My name is Joan, and I'm a fishaholic. For those of you out there in denial, trust me, everyone but you knows you are too, so fess up. I had a hint I had a problem when Dan and I were standing in our drift boat, saying our wedding vows and my eyes drifted over the water and noticed we were in the midst of a hatch. I almost missed the minister's next question. My son recently got married on the banks of Spring Creek and Dan and I noticed there were two big trout laying next to a log. We both turned to each other and mouthed "look at that" at the same time. We came home and changed our vacation plans immediately, reserving a spot on the Williamson River for a week. I gotta tell you, if that was the only river available in the area it would still be worth any effort to get there. Located near Klamath Falls, Oregon, in the town of Chilloquin, the Williamson is world famous for its mega trout. A few days before we arrived, a twelve-year-old landed a 9 ½ pounder on his fly rod just off the boat dock at our RV park. If that doesn't get your fish fantasies going you might want to check your pulse to see if you're still alive.

BUT, this gets even better. Within a couple of miles of the Williamson, you also have the Sprague River, the Wood River, and Spring Creek. Every one of these rivers is drop dead gorgeous, and full of fish. Dan and I hit each river in turn, but I couldn't resist getting my waders on each evening and spending the last daylight hours wetting a line 30 feet from camp in the Williamson. No matter the size, these trout are full of fight, and always give me a thrill on my five weight. I noticed that the fish were continually flinging themselves out of the water in dizzying leaps. I asked one of the resident fishermen what was up, here was no hatch going on and they didn't seem to be feeding. He said that they come up out of the lake with parasites on them, which I later saw as tiny worm-like bugs, and they jump to dislodge them from their gills and body. Yuck! The 'scoop' from the local fly shop was that the preferred fly color for the Williamson and surrounds was maroon. Now if you have read any of my stories, you know that I love to try out weird things like red leaches, so I felt some vindication when the clerk gave my husband this news. We stocked up on maroon fly stuff (technical term) and Dan got to work. I don't think there is anything more satisfying than catching a fish on a fly you tied.

The Williamson is not the easiest river to access. There are very specific rules about boat or floatation access, and the public put-ins are almost non-existant. It really helps to know someone that lives on the river, as most of the bank is private property. We put in at the county boat ramp, if you could call 10 feet of dirt and rock a ramp, but who cares when the water is clear and fish are jumping. A lot of the water has a stair step conformation due to the geology of the area, and the tail outs and slots can light up your world. We choose not to drift the river this day, but to concentrate on exploring a short section in the vicinity. Each river has its own unique 'meander', twisting, turning, and flowing at it's own distinct pace. The fish native to the river respond in kind to their territory. It is your job, should you choose to accept it, to seek them out and engage them in battle. In other words, you can't catch a fish until you find him, and in gin clear water, that means sneaking up on him . Leave your international orange hunting cap in the truck, please. We had a few hookups, but decided that this part of the river was definitely a real early morning hole. Once the sun hit the water, the bite slowed down big time. We yanked the boat and headed for the ramp at the RV park. Since this was our first time on the Williamson, we loaded up fly rods and spinning rods and headed down river, trolling flies and a needlefish. It took us a few hours to get to the mouth at Klamath Lake, but we hooked fish all the way down and back. We saw every kind of flotation device imaginable and everyone seemed to be catching something. We also saw whole bunch of crawdad traps. The 'mud bugs' in this river are about 6 to 7 inches long, have big claws, and I would venture to guess they must be mighty tasty. Get out the Paul Prudhomme seasoning!

The next day we were on the Wood River. There is a public ramp and docks at two locations on the channel. I had caught a big brown about 6 pounds off one of the docks last year on a olive woolly bugger. We found a deep hole in a corner that had fish rolling and jumping. Dan hooked up and landed a 7 pound Brown on his first or second cast. I, on the other hand, only managed to entice a 6 inch perch. Since we had never had a boat on the Wood before, we headed the driftboat upriver and went exploring. The river was mostly shallow, with a few deeper holes along the way and was full of fuzzy creatures that looked like minks. We didn't stop until we pretty much ran out of water. We pulled over into the shade and enjoyed watching mayflies hatching and swallows diving and skimming in hot pursuit. They make F-16's look sluggish. After lunch we headed back down and followed the river all the way into Klamath Lake. Dan had the hot stick, and landed Rainbows and Browns along the way.

The Sprague river was next on the list, but we decided to switch to Spring Creek, as the Sprague was low and had a lot of algae bloom. In late July the rivers are dropping, and parts of them actually drop into underground aquifers and disappear from sight in places. Spring Creek, on the other hand was rushing with really cold water, which I can attest to as I had left my waders behind, and my feet were soon numb in my Tevas. We took the grandkids, and they soon caught their limit of 12 inch rainbows. In addition to the native population of trout, there is a hatchery that supplies fish to the river, and these fish are not frightened by shadows. They actually respond to the bait landing on the water, as they would to feeding pellets at the hatchery, by coming right over. The water is clear and you can watch the fish take the bait. All in all, it was a great afternoon followed by a delicious fish fry.

This area has much to offer both lake and stream fishermen as well as a huge outdoor logging museum at the State Park on Spring Creek with everything from equipment to actual old log cabins. The park day use area has picnic and BBQ facilities nestled in acres of rolling lawn. If you need to go to town for provisions, Klamath Falls is only about 45 minutes away.

We had a great time and so will you, so put this area on your list of vacation destinations and start tying those maroon flies.

P.S. They have a great grasshopper hatch too, so tie some 'hoppers' to put in your fly box arsenal.