Days 93 to 96 on Klamath River

Photo Credit: Scott Caldwell

by Scott Caldwell
1-16-2024
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It has been quite an eventful time on the Klamath river to say the least. My guys Brad, Jack and Josh were able to have some awesome Winter Steelhead fishing wrapped around some crazy weather and unexpected muddy dam water release. 

Days 93, 94 and 95 prior to Jan 11th, were awesome except for day 94. The dam folks decided to open the drawdown valve a bit and allow Irongate to begin to flow out and clear the pipe. Of course, no one let us know this was happening. We'll we caught a fish early on, then the mud caught us. We tried to waited it out, as well as the crazy wind, but the muddy water never cleared up enough to fish.

Well, days 93 an 95, were what the Klamath has been know for and that is spoiling those that have come to fish her with me. Brad on day 93 had a 20 fish day, 15 of which were beautiful adult Steelies.

Day 95 with Jack an Josh was quite the snowy Winter Steelhead adventure. The guys had a double digit day and caught some beautiful big adults, and finished the day on the Klamath ""as we have known her"" with a beautiful adult hen on the last stretch before taking out.

Day 96, January 11, 2024, turned out to be the day, that I was told, it was going to be. They opened the valve and began the process that willchange the Klamath River as we have known her. The draw down began around 945am and with it came a flow increase that topped out near 2600cfs and muddy muddy muddy water. I put on just before the release and rode down to Klamathon bridge with it.

Since the release, the river settled pretty quickly down to a steady flow of 2180cfs and the muddy water cleared up in less than 24 hours and looked to like the super fishy color that is was in the days leading up to the release.

This is was pretty good too see and even though we has since had quite a rain storm that colored it river up a bit more than I like, a buddy an I got out and caught fish in it on Sunday.

What this means for now is, there should be some more fishable days before they begin digging out Irongate reservoir. The flow is suppose to stay consistent for the next couple months, and as long as the color is good the Klamath will be fishable. Give me a call 530 905 0758 and we can talk about it. and put a trip Steelhead trip together.

Checkout the pictures and enjoy , I will be setting my booth up tomorrow at the Sportsmans Expo in Sacramento ( Jan 18th - 21st) come by and see me and let's put some trips together for 2024.