Klamath River Fish Report for 12-4-2008


by Scott Caldwell
12-4-2008
Website

As it is with most activities, the more time you put in, the more you get out of it. Fishing is one of those activities, where time on the water, eventually pays off. The last couple of times the fishing on the Klamath River was good, but the Steelhead were small. Yesterday, I put in a few hours of fishing, in the late afternoon, and I was rewarded with five nice 3/4 to 1 1/2-pound Wild Steelhead and one 8-pound Hatchery Steelhead. The wild steelies were all caught on the hotshot and worm combo, and the big boy took a large stonefly imitation, fished under an indictor. Most of the time fish stories are about the one that got away, but I guess I got lucky this time. I was drifting out in front of the Fishhook restaurant when my indicator went under the water; I pulled up figuring I was snagged on the bottom. I thought this because I was watching the bushes that were scraping along the side of my drift boat. When I felt I was clear of the brush, I turned to see my indicator had gone under. To my surprise, the snag was a nice Steely and the fight was on. I was using a very light 8-foot Rogue Rod 4wt fly rod so most fish feel big. The fight was not very long and I brought the Steely to the side of the boat. I was able to see it was nice fish, but I wasn’t to sure how nice. The moment that followed is what all fisherman dread, the feeling of the line going limp and the fish swimming away.  As you can guess that’s what happened, I quickly brought my line up to check it, cursing all along, I made another cast hoping to get a second chance. Rarely do you get second chance but luck must have been on my side and another fish took my fly. This time I was ready. The second hookup felt bigger and the Steelhead immediately ripped off all my fly line and got fairly deep into my backing, before I was able to turn him and gain some back. This give and take session lasted for about 15 minutes, before I got him close enough to see that he was much bigger, than I thought. Finally, Mr. Steelhead made one big jump followed by a short burst, but he was done and this time when he came along side of the boat I was able to slide the net under him and enjoy the moment. Time on the water paid off!!

****Click on the PHOTO link below to see the pics of the day****