Western Water

I’m learning, more and more, that any plans to do with fishing or rivers need to be somewhat fluid. 

About 10 years ago, my buddy Noel and I were heading back to CA from Colorado, looking for places to adventure along the way. We checked in with a fly shop in Summit County and were told that the fishing was currently ‘sick’ on The Green River below the Flaming Gorge Dam in Utah. We had never before heard any fishing described as sick, so had to check it out. As it happens it was just all-time and sick for sure.

The Green boasts as many as 15k fish per mile – just a ridiculous amount – and in late May/early June the river has a cicada hatch of (sometimes) epic proportions. After those first three days on the river, I was absolutely blown away and knew I had to get back.

This year my dad and I tried to plan a trip to The Green around the spring flush, where the Bureau of Reclamation bumps dam flows up from a trout and boat friendly 800 cfs, to a blasting 4,500 cfs for a few weeks to simulate a ‘natural’ (pre-dam) runoff. Unfortunately there is no schedule for this event, and Reclamation just gives few days notice about timing. In 2010 my trip was moved from the river because we scheduled last week in May which that year coincided with the flush. This year, to make sure we were not affected by the flush we planned our trip in early June – the week which ended up being the week of flush this year. I’ll keep trying, but yet again The Green had plans of its own.

So, we changed gears and set out on a more local adventure, to see some of the various rivers closer to home, up in Northern California and Southern Oregon – a bit of a Western Water Tour. Though a proper tour of the West would take years, we definitely saw some goods in our short time on the road.

Our seven days out fishing were each spectacular in their own right, and the water we visited couldn’t have been more varied. My father and I towed both the raft and new drift boat out of Tahoe to find wide, small & roaring rivers up North.

First stop was to the most Southern part of Oregon to the technical rapids of the Upper Klamath, which drops 50 feet per mile and has an insanely hard fighting strain of redband trout. After two days of hard fighting fish and pulling hard on the sticks, we headed South to meet Maher on the beautiful, emerald-green McCloud river with it's little rainbows eager for an evening dry fly. And our final destination, to the large volume, Lower Sac with it’s tough fighting, monster bow’s. 

From raft to foot to drift boat, up and down a spectacular part of the Western coastal states, this was an epic late planned trip for sure.

Arrived and loaded in at camp – we pack a little bit heavy

For our shuttle from put in to takeout and back again, and again we logged quite a bit of time on dirt

Dad and rig about to get in it at put in

A look back at the first technical rapid just below the dam

One of dad's nice, hard-fighting redband's

Dad releasing another nice one 

Me with one of mine

The second half of the final rapid of the day took us all the way to the lake

Evening light at our campsite

Cooking up some dinner

Dad with another good one on, nailed right out of the faster water

Dad releasing another good fish

We were amazed by the great abundance of birdlife on the river, including these white pelicans

Some more birdlife – lots of youngeons around

Catch of the trip was my hat which took a dip as we were anchored up on a rock – great cast and retrieval dad

Some bumpy and gnarly roads after a great day on the river

Insane views of the back side of Shasta as we make our way South

Stunning Northern Cali views

Good food and a good cocktail after the long drive from the takeout on The Klamath to camp on the McCloud

Familiar face at camp on the McCloud

Maher getting a serious fire going

Wading with the pup on the very different water of The McCloud

Pretty little 'bow taken on a dry fly

Dad getting some dry fly fishing in under some evening light in the canyon

Maher getting fajita night going

Dad getting into some tight spaces to hook a trout

Maher working a nice spot

Made it to the Lower Sac and got Driftwood in the water – beautiful boat with beautiful Sundial Bridge

Dad hooked up a lot of fish this trip

Dad with a nice 'bow

Releasing another good trout

Me with a bullet of a hog

This was a sight I had to get used to

We caught many 20+ inch fish, including this nice 21" pig

Dad in Driftwood with another

One of the prettier ones I got in

And lots of safe releases

We had Aaron in the boat with us for one of our three days – master of the river & on the sticks

Just huge and fun fighting fish on this river

We didn't have many but one of our double hookups for the trip

Gone Rogue

With some changes in my plans, late May became wide open, and all that was on the agenda was some potential multi-day raft time with Brian. To make the most of his days, we aimed to get something going over the Memorial Day weekend.

With some close attention to canceled and last minute permit postings, we were able to get four spots to put-on, on The Rogue. So we loaded Silvia up with all the raft gear and the ladies, and b-lined it for Southern Oregon. Both Brian and I have floated the 40+ mile, Wild and Scenic section of The Rogue before when we, separately, had taken a rowing clinic up that way. It’s the river where we got the base for our whitewater skills so were both excited to get back up there and see it through slightly more experienced eyes.

The weather was pretty questionable, but with some last minute scurrying in Medford we got enough clothes for a small winter-army to make sure Kate didn’t die from a mild chill. We all managed, warm and upright, after four days and three nights on the river. We saw some weather, but had a pretty spectacular time on the river.

The forecast for the four days was not looking so hot as we departed SF

Loaded up and headed North

Gorgeous views of Mt Shasta on our Northern drive up I5

We crossed the state boarder in daylight

And made it to the river the next day

After some serious time unloading the truck 'n trailer, then loading the rafts we are ready to push off from Alameda Bar

Me, scouting two of the three possibilities at our first big rapid, Raine Falls

We opt for the Class III Fish Ladder, over the more serious lines – Brian and Kate go first

Brian entering the top of the Fish Ladder

And has an overall good run through it, just spinning once – much cleaner than my disaster that shortly followed

Kristin gets her first try on the sticks, pushing Magnum down river

  

Me rowing into Black Bar Rapid

Gets a little tight at the bottom, where I make some contact with a rock, but make it out more or less cleanly

Nice weather on day two – floating the gorgeous canyons

Brian at the helm of his ship

Stayed nice even into the evening – more flat water on the trip than either Brian or I could recall

So nice, that I even ditched the spray gear before we made it to camp – Kate was still wearing 5 layers of clothes BTW

Brian heading into one of the final bends before we made it to our camp for the night

Some beautiful evening views on a calm stretch of The Rogue

All set up at camp on night two at Missouri Creek

One of the best ones we found

Brian cranking his classic rock playlist by the fire

Special adult bev's all around – for Kate, it was Champagne in a can

Lots of little wildlife on the river  but no bear sightings – mostly tons of baby ducks & geese 

Was able to throw a few flies with my Spey rod in the AM before breaky

After a serious nights downpour, Kate gets seriously suited up for our coldest day on the river

A much more dramatic day with fog and rain on our third day

Kate is particularly happy about this all

Kristin and me working our way through some crazy water in the narrows around Coffee Pot

The full group at Stair Creek Falls

Some crazy evidence of a previous high water event

Kate doing her best to get warm by hauling on the sticks

The view down river as we scout our biggest rapid, Blossom Bar – which I absolutely greased 

Kate takes some more serious measures to stay warm

The weather lifts a bit as we pull into our final camping spot for the trip at Lower Tate

Dinner is served  – Kristin & me with a good looking Tamale Pie on the Dutch Oven

By our final day Kristin is much more comfortable on the sticks and rowing splashy II+ rapids

Lined up to get wet

The group on our last day, under the sun and in front of Flora Dell Creek Falls

All smiles as the trip winds down – Kristin & me looking sporty

Safe and loaded back up to head home