Trip report (long)
I took a road trip a couple of weeks ago, and wanted to share some of my travels with everyone.
The first day I got up early and drove from SF to the Klamath to meet WillJ and Sculpin. It was ice-in-the-guides cold, but we braved the conditions and managed to get into some fish. Most of the fish we caught were in the 18-20 inch range. I'd call them half-pounders, but I've heard that the Klamath fish are quite small, so I can't say for sure. Anyhow, it was a fun to fish with nice guys like Will and Marc, and set the trip off to a good start.
From there I continued North to stay at WillJ's place in Ashland for three days. It was really nice to hang out with Will and his family for a couple of days, and fishing the Rogue was really just a bonus. We had heard that there hadn't been many fish over Gold Ray damn in the previous week, so the first day we went to the Upper River. It was still cold, and the fishing was a bit slow, but I managed to land my first Rogue fish and avoid the smell of skunk.
The next two days we fished lower down the river, upstream from Tou Vale park. The fishing wasn't easy - tough wading, throwing big, heavy flies with long leaders, and cold conditions, but we toughed it out and managed to get into some fish each day.
After that I jumped back into the car and headed South. The weather man was calling for rain and the Trinity was calling my name. I stopped to fish the Klamath for about an hour or so on the way, landing one smallish fish. The weather man didn't lie for once, and it started pouring rain, so I packed it in and headed to the T.
I woke up on Monday morning to find that it was still raining - hard. I later found out that they had received almost four inches of rain from Sunday to Monday up there. On my way to the river I passed several creeks, including Weaver creek, that were just dumping chocolate milk into the river. I did what any semi-respectable fisherman does in such circumstances, and drove up to the hatchery to watch the fish stacking up below the gate. It was actually pretty cool to see. After that, I spent the rest of the morning driving around, checking out access points, and looking to see if anything was actually fishable. Turned out that there was about a mile and a half of fishable water between the Old Bridge and Rush Creek. Of course, every fisherman and boat within a fifty mile radius were crammed into this stretch, but I came to fish, so I donned the waders and rain jacket and went looking for some open water. Turns out I found some, and even managed to high-stick a couple of nice fish to boot.
The next day I was on it early, hiking down from the old bridge just as it was starting to get light. I managed three adults and a half-pounder before the first boat came through. About five minutes later, the river started turning brown right before my eyes. When I got back to the car, I discovered the culprit - the small creek just below the bridge was now a swift flowing, coffee-coloured stream. With more rain in the forecast, I decided to call it quits, packed the car, and got the flock out of there.
You'd think after taking a trip like that I would have satisfied my fishing jones for a while, but the opposite seems to be true. I think I may just have caught the steelhead bug.I'll leave you guys with some pics.
WillJ and Sculpin on the Klamath
WillJ with a Klamath half-pounder
My first Rogue steelie
A cold morning on the Rogue.
WillJ freezing his salmon eggs off.
Fish on!
WillJ with a hog.
Yeehaa!
WilJ (incase anyone forgot)
A nice Rogue steelie
Trinity steel
Fattie!
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