The size and strength of these Great Basin redband trout is impressive, but having only seen four boats all day on this quality of fishery left almost as deep an impression on me. As it turns out, this magnificent fishery came so close to being wiped out, anglers quit fishing it. Apparently the word hasn't got out yet on the redband's incredible rebound.

At this point, my story goes in two directions. As I began writing, it became obvious the fishing tale wasn't working without interjecting a significant amount of the Upper Klamath Lake redband's history. The piece seemed fragmented, disjointed, and hard to read. As a result, I decided to tell both separately. If you are so inclined, you can just continue reading (the history comes first) or you can skip right on to the fishing.

History

For hundreds of thousands of years the Great Basin redband trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss newberrii), a subspecies of rainbow trout, adapted to and survived through the long hot summers, frequent drought, extremely cold winters and alkaline water conditions of the Southeastern Oregon desert. The seven basins occupied by the Great Basin redband are isolated systems, but they all featured an alkaline lake with no outflow, large wetlands, and spring or mountain fed rivers and streams. "Some of the basins are known to have historically interconnected to each other or to other drainages. Lake Modoc was connected to Goose Lake Basin during the Pliocene and opened to the Pacific through the Klamath River probably during the late Pleistocene." ODFW Status of Wild Fish in Oregon 1995

The lakes and marshes provided productive rearing grounds while the streams and rivers provided spawning habitat. Riparian zones cooled the water during summer and filtered run-off during the winter. The streams and marshes were safe havens for the fish during drought years.

The opening of Lake Modoc, today the Upper Klamath Basin, to the Pacific Ocean allowed anadromous steelhead to crossbreed with the resident redband. The abundance of food and the genetics inherited from their steelhead ancestors produced massive fish. The Upper Klamath Lake redbands are the largest wild trout in the lower forty-eight states. Fish have been caught weighing up to 22 pounds!

The changes to the redband's habitat over the last 150 years caused by water diversions, conversion of wetlands to agriculture, bad grazing practices and logging cut the Great Basin redband's range in half!

Thirty thousand acres of wetlands around Upper Klamath Lake were diked and drained for pasture since 1950. The delta of the Wood River, one of Upper Klamath Lake's largest tributaries, was completely dredged. The loss of wetlands around, a natural water filter, and major fresh water inflows contributed to decline in water quality. By the early 1990's after years of drought, two species of fish, the Lost River sucker and shortnose suckers were listed as endangered. The redband population was also noticeably in trouble.

1992 was another drought year. The Bureau of Reclamation cut off water deliveries to the farmers, as mandated by the Endangered Species Act, causing over $75 million in lost crops. This was not enough as many fish still died because of high water temperatures and low oxygen levels.

It was enough, however, to make people look for solutions. The Hatfield Upper Klamath Basin Working Group, with representatives from all concerned groups, was established and charged with finding ways to repair the ecosystem while maintaining economic stability. The Bureau of Land Management was able to purchase the Wood River Ranch.

Oregon Trout hired experienced stream restoration consultants and in partnership with Bureau of Land Management, the Bureau of Reclamation, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the Klamath Tribes and the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife restored the lower Wood River and its 3,500 acres of wetlands. The five-year project restored the riverbed to its historic path, fish passage between the Wood River and Agency Lake, and reestablished the wetlands and delta at Agency Lake. The completed project has provided spawning and rearing habitat for both the suckers and the redband and a refuge of cold clean water in the summer when Upper Klamath Lake conditions are poor.

In the meantime, the Nature Conservancy purchased the two ranches where the nearby Williamson River flows into Upper Klamath Lake. The new preserve covers both sides of the river for six miles. In partnership with the Bureau of Reclamation, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Natural Resource Conservation Service, PacifiCorp, Cell Tech, the Klamath Tribes, National Fish and Wildlife Foundation, and local farmers, work was started in 2002 to restore the wetlands of the Williamson.

These two projects encompass nearly 15,000 acres and, in a very short period of time, both size and numbers of the redband in Upper Klamath Lake have dramatically improved.

Fishing

We put in at Henzel Park, the closest launch facility to the Wood River. The park sits at the end of a dead end slough, a good quarter of a mile from moving water. The water was completely covered with algae and water lilies. As our driftboat, powered by an electric trolling motor, cruised by, frogs would make a noisy splash and dive under the cover. All you could see was their eyes and a splash. There were hundreds of them.

After making our way across the wetlands, we anchored at the north end of Agency Lake. Large trout were rising around the boat. The fast-action 7 wt. rods made casting 50 feet of medium-sink mono line a breeze. We fished various leech patterns at all depths and moved on once the spot had been completely worked.

Steve was looking at an area of the lake where there were a number of rises in a couple of minutes. "I like to see a fish rise at least once a minute," he told me. "If you work the places where there is that much activity, you'll catch fish."

While patiently waiting for my line to sink, Steve's reel started screaming. Before I could even turn around there was a thunderous splash. Quickly I got my line out of the water and watched the battle. The redband came out of the water like a rocket and skipped across the surface of the lake. The monster trout would slow and Steve would gain some line then the fish would take control again. The redband's speed, strength, and aerobatic style of fighting were more reminiscent of a steelhead than a trout!

The fish tired and Steve got it close to the boat and I netted it. We weighed it (just over 8 pounds), took the photo and had it back in the water in less than 30 seconds. The redband soon revived, Steve released it and it slowly swam off. We were using a relatively fast strip, three or four quick 6" pulls, pause, then pull again. I cold see the marker on my line telling me I had about 10 feet to go. A bronze colored flash nailed the fly a couple feet under the surface. This happened just as I was stripping line. With so little line to act as a shock absorber, the line immediately snapped, broke at the surgeons knot connecting the 7-pound tippet to the leader.

We each had a hit without a full take. The take of the Upper Klamath redbands is very soft, again similar to a steelhead. It can be hard to tell the difference from the weeds on the lake bottom from a strike. "Just keep stripping, the fish will hook itself," Steve told me. "If you set the hook, you just take the fly away from them," he added. "Sometimes they will hold the fly without taking it; sometimes they'll just follow it all the way to the boat."

After a couple of hours, the action totally shut off. As far as we could see, there weren't any fish rising. We made our way to the mouth of the Wood River and motored up the meandering channel, again not seeing any fish rise. The Wood is mostly a spring fed river. The water was gin clear and cold. We saw a couple of fish around a clump of tules growing in the center of a calm pool out of current of the main channel. We were able to entice them into a couple of bumps but no serious takes.

The deepest water in the Wood is found on the outside of the river bends. This is a favorite holding spot for the redbands. We fished our way back down to the river mouth, without success, drifting the slow current. It was early enough that Steve suggested we move to the nearby Williamson River. I agreed so we trailered the boat over to Chiloquin and put-in just below the confluence of the Sprague River.

This short section of river is classic trout water. Piles of logs litter the bottom of the deeper holes and the river has cut channels through the solid rock areas. Add a few riffles, a slot here and there, and you have near perfect habitat. We saw fifty fish in one hole! Well you already read the end of the story...

The bottom line is awesome wild trout fishing in uncrowded conditions. Even on a slow day you should hook a few fish. This is a five-star destination and the forecast is for better fishing in the future!

Regulations

Angling restricted to artificial flies and lures in streams.

Agency Lake: 1 trout per day.

Wood River: Open April 26-Oct. 31.
Wood River from mouth (mouth of Wood River extends through the Wood River Delta to emergent vegetation line in Agency Lake) upstream including tributaries, except Annie Creek (Klamath Co.)
Catch and release for trout

Williamson River: Open May 24-Oct. 31.
Modoc Point Road Bridge upstream to Chiloquin Bridge
1 trout per day May 24-July 31.
Catch and release for trout Aug. 1-Oct. 31.
No angling from motor-propelled craft while motor is operating.

Steve Bonner contributes a regular fishing report to the Fish Sniffer.

You can contact Steve Bonner at his shop, Native Run Fishing, by phone 541.474.0090 or through his website: www.nativerun.com. If you are in the neighborhood, they are located at 324 Redwood Highway, in beautiful Grants Pass, OR.