The first Klickitat River Steelhead guide tips I recommend is setting the hook downstream. I see to many people setting the hook straight up or upstream which is more common than you would think. This hookset allows poor placement in a fish’s mouth and results in fish spitting the hook more often than not. The fish is already facing upriver so an upriver hookset is pulling the hook away from the fish where as a downriver hookset sets down into the fish’s body, resulting in a much better hook placement.
The second tip I would give and maybe the most important tip is that our Klickitat fish are not as migratory as we think. Yes, they are moving upriver to spawn but they are not necessarily moving as fast as we think they are. These fish have gone up a lot of the Columbia River, up fish ladders, and other obstacles. Once they get up the falls of the Klickitat they are technically in the spawning grounds. This means that most fish have been in that same run for days, weeks, or even months. That leads us to think differently than other rivers. In other words the fish are there, they just don’t want to play. What gets them to play? Changing bead size or color to something they haven’t seen yet or jigs or worms. Sometimes swinging flies is more effective than fishing under a bobber. Nothing is a bad idea, especially later on in the season when the fish have seen everything we have to throw at them and they have been hooked 5-6 times already. They know what happens when they eat that glowing, round, orb!
The best Klickitat River Steelhead guide tips I recommend is fish in spots unlikely to hold fish behind other people and set the hook downstream!
Another one Klickitat River Steelhead guide tips is to fish water that other people haven’t. You might be on the same float as 10 other boats but in order to catch fish you might fish a line that is different than the other boats. If I’m behind that many boats I don’t look at the line that looks the fishiest, I am off of that line 3-5 feet because that line has already been fished 20 times already. If there is a line that has been fished 20 times already there is either not a fish there or a fish that doesn’t want to play. Fish will move off the main line to stay out of the way of getting hooked by anglers.