[env-trinity] Salmon/Perch Combo Adventure on the Klamath (Draft)

[Daniel Bacher]

A Salmon/Perch Combo Adventure On The Klamath

by Dan Bacher

Anglers who fish the upper Klamath River below Iron Gate Dam have become 
very spoiled with the sensational fishing that they have experienced most 
years over the past decade.  While catching one to two fish per rod is a 
great day on the Sacramento River, anglers going on drift boat trips on the 
Klamath in the high desert country of Siskiyou County are used to hooking up 
to 20 fish in a day.

However, the fishing is tougher this year, since the salmon appear to be 
less aggressive than they usually are.  By most standards, the fishing on a 
trip that   Richard Alves, Fish Sniffer Webmaster, and I made with Al 
Kutzkey, fishing guide, was good. We hooked over eight king salmon, landing 
three to 20 pounds, as well as releasing a half dozen beautiful wild and 
hatchery rainbows to 15 inches, but the fishing was still slower than it has 
been on previous trips we’ve made with Kutzkey.

We started off back bouncing salmon roe in the first hole below the 
hatchery. I hooked and released a 15 pound salmon in the first 5 minutes, 
but didn’t land another salmon for several more hours. Meanwhile, Richard 
hooked several fish that came unbuttoned, but he finally landed a 
hard-fighting 20 pounder after the sun came out downriver.

The guides and anglers were definitely working for their fish. We saw one 
woman land five fish, but she was the high rod that day. We saw anglers 
fishing with Billy Jesperson, Ron Denardi, and Mick Thomas hooking fish 
also.

“The fish aren’t taking the bait as aggressively as they normally do and I’m 
not sure why,” said Kutzkey. “We are hooking 6 to 12 salmon a trip, but 
landing them some days is tough.”

All of the fish that we hooked were taken by back bouncing or side drifting 
bait with salmon eggs, but Kutzkey said he is starting to see a little bite 
on plugs in the early morning hours. “The bite has been slow in the early 
morning, but has been coming on as the sun gets on the water and is slowing 
around noon,” he noted.

Most of the salmon have been averaging about 10 to 13 pounds, but Kutzkey 
reported nailing a couple of 30 pounders and a lot in the twenties over the 
past few weeks. The biggest he’s heard to date is a 37 pounder.

Surprisingly enough, the numbers of fish the hatchery is seeing are only a 
few hundred behind those of last year at this time. For example, the 
hatchery had received 4,244 salmon by Tuesday, October 12, the day after our 
trip. In comparison, the hatchery had received 4,517 fish by the same date 
last year, according to Kim Rushton, manager of the Iron Gate Fish Hatchery.

The hatchery received 32,000 king salmon last year – and Rushton expects to 
see the same amount of fish show again this year. This is well above the 
average hatchery return, 17,000 fish, over the last 20 years. The hatchery 
took 37,000 fish in 2002 and 72,000 in 2001, the record for the hatchery.

“The anglers are reporting slower fishing than normal this year, but our 
hatchery returns are only down several hundred fish from last year,” Rushton 
confirmed.

After we finished salmon fishing, I decided to try Iron Gate Reservoir for 
yellow perch from the bank. Albert and his dad, Tim, love to eat the perch 
out of the lake, so they fish the lake frequently in the spring. After 
stopping to get worms and hooks at the Hornbrook Chevron, I drove up Copco 
Lake Road to the reservoir, going all of the way to the end to the Klamath 
River inlet.

Only two anglers were fishing in the inlet, the father son angling team of 
Gary Phillips Sr. and Jr., who were on a combo perch fishing/deer hunting 
trip. Although they didn’t bag any deer, Gary Jr. was pulling out a big 
yellow perch about 12 inches long just after I had parked the car.

The lake was down about 10 feet, with a layer of mud along the shoreline., 
and I slogged through the mud, meanwhile catching several perch.

“There’s some space over here, so feel free to join us,” said Gary Sr. “Tie 
a loop on the line about 2 feet above the line and put on a Kahle snelled 
hook.”

I did just that and soon began catching one fish after another, all perch in 
the 8 to 11 inch class, while using a threaded nightcrawler. The Kahle hook 
really made the difference in getting good a good hook set.

For the next two hours, I had a total blast fishing with them and lost count 
as I put a bunch of tasty perch into the ice chest. I finally disciplined 
myself to get out of there to make the five-hour drive back to Sacramento. 
Between salmon, trout and perch, I had a lot of fun hooking fish, even 
though the salmon fishing wasn’t as good as it normally is.

The steelhead run has rebounded over the past four years on the Klamath 
River. Kutzkey and other river guides are expecting to see another excellent 
run this season. The steelhead are expected to follow the spawning salmon 
into the river within the next few weeks.

For more information about fishing the Klamath River and Iron Gate Lake, 
contact: Kutzkey's Guide Service, 710 Lane Street, Yreka, CA  96097, Phone: 
530-842-2229.

Note: The river is still really low at this time, with releases of only 900 
cfs from Iron Gate Dam. Be careful when rowing a drift boat and expect to 
hit a few rocks.