King Klamath
Techniques
Virtually every technique invented for steelhead works on aggressive half-pounders. I prefer swinging small steelhead flies on a floating line with a long leader and a light tippet because it seems to bring out the acrobatic qualities of the fish. The key to making this technique work consistently is being able to cast 80 or more feet of line with minimal false-casting. Excessive false-casting spooks fish.
If you’re targeting half-pounders, go ahead and wade deep. Half-pounders usually come up the center of the channel. The bigger steelhead are in the prime slower water along the edges. Using a floating line, cast straight across or slightly downstream and allow the fly to swing in an arc across-stream until it comes directly below you. Give it a few twitches before you pick it up beacause some steelhead will follow the fly and only take at the very end of the swing.
To ferret out the bigger steelhead, use a sinking-tip line, a shorter and heavier leader, and bigger flies. Use the same technique of casting across-stream and allowing the fly to swing in a wide arc until your line comes straight below you. When wading for big steelhead, mid-calf is generally the right wading depth for you to put your fly through their traveling lanes.
A less productive but more entertaining technique is skating dry flies. You don’t get as many fish this way but every one is memorable. This technique works best after sunlight hits the water, say from 9 A.M. until 11 A.M. My Klamath routine is to use a sinking-tip line on an 8-weight rod till about 9 A.M. I then switch to a floater on a 7-weight for swinging wets or a floater on a 6-weight for skating drys if there’s any hope for surface action.
Some steelheaders constantly mend their line to adjust the speed and depth of their fly. Mend downstream and the fly generally moves quicker and rides higher in the water. Mend upstream to slow the fly and get it deeper in the water column. Other anglers cast a straight line and let the current move the line and fly. Both techniques catch fish. Try both to find out what the steelhead prefer at that time and place.
Another trick is the Klamath River twitch that I learned from longtime Klamath angler Wally Johnson. Instead of mending, just twitch the rod tip. It can provoke a bite. Johnson only uses this if the fish haven’t responded to a standard swing on prior casts.
The three most popular local flies are the Assassin, Silver Hilton, and the Herniator. I throw a #6 Assassin in low light, the Silver Hilton in sunlight, and the Herniator when I want to catch a big steelhead or Chinook salmon. When targeting half-pounders, I use the same three patterns as well as The Emperor but drop down to #10-12 flies. The hot fly changes, so experiment or ask Owen Chew at Lil’ Ray’s Tacklebox in Klamath Glen what the current hot colors and patterns are.
Terry Metheny is a freelance writer in Port Angeles, Washington. This is his first article for Fly Fisherman.
Local Contacts
• Seiad Valley Guide Service
(Wally Johnson)
steelheadguides.com
(530) 496-3291
• Eureka Fly Shop
eurekaflyshop.com
(707) 444-2000
• Lil’ Ray’s Tackle Box
(707) 482-7725
• The Fly Shop
flyshop.com
(800) 669-3474
Copyright © 2012 Intermedia Outdoors
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