Gotta Love Autumn

Fall is officially here in the Columbia Gorge and with it comes my favorite time of the season to be on the water.  Although our schedule is booked almost solid until the end of the month, we do have a few openings on the Deschutes and Klickitat in late October and November.  If you enjoy fishing without the crowds, the “late season” offers some great fishing opportunities.  –Some of the largest steelhead start showing up in our rivers in November.  Give me a ring if you want to get out this fall.

-TL

The Klickitat River Needs Your Help

The Klickitat River in southern Washington is among the crowned jewels of the Pacific Northwest. Long revered for its large native steelhead and spring Chinook, the river has some of the most intact habitat for fish and wildlife in the Middle Columbia Region.

Unfortunately, decades of hatchery released non-native Coho, Skamania steelhead and fall Chinook threaten the survival of Klickitat native salmon and steelhead. Since 1999, native Klickitat winter and summer steelhead have been listed as threatened under the Endangered Species Act. Similarly, the native run of wild spring Chinook which once numbered in the thousands has a thirty year average of 300 fish. 

Potential expansion of hatchery operations in the Klickitat basin, detailed in the July of 2011 Draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS) released by Bonneville Power Administration (BPA) and the Yakama Klickitat Fisheries Project (YKFP) will further imperil the river’s wild native salmon and steelhead. 

The actions within the DEIS do not rely upon the best available science to recover wild native fish, jeopardizing wild runs by continuing most releases of non-native hatchery fish at or above their current numbers. 

BPA and YKFP are required to solicit and respond to public comments during the DEIS process. This means that before anything is changed on the Klickitat BPA and YKFP must respond to the concerns raised during the public comment process. 

This is where you come in. Please take 2 minutes to visit the NFS website,  read over the comments, personalize the letter and send your message to BPA. 

Thanks for your time,

-Tom Larimer

Fishing With Legends

I recently spend a day floating the Klickitat Canyon with my good friends Randy Stetzer and Tim Rajeff from Rajeff Sports.  Together, these two have forgotten more about fly fishing than I could ever know.  It was a true honor to row them down the river.  After pawing through Randy's beautifully crafted flies and hearing his insightful thoughts on steelhead behavior, I remembered why I got into this crazy sport in the first place...  It's all about rolling the soul. Thanks for a great day guys.

-TL

The Headwaters of the Klickitat

Crowds make me nervous...  So when the annual invasion of tourists happens in Hood River every Labor Day, I usually keep my head down and lay low.  However, my sweetie and my dog weren't about to spend the long weekend watching me tie flies. Instead, we headed up to the Bird Creek Meadows trail on Mt. Adams.  She assured me the ruff road to the trailhead would weed out all but the most serious hikers.  We'd see the REI types but probably not much in the way of the Winnebago crowd.

It was an awesome hike!  Great vistas of the Gorge, incredible wild flowers, and -you get up-close and personal with Hell Roaring Canyon and the headwaters of the Klickitat River.

Next time you're looking to stretch the legs and go on a killer day excursion, check out Bird Creek Meadows.  Pack a #4 weight and make a few casts in Mirror Lake on your way.  Although I didn't fish it, a few of the large trout I saw rising made me wish I had packed a rod.

-TL

Fighting Gravity

I had a number of folks ask about a skater pictured in a recent post I did about the Klickitat River.  I designed "Fighting Gravity" last season and it has become my number one skater for steelhead.  It's been a great producer on the Deschutes and Klickitat.  Plus, it's easy to tie and floats like a cork. Hopefully, it'll be available in fly shops next season, until then -here's the recipe.

Hook:  3X long, 2X heavy down eye streamer hook.
Thread: 6/0 Uni-Thread
Tail: Crystal flash
Body: 2mm foam -two pieces tyed Chernobyl Ant style
Collar:  Spun deer hair, clipped on the bottom.

Pretty simple...  The pic is of my two favorite colors but you can get creative!

-Tom Larimer

Five Reasons To Fish The Klickitat This Fall

Autumn is right around the corner and with it brings another season on the Klickitat River in south central Washington.  I have a love affair with this river... It's one of my favorite rivers to guide and fish on.  Here's just a few reasons why...

-TL

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