The recent cooler weather and today’s rain are welcomed changes to the steelhead fishing conditions here on the Klamath. This week’s typical fishing day produced 1-2 small adults, 4-6 half pounders and a dozen or so trout and smelt. River temperatures were still 67-68 degrees in the main stem Klamath and in the 65-66 degree range near the creek mouths. Guess where we focused our fishing attention!
I got to fish this week with a long term Marble Mountain Ranch guest, Carl L. and his daughter Heidi. Carl is pushing 80 years old and is still wade fishing. However, his knees and ankles are not quite what they have been in years past, and so now I am honored to have him and his daughter as fishing guests on my boat. I thoroughly enjoyed trading stories about favorite fishing holes, flies, and how he has always fished with a rod no bigger than a 4 wt. He actually did quite well landing a nice adult with the noodle of a 4 wt, but his daughter Heidi caught her largest ever adult steelhead on my Sage Z axis 7 wt. So, Carl did finally admit that there might be an argument for a rod larger than a 4 wt for Klamath steelheading. It was also good fun, having Carl catch his adult on one of my secret “boat flies” I call the “Paris Hilton”….more on this fly in some other entry!
I do not think that today’s rain will be sufficient to flush out the summer moss, but we are getting some cooler and shorter days, and a bit of rain. I look forward to increasingly productive days here on the Mid Klamath and Lower Klamath Rivers. Doug