish on the Klamath in 2002 and I can still smell the fish plus I can still remember how I had to wade through dead fish to get to the river. Don't think the smell and images will ever leave.



Jim

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Appreciate the heads up sir. I think this season is looking pretty dry. I checked out flows and such for the Klamath today, very similar story as to all the other rivers in California, flows are well over 60% below average. Our second thought was trying the Rogue River just over the state border. We will just have to keep an eye on weather and the fire season as part of NorCal already has a few fires starting up. Id really like to fish the klamath before the dam removals occur just to see how it is before, as well as avoiding the effects on the river it will have during this phase.

I spent 2 months, Aug-Sep, a few years ago at Kamp Klamath as a work camper. Nice enough CG but the fishing wasn’t worth the effort. The mouth opened up for a short time but that’s not Spey water. Up from the mouth is Klamath Glen and that’s about the first riffle. I spent a lot of very early mornings at the Glen and actually caught several salmon but had to resort to fishing beads to do it. I did manage to catch a half pounder on my spey.

We moved up to Gold Beach in late September and stayed till we were rained out and really liked it. Way better river access! Oh yeah, the RV parks are better to. I will say that the stretch of beach by the mouth of the Klamath is excellent fishing for surf perch! In summary I’ll agree with JayDubP. The Rouge is a better bet all things considered.

I guess you will have a jet boat ?

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Originally Posted by Bill Kiene semi-retired

I guess you will have a jet boat ?

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I was going to fish the Klamath last Aug/Sept swinging switch rod for half pounders with a new jet boat I bought. Always heard the first 15 miles or so could be lots of fun, however, upon researching it more, and with great input from Brian Clemens and others, I learned that the fish would be better off without me when the water is so warm. As of yesterday, the K at Klamath Glen was 74 degrees, just way to warm to fish. I think that swinging fun will have to wait until a wetter year when the system has cooler water coming out of the system.

As for the Roger, I was up there last week visiting family, who are all fisherman. Due to the low and warm water, ODFW shut down the Rogue from 10am to early evening to give the fish a chance. The first I have ever heard of that in over 30 years. The big tourist jet boats typically run to mid-September; not this year, mid-July.

I believe most of the Oregon summer run rivers have the hoot owl restrictions, I know the Rogue and North Umpqua do. Believe that those last until Sept 30?

Not much wading access. To fish up there you’ll need a sled. I’d wait till mid October and focus from Orleans up

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Originally Posted by TaylerW

Not much wading access. To fish up there you’ll need a sled. I’d wait till mid October and focus from Orleans up

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Exactly......or fish the lower Rogue river in Sept that has good road access.