Klamath Report

[Rick J]

Bruce Slightom and I fished the lower Klamath on Saturday and had a great day - landed 30 half pounders and two adults. That being said, I would say there are not alot of fish in the river yet - we just lucked into a few groups of the half pounders and they were there in numbers but not in alot of other runs. It was very smoky due to the Orleans fire.

The river has changed tremendously from the winter storms when the river was flowing at close to 500,000 cfs - I do not think Blue Creek will hold fish - all the gravel bars are gone and it is just one deep slot through there with one short section that looks like it will fish - this is a real bummer because it was nice when everyone would go staight to Blue Creek and terrorize the fish leaving much of the rest of the river to the rest of us!

[Bill Kiene semi-retired]

Great Rick,

Can you describe where you fished. What areas?

Can you talk about the tackle and flies you were using?

Thanks.....

[matt johnson]

Hi Rick,

A friend and I fished the lower Klamath for the first time this past Thursday/Friday with mixed results.

We only came up with three fish on Thursday, all on nymphs under an indicator. I stuck with traditional presentations all day Thursday and into Friday morning. We fished all types of classic steelhead water and I tossed everything at them. I tried big flies, small flies, swinging nymphs, floating lines, type 3 tips, T-14, two-handers, single-handers.... I did not get a grab on Thursday. I finally caught one small half-pounder on an Assasin Friday morning in the bottom of Starwein riffle. Meanwhile, three guide boats and my buddy fishing an indicator at the top of the run were slaying the fish. I threw all of the traditional crap in the bottom of the jet-boat, strung up a six-weight with a floater, long leader, 5 BB shot, glo-bug, and prince nymph and promptly began catching fish at the top of Starwein. It was great. I forgot how much fun chrome half-pounders can be! Between us we hooked about 35-40 fish that morning, mostly half-pounders, with a couple molten 20-22 inchers, and about a 5-6 pound chrome wild hen with sea lice that was so incredible it almost made me cry...

Anyways, like you mentioned, we only found fish in a couple of runs. We spent some time at the famous Blue Creek area, but did not see fish or catch fish there. It did not look like good water to me and has obviously changed. It seems like the fish were in the chop or in adjacent deep runs that the gear boats were catching fish in.

This may sound like a dumb question, but do you catch fish swinging flies on the lower Klamath? On floaters with your bug just sub-surface? Do you catch adults on small flies, like the same ones you are using to catch half-pounders? Is the river always green with all that algea in it? I loved the lower Klamath and will return. It is a little crowded down there but definitely a great wilderness experience. Matt.

[Rick J]

Hi Bill and Matt,
We fished from Cleavland upstream to Mettah. We were strictly using conventional swing techniques using 5 wts and 6 wts though I mostly fished a two hander - both an Andertson 12' 4 wt and a Scott 1287 and Bruce was using a 6 wt Sage 2 hander and a single handed rod with a floater. I was throwing a type 3 on the Scott and a floater on the Anderson and a floater in the evening on a 6 wt. I think Bruce stayed with a floater all day. One adult came on the sink tip and one on the floater.

I used a #6 and #8 bead head moss back most of the day though also had luck on a Klamath Caddis ( a burlap and elk hair pattern) that I fish damp and on a sink tip. I never use large flies and will sometimes go to small caddis for half #'s. Rarely if ever will we indicator fish.

The river always has an algea tinge to it in the summer though it seems a bit heavier this year. The fish really taste horrible due to a muddy flavor so we do dnot ever kill fish in the river - I understand the spring salmon are pretty good though

[Bill Kiene semi-retired]

I have only fished once in that lower river so most of my Klamath River experience has been upriver from Orleans to Happy Camp which I call the middle river. Our favorite time for this part of the river is October.

September is the big month for the lower river although I hear locals fish it starting in July and fish it later than September depending on the weather/flows.

40 years ago we used big 9 weight fiberglass rods and sinking shooting heads with Joe Shirshac. As time went on we switched to 6 weight rods and weight forward floating (green Cortland 444 SL) lines fishing mostly from very early (getting up in the dark) and fishing till 10:00am or so and maybe 4:00pm till dark.

To fish flies with a floating line you need shade on the water your fly is swinging in. This can be from shade depending on which way the river is running. It can also be clouds, fog or even smoke from fires.

I think fishing very early and late is more important early on in the Fall like in August/September. Later in October/November you get more action in the day time too.

With bright sunlight on the water I would now us a 10-15 foot sinktip line with a shorter leader and weighted fly. Some friends use very fast sinking 30' shooting heads or Teeny type 24' sinktips with shorter leaders and weighted flies and some even use indicators mid-day to get down.

The past 20 years I have only take a 6 weight rod with a floating line myself. I guess I don't need to catch them if I have to use more than that or an indicator. I fish for the grab and that grab I am looking for is early and late in the surface film.

My favorite flies would be unweighted size 8/10 so when they are swinging in the surface they actually make a little wake in the smooth water of tail-outs.

Fishing the Klamath with Chris Pasley influenced me to because he went to Humboldt State and was hanging around Time Flies fly shop in Arcadia back then. He used a 9' #4 rod with a floating line on a click and pawl reel with small light flies. He liked the Renegade with a red tail which I got enamored with myself.

Early in the day with no wind it is fun to fish a 4 or 5 weight rod with a floating line and small unweighted #10 flies. You have to have a "ratchet reel" too for the sound effects.

Rick and Bruce lived in Eureka and have guided the river with jet boats so they really know what they are doing. Rick is a great indicator fly fisher but I don't think he feels the need to use it on the Klamath much.

Swing on............well be there late September.

[matt johnson]

Hey Bill and Rick,

Thanks for the great responses. Bill, you have so much wonderfull California flyfishing history locked up in your grey matter. I especially love the people and anecdotes surrounding the steelhead fishing. You really ought to think about putting it all down in a book someday before you get too old and loose all your marbles or something....

Thanks for clarifying your fly selection and presentation Rick. I love the grab, and was really quite exasperated when I could not get those fish to eat on the swing. It may have something to do with the water type we found our school of fish in. It was very fast water and kind of deep....still, a few fish should have whacked at my swung flies.

It is interesting and counter-intuitive to me to use #8 and #10 flies for adult steelhead. Obviously it works. I have probably spent too much time fishing the North Umpqua...It seems that each steelhead fishery has its own quirks.

The other thing I found strange about my trip was the fact that the fishing totally shut down in the evening? We had better fishing in the middle of the day. Perhaps this was again a function of the season or water types we were fishing. Maybe the fish we found in the morning had left? Anyways, I loved those chrome fish and that wild river canyon. I will return. Matt.

[BobT]

I have been fishing the Klamath since the 70's and I have learned that imparting some action into the fly make a big difference. A twitch can make the difference in getting graps like you would not believe. I have used floating, sinking and shooting heads and use can use this technique and it will work.

If you are using a fly with some hackle or a palmered hackle on the body of the fly, I think this imparts action that the half-pounders and adults go after.

When I first started fishing the Klamath I would watch people fish a fly and a bubble (the ones filled with water). The V that the bubble made looks like a waking fly. My theory is that the fish see the V and come up and grap the fly. To further the twitch theory is that when my son was 4 or 5 years old, I would put a fly and bubble on a spinning rod and case it out and let him hold the rod as it drifted. He would not hold the rod steady and jerk it around and the movement of the rod, fly and bubble got him grabs when others fishing did not ever get strikes. This would piss off the other fishermen to no end. We were using the standard brindle bug just like everyone else, but the only difference was the movement of the bubble and fly in the surface film.

After that, I have been using this technique ever since.

[Bill Kiene semi-retired]

Great info BobT

I remember all the "bubble chuckers" back on the Klamath River in '60s and '70s. With long spinning rods and a bubble and standard Steelhead flies like the Brindle Bug they usually kicked our butts.

[Rick J]

Bob- ah yes the old Klamath twitch - I know a number of folks that swear by this and I do it on occasion - for sure it is important to fish the swing all the way through and hold the hang down and impart a twitch or two before picking up and re-casting (water conditions dependent of course). But in riffles when your fly swings into the softer water you will often get grabs at the end if you just let it sit for a bit!

[sculpin]

Matt Johnson wrote

[/quote]The other thing I found strange about my trip was the fact that the fishing totally shut down in the evening? We had better fishing in the middle of the day. Perhaps this was again a function of the season or water types we were fishing. Maybe the fish we found in the morning had left? Anyways, I loved those chrome fish and that wild river canyon. I will return. Matt.

Matt
I think you found some fish that were content to stay where they were and that spot will hold fish from year to year if the river doesn't change during high flows. When you said the fish quit biting when the sun was off the water was the clue for me. When I gear fished a lot on the Rogue and it started getting crowded I always left late so I didn't get in a wad of other boats I would have to wrestle with all day and also show everyone else where to fish so they would be camped in my favorite spots on other trips.I found many places like you described you were fishing and I now fish them mid day with flies. Big heavy bugs are required to reach the fish These spots fish exactly the same as your description when the sun is off the water. I think the fish scatter to feed and some continue on their way to another place they will hold up. Next time you are there try fishing the swing above and below your spot when the sun is off the water, perhaps you will find some action.Some of this fish behavior I think is unique to the Rogue and Klamath summer fish because both runs have a Half Pounder phase and the fish on both rivers spend a lot of time in fresh water. Anyway, I hope this helps on future trips.

Mark