Ironhead Guide Service

Ironhead Guide Service is a guide owned fishing and rafting outfit working out of Happy Camp on the middle Klamath River. Owner Mario Gomez was born and raised on the Klamath and has more than thirty years on the water, and the business itself has been established over fifteen years. Klamath trips run from heated Willie drift boats, most often between Happy Camp and Orleans, with the wider range reaching from the Yreka area down to Weitchpec. Two to three people fit comfortably in a boat and larger parties can be arranged with advance notice. A day consists of six to eight hours of fishing at 500 dollars for one or two people plus gratuity, and equipment and bait are provided on spin fishing trips. The site puts the salmon peak in September and October and the steelhead season from October through March, including the river’s half pounder run. Ironhead also guides the Smith, Chetco, Umpqua and Rogue and runs rafting trips on the Klamath.

Ironhead Guide Service also runs drift boat trips on the Rogue River and the North Umpqua River in Oregon, fishing from heated Willie drift boats and offering spin fishing, fly fishing and rafting. On the Rogue the season covers spring Chinook from March through June and fall Chinook from August through October, alongside coho salmon and summer and winter steelhead. On the North Umpqua the operation guides winter steelhead in the green water, ledge rock stretch east of Roseburg, where wild steelhead must be released.