Klamath River Fishing Report at Marble Mountain Ranch

04/05/2026

Well, this is not normally a time of year when I offer a fishing report. However, we had a guest from the Sacramento area visit and went fly fishing out on his own. I gave him. our list of suggested locations, and he reported back with 20 half pounders in his day of fishing....WOW!!!!! I take this as a positive lead into the next fishing year...we hope...we hope.....Cheers to all, and happy Easter today....

01/04/2026

2025 SUMMARY FISHING REPORT FOR THE MID KLAMATH AT MARBLE MOUNTAIN RANCH: The basic summary for sport fishing here in the Middle Klamath is that there were NOT the historical numbers of steelhead in 2025 that I have personally seen in the 32 years of guided fishing I have done here in the middle Klamath. The last years of steelhead sport fishing were completely lost after dam removals, and the visible sediments suspended in the river were horrific. However, the 2025 season had an improved level of reduced visible sedimentation, but the early Fall periods were continuously loaded with floating globules of moss that would clog up a terminal tackle item after every cast. The early Winter fishing dates continued with acceptable river clarity and with reduced floating moss globules...but there still were no significant numbers of steelhead in this section of the Klamath. Most of the guided days were "skunked" with zero netted half pounders and zero adult steelhead. There were a few dates with a maximum of one and occasionally a total of two fish brought to the net.

We now have an extremely small number of local licensed guides for our home turf...Some have sadly passed away and others have moved on to other carrier paths and fishing locations.

My hope for the local fishing industry remains...hoping that each year we can recover more of what has been lost. Local hospitality suppliers such as Air BNB rentals, local grocery sales, and all other subsidiary businesses that gain from outside recreational cash flow into our community have suffered...but I hope this is improved for our 2026 fishing season.

This is my Last report / comment until we again approach the traditional fishing season at our home here in the middle Klamath.

As an additional observation, each larger atmospheric river event will continue to put more flows into the Klamath and hopefully clean out more potential spawning locations here at our home turf. I am posting the last month SUMMARY river flows to illustrate what the large range of river flows can look like during this season. Cheers to all, and we will connect again late next summer! Doug

11/16/2025

Nov 16, 2025 fishing report:
We had 9 guide days over Nov 13,14, 15 with San Jose Fly Caster's club. and....OUCH! We totaled 4 adult steelhead over the three days, and a few juvenile fish...sigh! and not a single half pounder!
Fishing conditions were ideal. It rained the morning of Nov 13, but cleared up mid morning and remained beautiful and comfortable for fishing conditions through the next two days.
The river flow was 3300 - 2800 cfs during the outing, clarity was around 20", and temps in the high 40s / low 50s. Everything was beautiful. And....the two best adult steelhead were those store bought steelies that we teriyaki smoked for dinner last night!
This has NOT been a good year as far as quantities of fish in the mid Klamath to support sport fishing. However...the river conditions have been appropriate and enjoyable. So...lets hope for a stronger steelhead population for this sport fishing passion next year. We are not encouraging additional bookings this year due to the low fish counts but if you want to just experience the canyon float and try for the few adult steelhead in the region....then come on down.
I am also posting a screenshot of the recent Cal Fish and Wildlife fish count reports for your review. Best To All! Doug

11/13/2025

Nov 12, 2025 fishing report at Marble Mountain Ranch: I guided the last two days and can report the river conditions to be fully fishable. The clarity is good, the moss globules are gone, the temperature is good (50 degrees) and the river volume is at an easy level for boat navigation (2800 cfs in Orleans). Fish numbers are still low relative to the missing half pounder population, but we did get some fish. Tuesday's net result was one adult and two half pounders with multiple juveniles, and today we netted two adults and three half pounders with multiple juveniles. We also saw a number of Salmon Redds, but not in the quantity we have usually seen. Ironically, today we passed two otters each dining on zombie salmon that had spawned and died.
The weather forecast is predicted to be bringing in some rain, but not in levels that appear to be threatening to the fishable conditions now in place. So...If you feel like re-visiting the mid Klamath...It is not RICH in fish numbers here, but the aesthetics, beauty and peaceful connections to the natural Klamath spirit will be rewarding. I would suggest to give it a visit before the heavier rains of Winter arrive. Fish On!!!

11/09/2025

Nov 8, 2025 Mid Klamath Fishing Report:
We just passed through a significant storm pulse and the Klamath River muddied up with poor clarity from our home all the way down to the ocean (I drove along the coast past Requa). However, the last two days of minimal rain have caused the river to drop back to 5000 CFS at Orleans and to clear up to a 22" clarity depth here at Marble Mountain Ranch. Current Mid Klamath River temps are at 50 degrees.
We have not done any fishing during this storm pulse, so I cannot report on fish numbers.
The weather forecast is predicting another storm at the end of this week, but the details are changing significantly each day I review them. I am posting the current forecast below.
So...The Mid Klamath has fishable conditions now with an unknown number of fish that have returned to spawn. We have 11 guide days booked in this next week, so I will be able to share exact numbers from groups that are excited to fish the mid Klamath, and to test the reality of the fish population. I am SO grateful for all who are joining us in a sport fishing community and looking with hope to a return of this world class fish habitat. The worst case scenario is that you get a beautiful canyon float, a gorgeous and groomed resort to stay in, and famous cuisine from my wife Heidi...On we go! Lets hope that we got a pod migration during this last rain period.
Doug

Oh Yeah, I forgot to share the report from California fish counting stations...see the attachment below.

11/01/2025

Nov 1, 2025 fishing report at Marble Mountain Ranch. We did two guide days October 27 and 29 with a LONG time friend / client and floated the PERSIDO Bar to Stuarts run and the C**n Creek to PERSIDO run. In Summary, the amount of floating moss globules is diminished, and becoming more normalized and the river clarity is fine for fishing (averaging about 24" of clarity depth) with cool water temps in the mid 50s. The two days were scheduled soon after the last rain pulse and we were hoping for more inbound fish.
The sad news, is that there were not good fish numbers. Both days encountered numerous smolt, d***s, and canardlies. Yep...a "canardly" is a fish so small that you "canardly" feel the fly being hit!
We got ZERO half pounders on both days, and saw ZERO salmon REDDS. The commonly visible REDD locations that historically have been visible while fishing for steelhead, were all empty. Over the decades, we would see the REDDS show up in our region around NOV 1, and we could fish the REDD perimeters to connect to the neighboring steelheads.
I can only hypothesize on why there are NO half pounders this year, but hopefully this season's normal quantity of juvenile fish will produce the half pounder population that we have lost in the last two seasons.
The good side of this report, is that while the PERSIDO bar run was totally a lost and "skunked" run, the C**n Creek run enabled a netting of two adult steelhead. This made the two fish days have a rainbow positive note. The largest of the two fish was probably a 4-41/2 pounder.
We are coming into another significant rain pulse (see the posted forecast)...and we are hoping to see more of a return for the sport fishing in the following weeks. The Klamath River was flowing in the 3000 cfs range in the last two guide days, so we should see another rise in flows after this next storm pulse.
On we go! My goal here is to HONESTLY post fishing conditions....even when we have sad quantities to report....BUT!.....we have a conditioned river that is fishable. Cheers to all! Doug

10/16/2025

Posting a very quick report...we are running in our providing service to feed local fire crews...so my time is limited.
So the last three days, with 6 total boat days, we were skunked. For the total 6 boat days we only hooked into two half pounders and two salmon.
The basic river clarity is good, but it is still filled with floated globules of moss that will clog your fly, spinner, or plug. We had guides trying all types of terminal gear options and nothing worked. There just are not many fish in the middle Klamath at the time.
River temps are good, in the mid 50s, and floating the river is enjoyable...but.....we just do not have enough fish here to make the report positive.
I do NOT want to get into the politics and try to argue various explanations...but I DO want to post an honest report on the factual results of our fishing experiences.
Conversely, the reports we are hearing about the Trinity is that a guide boat day can produce adult steelhead in the double digit numbers. It kind of looks like the fish are turning into the Trinity rather than the Klamath....sigh....
In summary....The immediate future in our schedule looks diminished in fishing numbers, But we are hoping for some increase in the next weeks. Cheers! and "on we go:".....

10/09/2025

10/ 8 /2025 fishing report: I have some first hand info to share today. We sent 7 boats out fishing in the last three days covering the C**n Creek to Stuarts bar areas. In summary, we are seeing very few steelhead. Here are our actual totals from the 7 total boat days. We netted 3 adult steelhead and 3 half pounders and dozens of smolt were hooked. There were several half pounder hits on the flies that did not lead to a netted fish. My personal boat run today with two expert fly fishermen only produced one netted adult (about 4 or 5 pounds) and zero half pounders. So.....there just are not many steelhead in this stretch of the mid Klamath.
However, the general river quality IS fishable. Clarity varied over the last three days but averaged about 2-3 feet in depth, river temps are in the mid 60s, and the river is flowing at 1600 cfs in Orleans....but we continued to clean off moss globules from our flies after every other cast.
The typical number of smolt that were interacted with on each guide day totaled around a dozen or two dozen smolt per boat. The large number of smolt interactions is encouraging as far as a potential growth for the future steelhead population...but we are obviously hit hard by the current loss of the half pounder population and the small numbers of adults.
We have more rain predicted at the end of this week and early next week, so we are hoping that there might be more pods of fish migrating up stream with increasingly cooler water temps.
It has been tiring to fish hard all day, with only one or two fish hits....but....that is FISHING!....so on we go,...
I am posting a couple of images of the adults from the last three days, and you can see that they look fresh and healthy. Cheers to all! Doug

10/03/2025

Hi All. Yesterday I floated and fished from PERSIDO to Stuarts bar. The river clarity was great...around 22 " of clarity and the river temp was cooler - around 62 degrees. BUT...there was an abundance of floating moss globules and we had to pull up our flies after every cast or two, and pull off the green stringy moss caught on our flies. I had two excellent fly fishermen, and we covered every historic hot spot fishing holes, riffles, tail-outs and classic steelhead runs but we did not get ONE single fish that was a half pounder or adult. We did however hook 9 smolts ranging in size from 6" to 9" and we witnessed about a dozen salmon that rolled on the surface or jumped through the air. I want all followers of this fishing report to trust our honesty in reporting the fishing status....so we will never be quoting the cliche "fishing is off today but you should have been here yesterday!!!"
Our assessment was that if there were any significant number or half pounders or adults present in the long run between PERSIDO and Stuarts, we would have at least hooked one.....or two.....or more??? Water levels were good (1700 cfs in Orleans) and weather was cloudy and dripping a bit of light rain while we fished. Next week is predicted to be partly cloudy and then sunny with warmer days peaking in the 80s.

We had some significant rain over the last couple of days, and I am hoping that the cooler water, cooler air, and rain have motivated some steelhead to migrate up the Klamath and fill the Mid Klamath water with enough fish to create productive sport fishing.
While we did not hook noteworthy sized fish, we did have an amazingly enjoyable float in comfortable weather, with pleasant solidarity, and with enjoyable fishing experience. It was all good except for the constant cleaning of mossy covered flies, and the absence of photo-worthy fish. On we go! Next week we have a busy fishing schedule, and we are hoping to report actual numbers of fish that we netted and released. .....and no......it was NOT because we had the wrong fly pattern! Hah! Cheers... Doug

09/15/2025

Sept 15 fishing report: The river clarity was drastically reduced last week with brown colored sediment...not sure if it was due to the rain, or what. But today clarity is VERY good. I could not walk far enough into the river wearing my muck boots to get a full clarity depth measurement, so I am posting a reading of 23" depth clarity....even though it is better than that. Next time I suppose I should dress in shorts and river shoes! The water temp is better than my last report, but it is still not an ideal temp in the shallow shore-line regions where I measure. It is for sure going to be better in the deeper pools and at the side stream confluences. I am optimistic about a good season of sport fishing in the middle Klamath, but I would make sure that spontaneous fishing is prepped by a check on conditions. I predict that the weather patterns will be more impactful on clarity with fire ash and residual sediment from the dams entering the river.
Flow levels were below 1500 cfs in Orleans, and are back to about 1550 cfs after the rain additions last week. We are entering a week of higher temps and low humidity, so this week is likely going to generate some slightly higher water temps...
One of our guides (Jeff) is planning on a test fishing run this week, so we will let you know what we find. cheers to all!

08/24/2025

A quick report - no images, but my fellow guide / friend (Jeff) floated the Persido Bar to MMR in the mid Klamath stretch last week, and fished the known holding pools and riffles. His report is: "great river clarity, but warm river temps, low flows, and suspended pieces of moss floating down stream - with few fish hits". The terminal gear (flys and or spinners) would clog up with the pieces of floating moss. So, this has been a normal occurrence during hot summer / low flow periods in the past, but shows little connect to the dam removals. I am taking this as a "NORMAL" mid summer report...of few fish residing in the area. If there are some coming through the area currently they will be moving upstream to cooler temp waters and / or residing in cooler temp refugial areas near creek confluences.

So...I am still looking at the coming Fall / Winter fishing as more of a normal season. (we hope...). Let's continue hoping for a return to the sport fishing in the Mid Klamath. Doug

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