CalTrout just dropped their March enewsletter, and included is an interview with Mt. Shasta fly fishing guide Craig Nielsen, who talks about the highly productive Klamath River (for steelhead).



He tells us why few people fish it, why that's a shame (hint: it's great for swinging flies and two-handers), and how much better he thinks it could be -- if we can get the Klamath River dams out.

It's a short-but-interesting interview (he opened my eyes to a few things), and worth a few minutes.

If you don't know why the Klamath River dams should come down, here's a CalTrout article making a case for dam removal -- and also a recent update on the status of dam removal (and the KBRA).

Despite the quality of the Klamath's fishery -- and its potential -- the Klamath isn't really on the radars of a lot of California and Oregon's steelhead fishermen, but it probably should be.

It's going to be a big year in California on so many fronts; the Klamath thing might be decided, we'll see if moves to raise Shasta Dam acquire any momentum, we're supposed to see good salmon returns, and, oh yeah -- because of the drought, the water wars should prove especially interesting.

I still owe the Undergrounders a pair of posts about those wacky Sisikiyou Board of Supervisors, including a look at their attempts to "prove" the coho salmon isn't native to the Klamath Watershed.

It's like a satirical TV sitcom, only they mean it.

See you hammering the bad guys, Tom Chandler.