Klickitat steelhead--incredible!

The Klickitat River valley

Yesterday and today (Oct 8-9) Dad & I fished the Klickitat River with guides from Red's Flyshop seeking steelhead and it was an incredible trip.  These are the first steelhead Dad has caught since the Bella Coola days and we haven't been there since the early 1990's.

Dad's first steelhead since Bella Coola--bonked this hatchery fish!

Yesterday we fished with Shan and he was great!  Worked hard to put us into fish--and put he did!  We landed 7 steelhead along with two incidental kings.  A great day followed by fabulous food in the lodge right in the town of Klickitat and alongside the river.  When we arrived yesterday there was a guy in a rowboat right in front of the lodge who caught a king salmon.  Most of the folks on the river are fishing for salmon to keep so we were somewhat the oddities seeking steelhead to release.

We slept well in the comfortable rooms and had a great breakfast there at the lodge.  We got an early start with Joe from Red's today.  We were on the water today by 8:00 and had another great day of fishing with fish all day long.

Early morning mist on the Klicktat

We had landed our first fish less than 100 yards into the float again today and had the last fish shortly before the takeout.  I hooked and landed it about where the mist is rising in the photo above--pretty sweet!

While fishing for steelhead today we again hit some kings and they were hard fighters.  Today while fighting one of the kings my nice Ross reel exploded.  I mean for real--pieces went flying everywhere!  I'm left trying to fight a fish holding the reel without any drag mechanism or hub to keep it on the spindle. While fighting the fish (and killing my knuckles!) Joe is trying to put the drag and hub pieces back on the reel so I can continue the fight.  Alas, the fish broke off and my reel is dead.  I'll be sending it to Ross for repairs.  Better here where I can fix it easily than in Mexico next March on a bonefish!

A king I landed before a bigger one destroyed my Ross reel!

Dad and I had a double with whitefish early today and had two chances at doubles on big fish, but somehow one of us always lost the second one before firmly hooking it.  Great action, great company, great scenery, great guiding--need I say more?  Brothers, we've got to get this onto the schedule for 2014 most definitely!

Dad with a Klickitat king to quickly fight and release

I"ll finish with a few more photos from our trip so you get an idea of the topography.  Canyon is very narrow with very little bottom, much of it is isolated with no road access--the stretch we floated pictured in first photo is such a section.  Oak and pine forest mostly mixed and saw numerous deer and some turkeys.  Joe saw a bear consumed salmon yesterday so all kinds of furry and feathered (and finned) freinds.

Mixed pine and oak forest

Upstream view

Downstream view

The lodge at river's edge where we stayed

Conference and the Creek

Thanks to the wonders of satellite radio, we can listen to General Conference almost anywhere - including at the parking area overlooking the falls of The Creek.  That's what Dad and I did on Saturday. 

We arrived at the creek just as the closing prayer for the Saturday morning conference session was finishing.  There were two cars there, but no fisherman.  Turns out it was just hikers. Dad didn't want to face the slick basalt of the creek bottom, so he came along to enjoy the pretty day and watch me catch fish.  Which he did.  Lots of them.  Starting above the falls with a renegade at the end of the line, I dropped the fly into the narrow gap in the grass and promptly watched the white hackle disappear in a splash (just like my writeup in my blog - checkout the article I wrote about my happy place).  It was nice to find things a little more open and fishable.

Much more open after recent floods

Dad up on the road had a perfect view into many of the pools, watching the fish come up to the fly as clearly as I could (probably better than I could because of the glare).  Many small, 6 to 8 inch redbands, and one good sized fellow made it a beautiful mid-day trip.  By the time I reached the crossing, 61 fish had come to hand.  I stopped at the pools on the way back and found a half-dozen more.  Back to the car, climbed in, and turned on BYU-Radio just as the opening prayer for the afternoon session was starting.  Perfect timing to end a great mid-day outing.

Nicest fish of the day