 |
| Mitch on left Kurt on right |
Date: June 12th 2010
Trip Objective :
Fish the little-known trophy trout fishery in Southern Oregon called Crystal Creek. Hook one of the monster Klamath run Redband Rainbows. Lodging and Buddies: Fishing partners were Kurt Barats and Mitch Barats often know as 2/3’s of the Cartwright clan (missing brother Greg rounds it out). We stayed and ate at a clean hotel/restaurant called “ Malita’s” . They are located right on Highway 97 in Chiloquin Oregon 541-783-2401. This area’s claim to fame is the Williamson river which is a great fishery for large Klamath run rainbows…so they are use to seeing anglers.
Weather & Stream Information
General Weather & Wind: Cool wet spring, partly cloudy skies with air temperature reaching 65 degrees.
Water Temperature: 56 degrees
 |
| Kurt's 17 inch Redband Rainbow |
Flow & Clarity: Uncertain about flow but clarity was very good the stream looked to be running at 600-800cfs but kind of hard to tell as it is a wide spring creek
 |
| Mitch feelin good! |
Hatches: We didn’t see any major hatch activity. As such we fished underneath the entire day
Crowds: No pressure, we did see a couple other boats late in the afternoon but we were quite a ways upstream from them. Pretty nice to have miles of spring creek to yourself…also pretty rare.
Crowds: No pressure, we did see a couple other boats late in the afternoon but we were quite a ways upstream from them. Pretty nice to have miles of spring creek to yourself…also pretty rare.
Results
Fish Caught: We landed 5 fish with the largest one being ~ 17 inches. We had quite a few other fish on the line and I jumped a couple that would likely go 19 inches plus . We did see some much larger fish…oh yeah…already dreaming about next year.
Best Flies: Black wooly Bugger with a heavy lead eye, red and black seal bugger, olive streamer
Other: This area is known to fish well with seal bugger flies. We also heard a rumor that green was the color…unfortunately we didn’t have a green seal bugger to test….but next year we will.
Chrystal Creek Trip Detail:
The Barats brothers (Kurt and Mitch) (two thirds of the Cartwright clan—my nickname) invited me to tag along on one of their spring exploration trips to Southern Oregon. Having grown up in the area they have a good feel for the various fishing waters and normally put a trip or two together each year. The area has the famous Williamson river which is known for monster Redband Rainbows migrating out of Klamath lake. Maybe more exciting (same fish, smaller stream) and quite a bit less known are several other beautiful streams that also drain into Klamath Lake. One of these lesser known streams is Chrystal Creek.
Directions:
