We (Eric O. and myself) fished in the Orleans area Thurs-Sat. Eric arrived on Thursday and got a few nice 1/2 pounders up to 19". I arrived Thurs evening. We fished a couple of our favorite spots on Friday with marginal results. Only a few hp's each, nothing to write home about. No fish over 18", except a 20" jack salmon, which was in really nice shape.
Saturday morning, as we were preparing to head to the river, our neighbor at the campground came up and asked us if we wanted to float the river with him, as his shuttle partners wouldn't be coming until Monday. Of course we obliged and had a great float from Ulathorne down to Big Bar. However, the fishing was pretty slow again. We all managed some hp's, but again......nothing of any size, the largest fish being 19" or so.
We definitely saw lots of fish splashing and moving up through tailouts, but they just didn't seem to be real grabby this time around. Water temps were nice and cool, flows were perfect, crowds non-existent, weather perfect, etc. But the fishing was very slow for us.
Maybe we were late to the party and missed the first good push of fish? Who knows. But next year, we're not waiting around for reports. Gonna head up there maybe a week or two earlier. When I lived in Eureka, I used to do really good up in Orleans the first two weeks of September. So that's the plan for next year.
All in all, it's always a great trip to the Klamath, but the fishing has definitely slowed the last few years for reasons unknown to me.
~Jeff
Bookmarks