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Klickitat Report 8/11/13

3K views 22 replies 11 participants last post by  Klickrolf 
#1 ·
Did a little dawn patrol shift on the Klick this morning. Had heard some mixed reports and I did my yard work shift yesterday so I hit the river upstream of Klickitat.

Water is stained as usual (about 2.5 feet of vis at 7 am) but wasn't terrible. The traffic on the river is picking up already... by 9 AM, 5 boats had gone past me but I didn't see many bank anglers above mile marker 10.

Got a nice little series of tugs and dropped my loop halfway through the run. Fish on! It felt small but decent until it gave up after 15 seconds. I figured it was just a Klickitat mega-smolt, resi-trout, or sucker but as I got it in I was shocked to see a 14" Chinook. Not much fun on my TCX 7126!

It was starting to turn gray and it looked like one of the mini-jacks that I've heard about this past year. It was clipped but based on it's coloration and me not being sure of the regs regarding salmon, I let it go. I assume it was a Spring/Summer jack Chinook. Has anyone else swung up one of these "mini" jacks?

I finished out the run with a suspicious tug but no hook up and then worked some more water until noon. The stain on the water was getting considerably worse (as usual during the cycling of summer) and I called it a day.

I was fishing a 525 Rio Skagit Short on my TCX with a MOW Medium 2.5 float and 7.5 sink tip. I really could've gone for the 5/5 MOW tip but I didn't have one. The 525 Short is REALLY short and every so often I found myself pulling my anchor on casts. . Maybe a 550 Skagit Flight will be a better match! The TCX is a new rod to me and I'm trying to get it dialed. All in good time I suppose.

Tight lines!
 
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#2 ·
I fished the evening water below town. It was about 1' vis but got better as I stepped down. Must have had a downpour or two within the drainage last night, flow spiked. Think it's just runoff sediment, not glacial till. Should settle out fast.

Those mini-jacks are pretty common. Mega-smolts are real. Been hearing about alot of trout being caught, many over 14". Descriptions make me think they are steelhead smolts, If they are and you catch one please release it as quickly as possible. These large smolts might be the outmigrants that come back big. They leave too big for seagulls, too big for pike-minnows and start their salt predation twice the size of most steelhead smolts. Mega-smolts!!!
 
#3 ·
Those mini-jacks are pretty common. Mega-smolts are real. Been hearing about alot of trout being caught, many over 14". Descriptions make me think they are steelhead smolts, If they are and you catch one please release it as quickly as possible. These large smolts might be the outmigrants that come back big. They leave too big for seagulls, too big for pike-minnows and start their salt predation twice the size of most steelhead smolts. Mega-smolts!!!
The trick is getting them to smolt as often the case is hatchery fish sexually mature without ever leaving the system and residulize without migrating to salt, thereby using up resources that could/should be used by natural origin fish. There is a fine line in the hatchery world between large size (to increase survival as you state) and precocious maturation, which the feds. state, tribes or anglers don't want.
 
#4 ·
Mega smolts??? I've caught plenty of beautifully marked resident rainbows from 12-18" on that river. Between the hatches and annual egg drop I'm actually surprised the trout fishing isn't better than it is.

Stick with the short on that rod that's a great match. You are blowing your anchor because you are moving too fast (In a nutshell). Use a continuous motion throughout your stroke concentrating on keeping an even load on the rod. Study skagit master 1 and keep practicing. Perry pokes and doubles IMHO.
 
#9 ·
I was going off what my buddies did the day before... they caught their Summerheads once they went to tips. As the summer goes on, I'll get more time on the Scandi/Rage setup. I just wanted to chuck that damn Skagit head with the Deathstar... it's so tempting!

At least I wasn't nymphing that day! I held back the urge. ;)
 
#8 ·
I was up at Leidl on Saturday and then fished Stinson on Sunday. We caught 3 or 4 what I thought were nice "trout" in the 12" range. But now Im not sure what they were. There was a never ending supply of smolts in the 2"-3" range jumping all over the river and batting at our flies.The river had even less visibility further up, but seemed to clear up as the day went on on. No steel for us. heard of one hatchery fish caught up above Leidl.

http://swinginpnw.blogspot.com/
 
#11 ·
I may be out on either of those rivers (or both) Sat/Sun evenings. I think it more likely I'll be on the big D. If you see a big dude in a boonie hat wearing an orange backpack, it's probably me.

Throw some rocks or tell me how shitty my casting is :)

But not really. I'll cry.

:D
 
#14 ·
Sorry for the delayed trip report, but JesseC was spot on, we fished 2 days and only went 6 for 6 on steel. Definitely should have brought my gold prospecting equipment, would have been a much more productive trip. Here's a couple photos from Aug 24th and 25th.
 

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#15 ·
pbunbury, seems to me you did very well indeed, 6 for 6 is tough to beat around here. That wild buck that Troy (I think it's Troy?) is holding is a trip maker to the guy who hooked and landed it, Troy I assume. Gold is more valuable than silver but on the Klickitat your chances are better going after silver, there may be some gold but the wild Klickitat silver is way more exciting. Maybe not abundant this year but certainly more abundant than gold.

Also, how are you producing those pics, there's some interesting photoshoping adjustments there, your pics look great! Care to let us know how you're doing it?
 
#16 ·
Also, how are you producing those pics, there's some interesting photoshoping adjustments there, your pics look great! Care to let us know how you're doing it?[/quote]

Yes i would like to know this as well. Those pics look great i like the style.
 
G
#17 ·
Also, how are you producing those pics, there's some interesting photoshoping adjustments there, your pics look great! Care to let us know how you're doing it?
Yes i would like to know this as well. Those pics look great i like the style.[/quote]
there is various tools to do it filters, hue adjustment, and color changes. Photoshop is such a vast program i would suggest taking a class to understand the big picture.
 
#19 ·
Think it's got to do with saturation and sharpening? Color separation is striking and the water is "perfect".

That 3rd pic really strikes me. The fish of course...that large floppy adipose and shoulders make me think he could be a 3 footer, actually I think he's larger than that.

I'd like to buy a copy of that pic, I'd frame it and display it at the shop. PM's work.
 
#20 ·
Another Q, hoping Salmo_g is around. Wondering about the database of age at outmigration of Washington Steelhead. Where do we see older outmigrants? Do we see outmigrants over 2+ fresh? Have studies ID'd anything? Maybe studies have not been done? The real problem is any large steelhead will get caught in an 8 inch mesh gillnet. The most valuable fish are killed each year simply because they are large.
 
#23 ·
Klickrolf,

Most WA steelhead smolt at age 2, usually more than 80%. Older smolts are more likely from upper reaches of watersheds where average temps are colder and productivity is low.

Sg
Thanks for the reply Salmo. I'm quite interested in the 20%, or I should say the % that smolt at age 3 & older. I've read a bit about some BC fish smolting at 4+ (colder & less productive water, as you noted). In colder/less productive water the fish would grow slower so a 4yr old smolt might not be any larger than the usual 2yr old smolt. Here I'm thinking about smolts that are large, unusually large.
Either genetics or additional time in freshwater, I don't know. Maybe a combination of upper watershed birth and lower watershed rearing?

The Klickitat definitely has some of that water, mostly above Castille Falls. We collected a "few" scale samples from those large smolts (what I'm calling smolts) but never had them "professionally" read. I tried to read them but it ain't quite as straight forward (easy) as I'd hoped, scale regeneration etc. Mostly I just released the fish because I didn't want to mess with them. I saw the potential back then and wanted to meet up with those fish on their return visit.

Is there a data base of scale or otolith samples of Wild WA steelhead smolts available anywhere? I'd be interested in learning more.

Got your PM Parker, I'll be replying in a minute or two, thanks.
Rolf

Edit: an interesting read here http://ykfp.org/steelheadworkshop/literature/Pevenetal1994.pdf
 
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