Well, the Winter and Spring storms seem to have brought us a “NORMAL” amount of rain-faill. The Klamath River is consistently high now. I spent several days fishing over the last few weeks, and found conditions to be extremely difficult for taking steelhead on the fly. The river was flowing arount 10,000 cfs in Orleans but the weather was enjoyably warm. My first two days were a complete “skunk” fishing in the Somes Bar area. I tried dead-drifting dropper rigs under indicators along the slower margins near the bank, and at any place that looked like the current would be slow enough to allow a good presentation.
The problem with the day though, was that the spots that were slow enough to fish were small and isolated. I could not effectively access them from the bank, or from the boat. While in the boat, the currents just pulled me down stream relentlessly, towing my indicator under water and out into the main current with my speedy boat.
On my last attempt, I moved up above Happy Camp, and was able to locate some fishable water early in the day. The results were: Two half pounders.
Summary, At this point, it seems that the smaller fish populations of the “Spring” run diluted into the enourmous flows of the Klamath at this time of the year are going to make fishing the mid-klamath a tough game. My suggestion is to fish as far up-stream as you can and get into smaller volumes of water.
I am going to close this entry with a picture of a pair of spawning salmon. We did’nt see enough of this this Fall, and I hope the players in the water quality issue can get things figured out to preserve our fragile fishery. See you on the river, Doug