Sorry, but I don't think I'm going to get around to an official report for the Lower Stan or Klamath rivers. I've been swamped with stuff around the house and work.
Basically, on the Klamath, I caught a bunch of fish. :) Yeah, they weren't huge, but they were in there. And I caught them on skaters. Seems the North Umpqua isn't the only river where the steelhead like these flies. It is also worth noting that I had very little luck with swinging wet flies. But, as soon as I put the skaters on, fish were slashing left and right.
On the Lower Stan, I caught 20+ fish. And while they were trout (technically, California claims them to be steelhead, but I would disagree in this instance), they love skaters too. My theory about showing fish something they don't normally see is paying off dividends. Whether it be pulsing a wet fly on the swing or even pulsing a skater. These are curious animals and they've seen people dead drift flies over and over and over again. Never mind the fact that doing so is B.O.R.I.N.G!!
This whole idea of fishing in unusual ways has worked in the past. Putah Creek comes to mind. While everyone else is dead drifting size 22 and smaller flies. Just cause "that's what the trout eat over there." Pffft. You can do pretty well, even on Putah, with big flowing size 4 spey flies. You just gotta try it. Match the hatch my ass. :)
