It's the Terrible at Fishing radio show on Gold
Country Radio. Here's your fishing expert and
host, Michael Ruffino. Welcome back everybody
to Terrible at Fishing. I know, Terrible at Fishing.
That's a funny name for a show. Especially for
you to tune in. and find out about fishing. I
am the expert at being terrible. So this week,
beautiful week, starting to get the bug. I went
to the fly fishing clubs meeting on Tuesday and
we had a biologist there for ODFW. His name was
Bill Tenniswood. and he had a wonderful presentation
on all the rivers and not all the lakes but we're
going to talk about because I did ask about them
and the creeks and stuff like that his his suggestions
and where to fish and some of the fish counts
you know probably wondering about salmon and
steelhead so we're going to be covering All of
that in today's show. And I am doing this before
I forget everything. I did take a picture of
all of his slides. So, I'm looking on my little
phone here, although phones are not little anymore,
and I'm going to try to refresh my memory of
all the things that he mentioned. So, let's talk
a little bit about some of the simple leaks around
here. Before we get into other areas like Lake
County, so I mean that's I'm not even sure Lake
County is not like Far east from us. I do believe
and And he said he made it sound like everything
was really really really really far away Yeah,
okay, it's east of Klamath So it's pretty far
But we're going to talk a little bit about Lake
County As well as Klamath County, but let's talk
about Lake of the woods around the the perimeter
is is is it has perimeter thaw, you know, so
from right along the banks and and and then you've
got sort of an open area to the ice so But it
still has you know ice out on the majority of
the lake A fish lake has more open water but
still a lot of ice on fish lakes. So if you want
to do some bank fishing, you probably can get
some fish off the banks at both of those lakes
right now. He gave me some wonderful information
about Gerber Lake and Thompson Reservoir. Now
Thompson Reservoir is one of those that they've
been stocking really, really heavy. They expect
a lot of great fishing at Thompson Reservoir.
Also, over at Gerber Lake, too. Gerber Lake is
another great lake that will spill over this
year. The crappie are really, really good there.
It's a great crappie lake. To be honest, There
are two lakes I like to go crappie fishing at,
which is Emigrant Lake in Ashland and Gerber
Lake over here. If you go south of Gerber Lake,
there's Willow Valley. Willow Valley will spill
over too. I happen to like Willow Valley, but
if you go there, you really need to understand
that lake a little bit in order to catch some
really big bass. and it's a great big bass lake.
But there are certain areas of that lake that
are fantastic for big bass. So we do have some
really good fishing just around here. Now they're
actually spawning. The bass are actually in spawn
right now over in Bonanza on Lost Creek. Lost
River. Lost River. Lost Creek. I always get them
confused. But anyway, in the hot springs there.
So, there's some really good fishing that's going
to be hitting there pretty good as soon as they
spawn. So, it's really a fantastic time. Like
I said, we're starting to get the itch, aren't
we? So, let's go over some of the things that
I learned this week at the Fly Fishing Club's
presentation. So, at Lake County, which is east
of us. come to find out. It's pretty pretty pretty
far away but you know when we had our droughts
from 20 to 22 it pretty much dried up everything.
So and 23 and 20 through this year last couple
last few years we've had really good water above
average water years from 23 to 25. So some of
the eastern reservoirs I don't even know what
a rain shadow is, but he mentions they're in
the rain shadow. Some of you probably know what
that is. So, Warner Pond is one of those ponds
that is doing really, really well right now for
trout. It is a very good pond and also the Duncan
Reservoir. The good news is the bullhead, because
of the drought, it had dried it up. All the bullhead
that people have planted in there are gone. So
you don't have to worry about them. It was spilling
over in 2023 and it's spilling right now. And
they were stocked with fingerling and 10 inch
trout in 23 and 24. So the fishing there should
be hitting pretty good. Then there's Heart Lake.
Heart Lake in 2022 was treated with Rodanum to
remove all those brown bullhead catfishes. Rodanum
is something that is common. It removes the oxygen
out of the water, but it comes back. After the
Rodanum does its work, it really comes back and
becomes a very good eco environment for food
for the fish. In 1955, Lake of the Woods was
treated with it because of the sucker fish. It
killed everything in Lake of the Woods in 1955.
Look at Lake of the Woods now. It's my favorite
and probably one of the best fishing holes you
could go to. It's been stocked with fingerlings,
eagles, and trophies of rainbow trout to jumpstart
that fishery. Then there's Hart Lake. Hart Lake
is fishing very good right now. And, boy, he
showed me a picture of something like, I think
it's the saddest, biggest, fattest rainbow trout
over at Big Rock Reservoir. Now, Withers Lake
looks like a really cute lake. I gotta check
this lake out. It's probably too far for me to
go, but Withers Lake looks... durable and it
is a uh you can't you know with withers lake
you can't take um a gas engine on that so it's
got to be an electric or a float tube or something
like that um blue lake uh is doing really really
well and you want to use those blue lake damsels
um they showed the inside of one fish evident
they like these little boogers Cottonwood Meadows
is hitting really big trout right now. The Brook
Trout and Rainbow Trout over at Cottonwood Meadows.
But April and May is the best time to be fishing
them. And then October and November. Electric
motors only if you have a motor at all. So if
you're flying, fishing, use minnow patterns,
midges, and damsels. Excuse me. Chawokin River
is doing very well too. He was really stressing
Site 4 and I think it was Site 8. Let me look.
Site 4 and Site 8 were really the game changers
on the Chawokin River. He gave us a lot of really
good pointers there. Places to fish in 2025 in
Lake County is the Warner Pond, Cottonwood Meadows,
Heart Lake, Duncan Reservoir, and Rivers End
Reservoir, although there was a trick to get
in there because that's private property, but
you got to go upriver off of 33. And there's
a largemouth bass that's sitting really good
there. I'm going to have to check this place
out. I think we're going to get a little adventurous
this season. I want to do more river fishing,
so the boat won't be used every time I go out.
It is an inflatable, so maybe I'll throw a kayak
in there or something like that. Maybe we hit
some of these places. Now, black drake hatches.
That's what you want to use on the Williamson's
River. The Williamson's Is one of those spots
and that you want to be using black tree catches
also the Sprague Sprague is doing really well
in the Wood River has gotten some really big
old giant beasts out of it now he did show It's
a strange picture you got to see it Sun Creek
Burke trout He shows he shows this giant brook
trout with a rat in it or a vole yeah he ate
it dude I did not know trout ate rats I know
that I know my boys the largemouth bass do but
this beast I got a picture of it right here he
ate a rat they got little mouths He had a whole
wool. Anyway, you could catch those babies on
those. So if you want to throw out a rat, you
know, or something that looks like it, you could
do that. All right, so he had this big chart
and this is the spawning. They've got spawning
here and then fish counts. So The only the only
area that was really in the positive was Crystal
Creek and its its peak count was 357 at Crystal
Creek. So it was the only area that was actually
up in their fish count. Now there are some honorable
mentions. You know Crooked Creek and its tributaries.
The total red count there is 445. It's about
normal. Then we had the Wood River. The peak
count was 242, as well as the Sprague River and
Comic Con Springs peak count was about 251. Again,
not up, but not bad for those rivers. The Williamson's
had a peak count at the moment 98. You know,
Lower Williamson is one of my favorite places
for red banded. You can catch some big, I mean,
I have a video on terrible fishing of me catching
a 21 .5 inch red band in the Williamson's. It's
a fantastic, beautiful, beautiful, beautiful,
beautiful fish. But the Williamson's, I think,
It opens up on Memorial Day, so Indy 500 hits,
so does that. But if you're indigenishing, you
can fish it whenever you want. Remember too,
Williamson's only allows a single prong hook.
They changed that a couple years ago and treble
hooks are outlawed there, so you don't want to
be caught with treble hook. your line. I made
special bucks just for the Wood River or for
the Williamson's River. I've never done the Wood
River. Again, I'm going to be exploring a lot
of these areas and I want to see how these rivers
and creeks actually fish. Since I'm learning
how to fly fish, it's just one of those things
I'm going to have to figure out. go ahead and
do that. Alright, so we're going to take a break
here and then we're going to go into what the
biologist said about the dam removals and where
to fish on the Klamath when it opens up and what
their counts are thus far. you might not be surprised
you might be surprised so stay tuned and please
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locally and beyond. All right, welcome back to
terrible at fishing so Damn removals. Oh boy.
Did that get everybody all riled up? one way
or the other People got riled up so I Know I
was a skeptic Just tell you that but the more
I learned about it the more I saw why they did
it But I'm sort of a put up or shut up when I
see it. I believe it type of guy so When they
first removed those dams they pretty much I mean
the river was gross Smelled like a sewer system,
but There there has been some nice surprises
You know on the California side Now we haven't
seen a whole lot of On the Oregon side of the
Klamath. Yeah, but we're going to talk about
that So they got a new boat ramp evidently over,
you know over at the JC Boyle area, you know
I did not know that because I haven't been down
there and So they got a new boat ramp There and
So we're going we're gonna talk. Let's start
on the southern end Caldera from J .C. Boyle
Dam, where it used to be, down to the Caldera
Rapids. Below the J .C. Boyle Dam, or what used
to be the dam, Chinook Salmon, the max daily
Chinook count, is 93. Total Reds The Red Banded
are 87. Now, a lot of this action is down near
the Caldera Rapids. I guess it's class 4, class
5 rapids, so I wouldn't say jump in. But, Coho
Salmon, alright? Probably wondering about this.
Coho Salmon, Coho count 19. This was back in
December. Total Reds 15 back in December. We're
starting to see them right along there. Now,
go up to the above the JC Boyle Dam. Again, it
doesn't really exist. Just past Spencer Creek,
that area of Klamath River, Mack's daily Chinook
count was 88. That's the Chinooks. This was back
in October. Total Reds were 65. Now, Coho's none.
Those Coho's that were spotted was down south
of J .C. Boyle, down near the Caldera Rapids.
now Spencer Creek Spencer Creek is a great creek
to fish a lot of people see a lot of stuff there
a lot of good stuff now the max daily Chinook
count there was 182 in Spencer Creek 182 and
that was in November total reds 81 no coho all
right no coho not yet I don't know how many miles
that is to the Caldera Rapids, but they'll make
it up there in time. Spencer Creek is a really
good spot. I would love to give that a shot this
year. I will give it a shot this year. Clamath
River won't open until the 15th of April. So,
don't go into it until the 15th next week. Now,
above the Kino area up to the Link River, or
Link River Dam, there has been no salmon observed,
no Chinook or Coho. But someone showed me a picture
of a big old giant sturgeon in the link that
was caught. Lake River. I mean, it's only got
like eight inches of water. How did that? My
goodness. I mean, that's sick. So, Agency Lake
is another really good area where the Wood River's
mouth is. That's a really good area for fishing
as well. So, at this moment, you know, we on
the Oregon side, Alright, we barely, I mean unless
you go right near the border, you know, in those
rapids, the Caldaria Rapids, we've not seen any
Chinook and no steelhead have been observed on
the Oregon side of the Klamath River. Now, some
people might be, you know, somebody did catch
a 24 -inch what they said is a still, but they
didn't take a picture. Now a lot, you can catch
a 24 -inch red and confuse you a little bit.
So I don't know if that actually happened, but
there are, you know, in time, you know, yes,
we will be getting our still head. Now some interesting
points like the Keno Dam, you know, that's still
there and it's an older fish ladder. So that
fish ladder, they will be updating it, but it
is, it could still work for the still head and
salmon, but it can be better. And they will be
updating that fish ladder. And once they update
it and the river reestablishes itself with still
head and the coho, then we'll be able to see
the species in our front yard. The Link River
Dam actually was upgraded a number of years ago.
I forgot how many. I have a show on that. It's
in a book right above my head somewhere. You
know, down where the Copco dams were and Iron
Gate, those areas are seeing a good revitalization
of the river and the salmon is still here. So
it's just over the border, just over the border.
So that's top picks to be fishing this year.
The Wood River. for Browns in April and through
July or in Browns April and July through August.
So this is a good time for the Wood River Browns.
Also the Upper Williamson's and where, you know,
the Sprague meets it. Use Black Drake's in June,
okay? and the Wood River Red Band in June and
July, and then of course September. Agency Lake,
I just mentioned that, and the Wood River Mouth
in June through July. So, as these areas will
open up, we will be able to get some really good
fishing. This is actually a fishing show today,
huh? All of this stuff. And I'm learning bugs.
I'm learning bugs. And I don't know what all
these bugs are. And some of these areas, they
don't allow baits. So it's fly fishing. No plastic
baits. And stuff like that. So please, you need
to... you need to consult the regulations for
some of these areas like the Wood River and the
Williamson's River like I was telling you a single
hook and understand before you go out there I
don't want you all to get in trouble and because
ignorance is never a good excuse to tell the
game warden but hopefully you got your fishing
license all ironed out This coming year is proving
to be a really good wet. We're looking at good
water flows on the rivers and the creeks. We've
got our reservoirs like Willow Valley and Gerber
and Thompson. We're looking at spillovers and
really good water flows there. When they removed
the J .C. Boyle Dam, before they did that, they
harvested the fish in the Topsy Reservoir or
the J .C. Boyle Reservoir there. I was out there
one day and I watched them do it. I had never
seen them do it before. They put electrodes and
they shock the water and it paralyzes the fish
and they scoop them up and they relocate them.
Now the cool thing is is I like over in JC Boyle.
They had some really nice bass there. They still
do which is really cool and So we might be able
to catch some nice large mouth bass over in you
know that area And with a new boat ramp, you
know work them out for the Spencer Creek and
stuff like that to be honest It's gonna be pretty
exciting This year They took those fish and they
restocked them in a lot of different reservoirs,
including Gerber. They put a lot of these fish
that they took out of there and they put them
over into Gerber Lake. So they revitalized Gerber
Lake with a lot of interesting fish, including
better largemouth bass. Gribber's not known for
its past population, but it has it. But it's
a great spot for your crappie and for your pumpkin
seed sunfish, which is the prettiest fish out
of them all. I mean, pumpkin seed is just gorgeous.
You catch one of those, it's not a very big fish,
but you're just going to gasp. I mean, the blues
and the purples and the oh, oh, oh. It's so purdy.
It's a purdy fish. It's a pumpkin seed. Now,
the best place to fish grabber is going to be
over by the dam at the turn. It is the best over
by the dam. You could go out there. You can do
it from the bank if you want. You know, park
out there in a tube or a boat. It works really,
really well right there. It's a deep spot. but
it's a fantastic spot for catching your pan fish.
Now over in Willow Valley, as I told you, you
really got to understand that lake a little bit.
It will be spilling over, and I think it might
be spilling over now, but I have to get out there.
It's about an hour and a half away, and if you
go down... I mean, it's a dirt road. It's a forest
road to get out there. But once you get out there,
it's got a decent boat ramp and it's got, you
know, sort of a primitive bathroom, but it's
got a bathroom. But you go down that boat ramp
and you turn hard left. So on the left side of
that boat ramp along the shoreline, there are
some underground trees or underwater trees right
there in a little cove. fantastic spot for the
big bass. But there are other spots, but that's
an easy one for me to tell you on the radio.
It's the left of the boat ramp, probably about
100 yards, and there are some underwater trees
that are there and it's perfect cover for the
bass. Now, the water is cold still. The bass
aren't going to be hitting right now, but understanding
what is happening with the water levels, where
we're getting good oxygenation, we're getting
a good food supply into these reservoirs and
these lakes, into the creeks. They are doing
a lot of stocking in a lot of these places because
in 2022 we had the worst drought in history.
But because of the wet years, and you know some
of them some places were uh sort of uh you know
they were treated with rhodanone and some of
them were just dried up so they really the odfw
has done a really good job at restocking and
trying to revitalize these fisheries now you
wonder where your money's gone you know when
you buy a fishing license or a boating license
or whatever um This is what you're paying for.
This is what you're paying for. You're paying
to get ODFW to take care of our fisheries, our
hatcheries, and so we can enjoy the outdoors
and a sport that we thrive in. So make sure that
you are properly licensed. So hopefully today's
show gave you a lot of good information. and
you can go online to Terrible Fishing or to the
radio station's YouTube channel and you can listen
to this and pause it and take notes. So thank
you very much everybody, tight limits to you
and we'll see you guys out on the water. That
was Terrible at Fishing, the radio show with
fishing expert Michael Raffino. Check out Terrible
at Fishing on YouTube. And tune in next week
for the next episode and more great fishing tips.
Terrible and Fishing, Fridays at 7pm on Gold
Country Radio.