Klamath: The Whole Shebang

The Klamath is "The Whole Shebang," it has awesome scenery, good fishing for resident rainbows, steelhead, and incredible water. I had an opportunity to float with my good friend Steve Pereira out of Chico, CA and Craig Nielson of Shasta Trout down the Klamath in search of metalheads... this was my first time on the Klamath and it was one I will not soon forget. We floated the upper river and were accompanied by a few other guide boats. Not very long into our float Steve cranked on a few half pounders and got the skunk off the boat. After Craig back rowed several times in the sweet run I was able to jump a nice steelhead and manage to get rid of it. Not too long after that we continued down the river and continued to hammer on chrome. We had close to 40 opportunities and landed about half that. Steve was the king of the day landing one nice 5-6lb hen and lost another one that may have broke the 10 mark.

If you are looking for a great experience on the Klamath I highly recommend Craig, additionally, he currently has a few prime-time spots open.

Craig and Steve

Halfie

Steve and the Victory Dance

The Billy Goat Rules

Delta: Top-Water... Do You Have the Faith?

Do I have the faith....hmmm... when it comes to top-water stripers in November I had no faith until I fished with Kevin Doran of Delta Adventures. I had an opportunity to fish with Kevin and my good friend Mike Reymann on the Delta. Within minutes after we launched we were at our first spot... Kevin asks us, "Do you have the faith"? Mike and I said..."uuuuuhhh... what do you mean"? Kevin wanted to see if we had faith is raising stripes to the top... first spot, first few casts, WHAM, Mike got a good eat and nice schoolie. At that point Mike had the faith. I on the other hand did not have the faith yet as I had not gotten eaten. We went over to another spot and again... WHAM, Mike gets eaten, another 4-6lber. After the sun had a chance to get up we left the faith (against "guidance") and went down with clousers. Once again....WHAM, Mike gets another fish, this one was HOT, it took him for a sweet ride. Mike landed the purple-back, pink-lipped razorback and she came in around 7lbs (we were shocked how hot this fish was). We proceed to hammer on fish subsurface until the tides changed....

The afternoon was sweet, I finally found the faith... As we approached this spot Kevin asked us again." Do you have the faith"? Mike and I knew what that meant... TOP-WATER! We worked the water for a while and out of now where a nice swirl toilet-bowled my fly, Kevin walked me through the enticement process... keep popping, keep it moving, don't speed up... then like a Great White shark breaching on a seal a nice striper blasted me. I missed several others do to my awesome "trout-set". We got a nice largey on top as well.

One of the best eats of the day came on Mike's rod, this fish swirled his fly, Mike worked the fly all the way to the boat with no follow. He hucked it back in and began to work the fly back to the boat. All three of us were frozen, my heart was beating like crazy, Mike couldn't stand still and Kevin knew what was coming... right at the boat-SWOOSH, this balisitc striper ripped Mike and took him for a ride.

All in all a great day, thanks to Mike and Kevin for a much needed day on the Delta. I highly recommend Delta Adventures to anyone who is looking to spend a fulfilling day on the Delta and see what the top-water game is really all about.

A few top-water fish pics...

Mike bent

Kevin and Mike... "yup, top-water... ya gotta have faith"

Not on a clouser

Sweet boat

Where was this fish durring the tournament STARR?

Fishing Reports: Lower Sacramento

Overall fishing on the Sac has been good. The egg bite has slowed down, but the feeding still continues. There are good numbers of steelhead from Balls Ferry south. Almost everyday we hook fish that go well into the backing and are never seen again. There were a few days last week where the water flows were very inconsistent and made for some tough days, however, the flows are in the process of stabilizing now. The flows are now below 4k, if have been waiting to wade the Sac, now is the time.

I will post images when I get them.

Fishing Reports: Feather

Overall the Feather has been very slow... I spent 8 days on the Feather and had a wide range of results. I guided Ron Lewis and Lincoln Gray of Tie-Fast a week ago and hooked into more than a dozen fish, we hooked fish of all sizes; halfies, juveniles and adults. I was hopeful for the next day... The next day we hooked 3... the day after that 2... day after that 6... and so on. There was one other day where we hooked 10. I am not sure where the fish are but I am hopeful the fish are on the way. I will be looking into December for prime conditions. There are decent numbers of fish in upper river; however, there has been a fair amount of pressure. For those of you that are looking to hook steelhead this year keep an eye on the Feather, I have my fingers crossed that the end of November and most of December will be on.

If you are planning on fishing the Feather arm yourself with egg patterns, caddis and small mayflies. With warmer water temps give the swing a go...

Here are a few shots from the Feather....