Oct. 20,
2007
Current
Report: Middle Klamath River
Hi Folks,
I got everything moved back home and
started fishing on Thursday the 18th. Fishing was decent. We mostly
fished plugs and flies. We landed about 10 half pounders and only
one adult to the boat. We did loose a few big ones. The one big one
we landed was a bright eight and a half pound buck steelhead. It was
a hatchery fish and the guys decided to release it.
After that the rain came down
in buckets for the whole night. In fact it did it for two nights.
Right now the Klamath is the color and looks the consistency of a
chocolate milk shake. This will take a few days to clear. I have
cancelled all my trips until Wednesday. All the guys fishing the
next few days were fly fishermen and there is no water to take them
to here.
I'm grabbing a buddy and
heading to the Smith for a couple days of fishing. I'll be back on
Tuesday and hopefully be fishing on Wednesday. I'm sure once this
flushing clears there will be plenty of steelhead and salmon
throughout the whole river.
Fish On,
Wally
Sept. 9,
2007
Current
Report: Lower Klamath River
Hi Folks,
Well I was hoping I could give
some very good news by now. I've been out on the water every day and
the fishing is less than exciting. For the last week I've averaged
anywhere from 1 to 3 fish a day. It's been a mixed bag of steelhead
and salmon. About half and half. There has been a couple little
squirts of fish passing through the lower river. A few days ago the
fishing at the mouth was pretty good for the guys down there. I
heard it was shoulder to shoulder for about 60 people. Not my style
of fishing.
So weather it's the warm water
, the gill nets at the mouth , heavy fishing pressure at the mouth ,
the salmon have not shown in the number we have been spoiled with in
years past.
I'm sure there are a bunch of
fish in the ocean waiting to move up river. It's just going to be
when. It will happen over night and then we'll be back to what we
all come to the Klamath for.
That's all for now.
Fish On,
Wally
August 22 ,
2007
Current
Report: Lower Klamath River
Hi Folks,
I've been out on the river
pretty much every day since the last report. Most of the time
fishing clients and a few days just fishing with some friends.
The fishing is improving every
day. I've got into a few salmon here and there. The big news on the
lower river is the steelhead fishing. Everyone fishing down here has
been talking up the steelhead. We have been enjoying some world
class fishing here. Every day I've netted at least one steelhead
over 10 pounds. People that spend any amount of time on the Klamath
know that these are very large fish for the Klamath. About half of
them have been hatchery fish. So my fishermen have been able to bonk
a few and take some fish home.
The latest word is that there
are some big fish down at the mouth and they should be making a move
any day. If the steelhead are any indication of the fishing to come
, get ready for some heavy fish on your lines.
I've got a couple days off and
then it's full bore starting this weekend. Anyone wanting to get in
on the action can email me at
wally@steelheadguides.com
or call my trailer at 707.482.0105.
See you on the river.
Fish On,
Wally
August 11 ,
2007
Current
Report: Lower Klamath River
Hi Folks,
Well
after some time off the river it's that time again. Time to get the
salmon gear out and hit the Lower Klamath.
I just got back from a
fantastic to Alaska. I got spend a week with some really good
people. Mike Augney and his family and a few more friends all got
together for some great fishing. I was especially lucky this trip
because I have quite a few guide buddies that work up on the Kenai
during the summer. I got to go king fishing with old friend Albert
Kutzkey. He put me on a 55 pound chrome bright hen. (My biggest so
far) What a fish! A couple days later another old guide buddy , Phil
Desatels took me on a fly fishing trip on the upper Kenai. Again it
was awsome. We caught and released many dolly varden and rainbow
trout. Right at the end of the trip I ended up hooking the biggest
fish of the day. A beautiful rainbow that went about 6 pounds. In
between those two trips I also got to get after some halibut. All of
us were wishing the captain would have stopped us earlier than he
did. With sore backs and arms we went in with a nice limit of
halibut.
I'm
heading to the Klamath this week and will be fishing there until the
middle of October. The quota this year is pretty good. All anglers
will be allowed two adults over 22 inches and one jack and a
hatchery steelhead per day.
My boat
is pretty much full for the season with the exception of a couple
days in late Sept. and a few the first couple weeks of October. Not
to fret though I have other boats available throughout the season.
I'll be
sending out regular reports as the season gets under way.
Fish On,
Wally
Wow!! I
don't believe it myself. After winning two of the first three Friend
of Cal-Ore Fish steelhead derbies the last thing in my mind was
winning another one. These derbies are just what I do to do my part
for the hatchery programs. But it happened! Yes , I won three of
four derbies held this year. What a season. The fishing was all in
all pretty good and I was very busy this year. And to pull a hat
trick like this off is more than I could ever wish for. I had some
of the best guides as partners in the first derbies along with some
great fisher persons. This last derby was a women's event. That's
right the girls took over the rivers and it was a real kick. This
was the second girls derby and my first. I hope I get to do it
again. My team Meghan and Linda were a blast. Good job girls!!
So the
steelhead season is behind us accept for a couple days I'll be on
the Klamath. I'm going to take some time off before heading to the
Sac. to do some striper fishing. It sounds like I might not be
taking as much time off as I thought. The stripers are already up
river. I don't have many trips booked during the next few weeks as I
scheduled some time off. If you may be interested email or call me.
Last year the water conditions kept me out of the striper game.
After
the stripers , I'll be heading to the lower Klamath for some spring
chinook. That will be some time in mid to late May. Depending on
water conditions.
Also
don't forget the fall salmon season will be here before you know it.
We are getting a good quota of ADULT salmon this year!! So book your
dates early to get the days you want.
Fish On,
Wally
March 28
,
2007
Current
Report: Smith River and Chetco River
Hi Folks,
I don't
have much of a fish report today. I'm pretty much done for the
season. There is one more derby on the Smith and Chetco this coming
weekend. Other than that the Steelhead season on the coast is done
for me. I may be on the Klamath a little bit when the water drops.
I have
some very sad news to share with you readers. Yesterday I got the
call I haven't wanted to get but knew it was coming. Our old buddy
Willie Illingsworth passed away after a couple year long battle with
cancer. For those of you not knowing Willie , he was the man behind
all the Willie Boats you see on the rivers. He has put a huge impact
on the way we fish and what we fish in. Anyone who knew him
personally can tell you what a character and smart person he was. We
are all going to miss him dearly. We all love you Wilber.
Fish On,
Wally
Archived Reports:
2006
March 13
,
2007
Current
Report: Smith River and Chetco River
Hi Folks,
We had
another derby this last weekend. This one was the Hank Westbrook /
Raider Derby. On Thursday the 8th I took General Chuck Yeager
fishing. He is one of our celebrity guests at this derby. The
general caught a big steelhead and his friend caught one a little
smaller. That was it for that trip.
On Friday ,
the first day of the derby. My anglers were Steve Geney and Rodger
Thompson. We fished the Chetco and landed 7 steelhead. Our partners
Rich Mossholder , guide and anglers Dick Geney and Willie Reitman
fished the Smith. They had a tough day and didn't land any fish. The
seven fish we got on the Chetco put us in 3rd place. Now Saturday my
boat went to the Smith and the other half went to the Chetco. The
tables turned of course. We got 1 steelhead and Rich's half got 5.
Having 13 steelhead total for the derby we knew we were tied for the
most fish with another team. It was a matter of which team had the
most fish inches. When it was all calculated we won by 30 inches.
Basically one fish. This is my second derby win this year.
Yipppeeeee!!!!
Since the
derby I've been fishing the Chetco and getting 3 to 5 fish a day.
Most of them have been downers. A few fresh are being caught each
day. The fun part is this time of year you can catch quite a few in
a day.
The Smith has
been pretty slow with reports of 1 maybe 2 fish a boat. Along with
quite skunks.
I'll be here
until the end of the month when there is still another derby. This
one will be a women's derby and will be held the 30th and 31st. All
of these derbies are fund raisers for the hatchery programs on these
two rivers and are very important to keeping the quality of fishing
we are enjoying here.
That's all for
now.
Fish On,
Wally
March 4
,
2007
Current
Report: Smith River and Chetco River
Hi Folks,
Well I
got back on the river on Saturday. I fished the Smith and ended up
with three steelhead. Two spent fish and one small blue back. The
river was pretty big and moving at warp speed. The group I was
fishing with did two drifts just to make the day. Our first drift we
were at Ruby by noon. The fishing was slow to say the least. Out of
7 boats there were only 10 fish caught. So after a brutal day on the
Smith we went to the Chetco on Sunday. All 7 boats decided to drift
the whole river , South Fork to the market. When we stopped for
lunch about noon we had just caught our first fish. Gary Farley had
already got 7 steelhead. Everyone else had 2 or 3 and I was feeling
a little left out by those fish. things soon changed. After a little
talk with Gary I changed my tactics. After the the lunch stop we
went on a pretty good tear. By the time we hit the beach at the end
of the day we had landed 8 steelhead. Four down runners and 4 chrome
bright ones. We didn't catch Gary's boat. They ended up with 12.
Only one of theirs was a fresh one though. Both rivers are dropping
at this time and there is rain in the forecast. Hopefully not enough
to knock the rivers out again. That's all for now. I have a couple
days open in my boat this month and have some other boats available
if anyone want to get that last steelie trip in before it's over.
Fish On,
Wally
March 1
,
2007
Current
Report: Smith River and Chetco River
Hi Folks,
After a
couple days off and nursing a nasty cold along with more rain in the
forecast. Which meant more high water. I cancelled a few days
fishing and went home. I drove all the way home in the snow. I was
hauling my jet boat , so some of the way was a little slippery. I
did get home ok. Only to get stuck in my driveway trying to park my
boat. So I've been plowing snow ever since. I don't know how my wife
has been getting in and out of our place. I'm glad I went home and
opened the drive.
I'll be back
on the river Saturday. The Smith and Chetco are both on the drop.
The whole thing will be resting on how warm it gets in the coming
days. If it warms up too much all that snow will melt and we'll be
right back to high water conditions. I guess we'll just find out
soon.
Below are some
pictures of some resent fishing trips and some pictures from my
home.
Fish On,
Wally
February 26 ,
2007
Current
Report: Smith River and Chetco River
Hi Folks,
Well
mother nature has been mess with the rivers bad this last week. Rain
, hail and one morning we drove to the river in the snow. Of course
with the weather the rivers are going up and down like a yoyo. One
day the fish bite , the next you have to hunt for them. Most boats
including mine have been getting 3 to 5 steelhead on the average.
This last
weekend we held another Cal-Ore derby to raise money for the
hatchery. Congratulation to Mark Wakeman and Mike Coopman and their
team for taking the high honors of first place. The second place
team was guides by John Klar and Gary Farley and the third place
team was guides by Gary Early and Shawn Bultema. There was a total
of 125 fish caught during the two days and only one fish that could
not be released. Great job folks. Saturday we got some abuse on the
water. Heavy rain , high winds and a little hail just to make sure
we all got real cold. Most boats pulled of the rivers early. It
poured all night and both rivers were unfishable on Sunday. A few
guides are out there today. Luckily I had Sunday and Monday off.
I'll be out there tomorrow somewhere.
Fish On,
Wally
February 14 ,
2007
Current
Report: Smith River and Chetco River
Hi Folks,
Well
it's been a while since a report. I apologize for the lack of
those. Since the last report the rivers have gone through some major
changes. Going from gin clear to blown out for a day. The fishing
has got better as far as not having to be so sneaky. I must admit I
was struggling for a while.
Today it
rained most of the day. I fished the Chetco with some old time
clients. Bill Litchfield has been fishing with me for 20 years. He
and his brother Ken joined me and Ken's son and grand son fished
with my friend Todd Puett. My boat went 2 for four. A nice chrome
bright hen about 7 pounds and monster buck that tipped the scales at
just under 20 pounds. Todd's boat went 4 for 6 with most the fish
going around 6 to 9 pounds. It was either quality or quantity today.
It's
supposed to rain some more then clear up for the first of the
Cal-Ore being held this weekend. The river will be a little crowded
Friday and Saturday.
Both rivers
are in great shape and hopefully will stay like that for the
duration of the season.
I
have a few days open during the next few weeks and have other guides
with days available too. So give me a call.
Fish On,
Wally
February 5 ,
2007
Current
Report: Smith River and Chetco River
Hey Folks,
Fishing up on the Smith is getting harder and harder. Gin clear
water and very low flows makes for some tough days. There are plenty
of fish in the system. Getting them to bite is the hard part. Cold
water temps. don't help much either. Most the boats are getting one
to three fish a day.
I went to
the Klamath with my jet boat today. The water is that perfect green
you like to see on the Smith. It was was a little bit on the high
side , but very fishable. We mostly side drifted roe and fish pills
and ran some plugs in a few places. We came up with mostly
small fish. Half pounder size. We had one bigger fish for a bit but
he came unbuttoned. I know there are more fish there and will be
going back over the weekend.
If you are
heading up to go steelhead fishing be ready for some new tactics to
deal with the conditions. Try to stay off the middle of the river.
Fish On,
Wally
January
28,
2007
Current
Report: Eel River Steelhead!
Hi folks,
I've been jumping around
like crazy the last few days. I fished the Eel Wed. and Thur.
struggling some what. Wed. we only got 1 steelhead and Thur. we went
two for four. The river is full of steelhead and they just wouldn't
go for us.
After getting off the river on
Thur. I drove back to the Smith to do a big group with John Pizza on
Fri and Sat. The Smith is soooo clear there are very few places you
can't see the bottom. Fri. I don't think we got a bite. At least
nothing that got my attention. Sat. I fished a single angler and we
hooked two and landed one steelhead.
There are some fish out there and
they can be caught. Long casts and knowing where they are hiding in
these water conditions are the key ingredients. Most boats are
getting any where from 1 to 4 fish in this clear water. I'll be
fishing the Smith for the rest of the week and hopefully we'll gat
some rain.
Fish On,
Wally
January
25,
2007
Current
Report: Eel River Steelhead!
Hi Fisher Folks,
Today
the river treated us much better. I had Mike and Dave
Prokosch fishing with me. Like brothers do they had to get
somewhat competitive. So not long into the drift we started
catching some fish. Mike got one first and then it was
Dave's turn. One problem , the big log laying across the
river when Dave hooked up. So at that point the score was 1
to 0. To make a long story short by the end of the day Mike
was 4 for 5 and Dave was 1 for 3. I'm sure glad I'm not
camping with them tonight.
All the fish
were caught on a small piece of roe and a fish pill to give
some color. The fish didn't seem to be in any particular
kind of water. We got some in fast water and some in pretty
slow water. The weather was awesome too. We never started
the heater today. A first for the last two weeks at least.
We still need some wet stuff up and down the whole coast.
The Eel is getting a little slow and clear along with the
rest of the coastal streams.
Fish On,
Wally
January
22,
2007
Current
Report: Eel River Steelhead!
Today the Eel finally let me down. I had my friends Kip (my
web guy) and Jimmy from Fish Pills out on a drift. We hit
the same part of the main I have been fishing the last week.
The water had dropped and was a little clearer. Not enough
to put the fish off in my opinion. But we ended hooking one
steelhead on a plug and it came unbuttoned. End of story.
Fish On,
Wally
January
20,
2007
Current
Report: Eel River Steelhead!
Today we were on the Eel once again finding 9 dime bright
steelhead throughout the day. Unfortunately, my
anglers were only able to get 3 of them to the boat.
All the other boats fishing around me today had similar
scores except they were able to get all of there's to the
boat without the early release.
We are off tomorrow but will be back on the river Monday.
Fish On,
Wally
January
19,
2007
Current
Report: Eel River Steelhead!
We headed down to the Eel at the beginning of the week and
found lots of steelhead and throughout the week nothing
changed. Each trip we were hooking 7-12 fish a day and
boating at the least 60% of them. We are fishing the lower
Eel from the Forks down and all of the fish we are catching
are dime bright and ranging 10-14lbs with some on the larger
side.
Right now it does not look like there's any rain in sight so
we will be on the Eel until things change. Book your
trip now and have some close to home fun. Remember the
Eel is only 4 hours away from the Bay Area and makes for one
of the most scenic and enjoyable fishing trips there is in
Northern California.
Fish On,
Wally
January 16,
2007
Current
Report: Hello Eel, Hello Steelhead!
Well the low clear up north sent me packing my stuff and
heading south. I'm currently fish the south fork of the Eel
River. Today was my first day back here this year. All I can
say is I made the right choice. Although our day started out
a little slow , things came together after a couple hours.
With the ground covered with frost and the grave bar frozen
so hard I didn't need four wheel drive. We launched the boat
got out on the river. We hooked two fish and lost those
before we got one to the boat. The first fish landed ended
up being the biggest of the day. A chrome bright buck that
went an easy 17 pounds. After that we got into them pretty
good all day long. With rain and some cloud cover it did
warm up some during the day. When it was all over we had
hooked 12 steelhead and landed 9 of them all were 7 to 10
pounds except for a couple peanuts the went about 4 pounds.
Other than the rain we got today , the
forecast is for more cold and clear weather for at least a
week. So I guess I'll be staying right here.
The Smith and Chetco are both getting
pretty low and the scores are not too good up there. I
expect to see some of my buddies showing up here too.
The Klamath up near Seiad and Happy Camp is
in perfect shape. It is very cold there too so dress warm if
you venture out to chase those steelies.
Fish On,
Wally
January 14,
2007
Current
Report: Carbon Copy
Jan. 12th I
fished the Chetco again. The flows up there were getting a
little slow for me. We ended hooking four steelhead and
landing three. A nice chrome buck that went about 13 pounds
and two smaller hens that went about 6 and 8 pounds. The
traffic was very heavy too. I put in up river and came
around the corner at the Ice Box hole and there must have
been 20 trucks on the gravel bar.
Today I went to the Smith and
found less traffic and some nice steelies too. The guys
ended up hooking four steelhead and getting three of them.
It was just about a carbon copy of the day before. One
larger buck and a couple smaller hens. Both rivers could
use a little shot of water which is not in the forecast for
some time.
I may be heading south this week and trying the rivers in
Humboldt.
I have a couple days off
and we'll see where I end up fishing on Tuesday.
Fish On,
Wally
January 11,
2007
Current
Report: Snow at sea level
Man! Old man winter let us have it today. When I went to
have breakfast it was bitter cold out. By the time I got
back to my trailer it was snowing. Yes , at sea level just
like they had predicted. It snowed the whole time we
traveled to the river. It mad for a beautiful back drop for
a drift trip. The guys said it looked like a greeting card
out there. During the day it rained some , it was sunny some
. hailed some , you get the picture. With the heater going
all day we scratched out four nice steelies. One here and
one there. Three fresh hens and one spent buck. All the fish
fought great. We had to chase every one of them.
Both river fished well and are in perfect shape. Both the
Smith and Chetco were not very crowded today either.
We'll see what the weather does tomorrow.
Fish On,
Wally
January 10,
2007
Current
Report:
Well I finally had to go back to work. And I got my projects at
home done before I had to leave too.
My first day on the Smith was great. After my truck broke down
and I borrowed a friends truck. We got on the water about an
hour behind the big pack of boats. I was a little concerned
there would be nothing left for me bringing up the rear. That
was not the case , thank goodness!! We got our first fish on
about the third cast of the morning. A nice hatchery hen , which
we bonked in the head.
After the first one it was just kind of in cruse control. We got
one here and one there the rest of the day. we ended up with
seven hook ups and seven steelies. Two of them went right at 18
pounds. A couple like that make a great day alone batting a
thousand so far. That was Tuesday. Wednesday was a little
different story. It was much colder that morning and the
forecast was for it to get way cold by the end of the day. All
that happened. We drifted from the Forks to Ruby same everything
we did the day before. The score was two fish hooked and we lost
both of them. As the saying goes some days you're the windshield
and some days you're the bug.
I'll be out there every day the rest of the season as long as
the rivers stay in shape. I'm heading for the Chetco today and
I'll let you know what's happening there.
Happy New Year to all of you who read these reports and don't
forget to take some to go fishing.
