I have heard about the big fish of the Upper Klamath Lake from when I was a young fly fisher many years ago. Pop B (Benson Kanemoto) has been very successful on the lake and we planned trip so we can check out what all the hype was about.
Uncle Wesley (Wes Yamaguchi), the boys and I left Chico around 1pm Thursday and we arrived at Rocky Point Resort at 4:45pm. We launched the boat and fished for a few hours not knowing where to go and exactly what to do. Before leaving for this trip I read online that the average catch rate on the lake is 1 fish for 7 hours of fishing…. from a boat AND 1 fish for 30 hours of fishing from the bank! Those are not great numbers for that long of a drive, however Pop B has been getting numbers that are significantly better than that so with that in mind, we made the trip there. We managed to hook 4 and land 1 fish Thursday night. We considered that a success since it was out first experience on the lake.
The next morning Pop B joined us and showed us where and what to do. The lake has springs that the fish congregate to and that’s where we want to fish. Pop B seemingly knows where ALL the springs are! Michael fished with him for the morning and it did not take long for him to be onto a nice fish. Later in the morning Pop B got Michael into a 5.5 pounder on a small PT using 6X tippet.
Our boat (Uncle Wesley, Matthew and I) did OK but not as well as the other boat. Pop B’s experience on the lake is stellar and it was noticeable. After lunch Matthew and Michael switched boats and it was not long until Matthew hooked a few fish. As a matter of fact, Matthew broke off 4 fish in a row! A 10 ft 4 weight rod with a 20 foot leader and 6X tippet make it tough to hook and land those trout.
We stayed in the 2 bedroom cabin at Rocky Ridge Resort and it is VERY convenient for fisherman. We left our boat at the dock overnight so it made it very easy to access the lake.
We fished size 16 flies under and indicator about 80% of the time and stripped leeches on a slime line the rest. By the end of our trip more fish were hooked and lost than landed. However everyone landed a big fish but me. My fish were the average 3 pound Upper Klamath Lake fish. Uncle Wesley landed a 4.5 and 5.5 pounder. Matthew and Michael both landed fish over 5 pounds and Pop B landed a 9.5 pound monster. It was over 30 inches long.
Looking forward to trying our luck again at this remarkable fishery.
