After I lost the second day fishing last week with Chris and Sean due to rising water, it brought my thoughts back to a recurring desire for smaller drainages that are fish-able and within reach of our lodge. The Salmon river is one option, but I have also been thinking a lot about the Klamath River upstream of Dillon, Coon Creek, Ukanom, and Clear Creek. So, I don’t know who the last person was that took a drift-boat downstream from Wingate, but I decided to give it a look.
We do this stretch all summer long with ranch guests in our rafts, but there is real and justifiable concern about doing this water in a drift boat. Never mind! My brother-in-law Greg Squires will come up for an adventure! Greg has a guide business called “Access to Angling” and his signature fishing style is in side-drifted bait and other conventional gear tactics. SHAAAME on you Greg!! Oh Well, he is also a great fly fisherman and he too is a bit of an adrenaline junky. So, with a mutual need for adrenaline and a passion for steelheading, we formed the “un-holy alliance” between bait and fly guides. (Did you readers also feel that tremor in the fabric of the fishing universe today?)
The short end to this story is:
1. No drift-boats are submerged on the river bottom
2. Greg never cast anything other than a fly
3. WE GOT FISH!
I think I might just burn Greg’s Pautzke Bait Pills pro jacket and hat and give him my Sage or Orvis hat. Here is a view of some of the action:
The Klamath continues to produce steelhead, solitude, majestic beauty and even “warm-fuzzies” between fly guides and bait tossers. Maybe we should TACKLE the middle-east problems next. Doug