Three Rivers. Five Days. Steelhead.

[Clayman]

Three rivers.  Five days.  680 miles.  Steelhead.  Yes, that about sums it up .

Alright, I’ll elaborate.  From November 9 to the 13, I did nothing but eat crappy food, camp, sleep (a little), drive, and fish for steelhead.  Steelhead stalkin’ took place on the Klamath, Salmon, and Trinity rivers.  All three were productive, and I enjoyed tackling each river’s unique challenges and ‘personalities,’ if you will.  I headed west from my mountain abode Wednesday morning.  First stop: the Big K.

Klamath River, near Orleans

One thing’s for sure: you don’t reach this section of the Klamath River by accident!  This part of the river is much quieter than the lower section near Highway 101, most likely because it takes so damn long to get here.  Took me a little over 4.5 hours to reach Weitchpec (at the confluence of the Klamath and Trinity rivers), and I’ll admit that it was VERY tempting to stop on the Trinity along Highway 299 for some roadside steelhead action.  But I had a schedule to keep, and I was running late.  So I bit my lip and kept on driving.  Met up with my fellow steelheaders at Aikens Creek Campground, about 8-10 miles downstream of Orleans.  Campground was deserted, which is typical for November.  The other guys had been fishing the Salmon River most of the day for some good action on halfpounders, but no adult steelhead.  We decided to hit the Big K for some evening fishing.  First stop was a riffle near Slate Creek, and within two casts, I was hooked up!  But wait…

Ah, a crusty jack Chinook that found my dime-sized piece of roe too tempting to resist.  Not a steelhead, but whatever puts a bend in the rod is cool with me.  We fished this spot for another 30 minutes for nada.

Moved back to camp and fished the riffle at the confluence of Aikens Creek.  First cast in the riffle with a size 3 copper Mepps spinner, and…

Klamath steel!  This is about the typical size for an adult Klamath River steelhead.  The vast majority of Klamath River steelhead are wild, and after a quick photo, back in the river she went.  Not two casts later, and I hooked up again!  Damn, this trip is starting out great!

My steelhead fishing partners have nicknamed me “the Barbarian” because I typically use bait and hardware when targeting steelhead.  They’re mostly flyfishermen.  But, they like inviting me on these trips because there’s a lot of water that cannot be fished effectively with the fly rod.  When there’s a slot 60+ feet across the river, a fly guy won’t reach it.  When the water’s deeper than 10 feet, a fly guy can’t fish it.  When you have 3-4 different current lanes between you and a prime-looking seam, a fly guy is just plain outta luck.  That’s partly why swinging flies is so popular on the Klamath (IMO anyway).  But when the water’s cold like it is in November, you’re unlikely to tempt an adult steelhead to chase a swung fly.  Halfpounders maybe, but not adults.

The next morning, we busted out the boats to cover the Orleans section of river.  A relatively short float of a few miles, but there’s a lot of prime steelhead water here.  Matt and the other two guys posted up on the drift boat, while I manned the oars of my old pontoon boat.  I’m much more familiar with my kayak, but my Ranger didn’t have room for it.  I figured the pontoon boat would suffice.  Here’s the launch at Orleans.

We had this entire section of river to ourselves this day!  Never saw another angler.

At our first riffle, I hooked up on a STRONG fish that tore downstream about 50 yards.  After much chasing and hoopla, we brought him to the net.  The Barbarian strikes again!

The copper Mepps works wonders on Klamath and Trinity steelhead.  The rest of the day consisted of halfpounders.  Lots and lots of halfpounders.  Both the fly guys and myself were hooking up on halfies.  They look like little 12-18 inch trout.  Innocent enough, but imagine if these ‘trout’ were injected with steroids and force-fed a few Red Bulls.  Then you’d have yourself a halfpounder.


Crazy leaps, lightning-fast runs, zig-zagging all over the place…you’re lucky if you land half the halfpounders you hook.  They were quite partial to beadhead prince nymphs under an indicator, copper Mepps spinners, and roe.  I think everyone landed at least 7 or 8 of these scrappers.

I topped things off with yet another darky jack Chinook, boondogging roe through a deep pool while on my pontoon boat.  Things got a little hairy when my anchor was refusing to catch bottom as I was fighting the fish and the current was pushing me downriver.  I had to stick the pole in between my legs and half-row towards softer water so the anchor would catch.  But I got it done.


Salmon River, near Forks of the Salmon

And I thought the middle Klamath was remote.  You have to continue up Highway 96 beyond Orleans to the Salmon River Road turnoff, then you drive several more miles on a two-lane road that transforms into a one-lane cliffhanger.  This isn’t even the scariest part of the road.  I swear, at one point the bank is undercut beneath the road.

We started things off at Nordheimer Campground, and finished near the community of Forks of the Salmon.  Of course, there was a whole lotta nobody out here.  I stowed the gear on this day, and stuck exclusively to using my 5-weight.  Flyfishing definitely isn’t my strong suit, but the Salmon is a small river.  I would’ve felt silly using my 8.5 foot spinning rods here.  Nymphing is the name of the game on this small water.  We used glo-bugs with various nymph droppers under an indicator.  We couldn’t find the adult steelies, but we did tie into some halfpounders/resident trout hanging below actively spawning salmon.




Even though the fishing wasn’t red-hot on the Salmon, I must say that she is one GORGEOUS river.  The water was ridiculously clear.  Salmon redds were all over the place.  No people, no dams, and no hatcheries.  The fish here are pure.  I must return to this place in pursuit of an adult steelhead, on the fly rod.  Totally on the bucket list.


Stopped on the Klamath that evening on the drive back, and I hooked up on a solid fish on my 5-weight. “Adult!” I shouted in delight, with the rod doubled over with something heavy.  But…ah man!

For some reason, this Crusty McCrust of a jack wanted to eat my fly.  What were you thinking??


Trinity River, Cedar Flat to Pigeon Point

By this point, our group of anglers was fracturing.  People had to return to their real lives.  And the guy who was going to fish with me through Sunday was coming down with a bad cold, and the prospect of wading around in a freezing river in November did not convince him to stay.  I had no obligations, minus showing up for work on Monday.  I had plenty of food.  And I really wanted to fish the good old Trinity.  So we all parted on our separate ways from Aikens Creek on Friday evening, and I bombed back to Highway 299, heading upstream (east).  Made camp in the dark at Hayden Flat, near Del Loma, with the campground deserted.  Woke up the next morning and got into “Harvest Mode,” putting away the fly rod and busting out the spinners and roe.  I love steelhead, and I also love eating hatchery steelhead.  I’ll do what it takes to catch them, and I’m just plain more proficient at being a Barbarian than I am at being a Gentleman .

I won’t go into a play-by-play on my two days of fishing the Trinity, for that would take forever.  I covered a ton of different roadside spots, some of which were reliable producers of fish and some of which were new to me.  Halfpounders were out in force, and I seemed to find at least one or two at each stop.


I also found a few adult steelhead in between the halfpounders.  Four hatchery fish and two wild.



Oh yes…there will be blood.

Typically, if there was an adult in a riffle, you’d hook up on your first or second cast.  So if I covered all the good-looking slots with a spinner or roe, I would hop in the Ranger and move on to the next run.  It can get exhausting, but it works.  I camped alone at Hayden for two nights.  Seems everyone else was concentrating on the upper river this weekend.  There may be a few more fish up there, but I’d much rather ditch the crowds and fish the middle section for maybe fewer fish.  Honestly, they seemed evenly spread all the way to Cedar Flat.

In the end, I ended up bonking two hatchery adult steelhead for the trip home.  Both 24 inchers.  Eight adults landed, probably over 20 halfpounders, a few crusty jack Chinook.  The average size steelhead on the Trinity this year seems small this year.  Whose arm do you have to twist to hook a fish over 26 inches?  Same thing with the salmon.  I saw tons and tons of salmon carcasses along the river, but over 90 percent of them were small jacks or jills under 24 inches in length.  I don’t know why the fish are so small this year.  Ocean conditions perhaps?  Or maybe they’ve figured out that they’re fair game to saltwater anglers when they grow big, and would rather take their chances in the river .

No monster fish were caught.  Nor did we catch huge numbers of adults.  But I’ll always remember this experience.  Such an amazing trip.  I freaking love steelhead.

See ya next time buddy.

[dilbeck]

Man I love your reports!  Felt like I was there.

[racinrob]

Awesome report.

[bwodun]

wow, another great report, thanks, cameron

[Bird]

Sweet report Chris, got my juices pumping! Awesome having the river to yourselves.  Thanks!   

[BANJOTAD]

Great road trip Chris
Cool report/pics
Thanks for sharing,
Tad
 

[ravensblack]

Damn Chris, THAT was fun. Your reports are beyond and above most. The pics are great. We used to go up the Salmon right there at Soames Bar. During the week you would have to wait for a logging truck to follow up or down so you didnt meet one on that little section I called the death zone. hehe. Right before the cliff section theres a huge hole down in the river  canyon. Its a bicth to get down to but its huge. You are living the great life right now man. Cheers!

[DrDave]

WTG Excellent report... like we were there...

[InSeine]

NIce work man.  What a trip.

[golfish]

Awesome report, totally jealous! Fall steelheading is my favorite fishing. What a season for jacks on the K and they're still in there. A few weeks ago on the Upper K they were everywhere and ridiculously grabby (foul hooked only a few), fun on 4 and 5wts. Looks like you got some excellent weather for November as well. Man, I wish I was up there.

I still gotta send you some flies, just haven't had much time at the vise. My reserves are all gone, tying only what I need for that day. Once it starts raining I'll get some time in and send you some.

[LoletaEric]

Great report.  No exclamation point on that last sentence because we're used to great reports from you.     Nicely done as always, and congrats on such a fun trip.   

[Fish Master1]

Fanstastic report!! Thanks for bringing us along! Mad props to your camera man! Great pics bro!!!!

[RHYAK]

Some good pics there man looks like you had a good 5 days.

Gave me an idea to fish the trinity on Wednesday instead of the Smith will wait till after the rain for the smith and fish the trinity before the blow-out...

Thanks for sharing your trip...

[otobepelagic]

Beautiful Scenery and Great Reports.....

[Rockroach]

WTG! I was up in that area the week before and can't wait until I'm up the again in a few days. You just can't beat that area! U definitely did it right by going for five days.  Sweet report and great pictures, Thanks