Summer Steelhead Numbers Looking Good - Willamette River System

The last few days have had nice summer steelhead passage through the Willamette Falls Fish Counter. ODFW reports nice numbers of fish returning; so keep yourself posted to the Willamette Falls Fish Counts. My personal opinion is when the numbers breach 3,000 summer steelhead, it is good enough to have high probability of roping into some chrome bright fish. The numbers hit that 3,000+ mark from May 6th to May 7th, and then almost jumped another thousand fish since then to the 12th which is the last day of counted fish reported by ODFW.

Clackamas River Summer Steelhead

Daily	Cum	Date
201	2,972	5/6
186	3,158	5/6
193	3,351	5/7
96	3,449	5/8
137	3,586	5/9
172	3,758	5/10
87	3,845	5/11
142	3,987	5/12

When the numbers are coming in; the counts will fall behind several days due to the spring chinook and steelhead literally having to be hand counted with pictures taken from a camera as they pass through the fish ladder. That is a good sign too, and that basically means that it is time to get out to the tributaries that come into the main stem Willamette River like the Clackamas, Santiams, McKenzie, and Middle Fork Willamette Rivers. The early fish are full of serious vigor, and if you have not hooked one, I strongly recommend trying getting out to experience one.

If you are interested in booking a guided trip for steelhead, call me at (541)-232-6360 or email me at fish@mckenzieangler.com .

Welcome to my Website!!

Welcome to my new website!! I am really excited to get this blog rolling, and I am hoping I will get a lot of people bookmarking this site.

Lower Deschutes Rainbow Trout

South Coast Fall Chinook

There will be plenty of fishing reports to check out, because I try and document where I am fishing at and what was going on for the day. Typically I will post up photos and video content of the day's fishing events. I will also put up informational entries like fly tying videos, topics like product reviews, and equipment/fishing technique discussions. 

Smallie taken on "Mr Wiggles"

My typical fly fishing would be going for trout or steelhead, but I really love fly fishing for just about any species that is willing to take a fly. Many times of the year rivers for trout or steelhead can be too high, too low, too cold, too warm, or it's too bright out, and conditions can make it not the best option out there to choose to fly fish for one of the two species. Many anglers simply give up and say, "It's too low and warm out there; so I'm not going fishing." In the meantime, you can be out there catching one of these......

Summertime Doldrums Bluegill

Steelhead are the species I have the most passion for, and I enjoy nothing more than putting a person who has never caught one on a fly rod into their first fish. Nothing feels better than to see the look on someone's face when they see their first successfully landed steelhead. It is super rewarding being a part of the whole experience and I really enjoy guiding people for steelhead

First Steelhead Caught - McKenzie River

Obviously I like to catch steelhead on my free time too....

Filbert and I admiring a winter chromer

Traveling to the tropics is what I have the least experience in, and I would really love to build my saltwater resume up with fish like bonefish, GT's, a permit or several, snook, redfish, roosterfish, and a whole lot more. What I have done so far was a blast, and that is simply the reason to want to pursue more tropical saltwater fly fishing. Even the smaller fish feel like they are huge, and make a reel scream like you are hooked on a car.

Bluefin Trevally

Basically, I love fly fishing, and really enjoyed being involved in it any way that I can. Whether I am out fishing for fun, guiding someone into their first steelhead ever, or witnessing a blanket caddis hatch with clients while we are trying to figure out what the trout will be taking; I am totally stoked on this wonderful sport we have. Time to go hit the Clackamas river for some fly fishing!

TIGHT LINES!!!