McKenzie Summer Steelhead Video From 7-11-2012

This last Wednesday, I was guiding two wonderful guys who are my most regular clients; with steelhead being the main target of the day, and trout filling in after the heat and sunshine took over. It was predicted to hit 87 degrees on the weather forecast, and I can say that it was higher than that. Also very calm out; so the heat and sun did not let up on you at all. I took my shirt and dunked it under the cold McKenzie River water, wrung it out, and put it on. It would seem like a refreshing idea, but within no time, my shirt heated up and felt like a warm wet towel wrapped around me. Luckily it was bone dry in about 10 minutes anyhow. The heat did seem to affect the fishing, but we luckily got into two fish with the fly rod, and one fish backtrolling a plug in a deep tailout. Yes we occasionally bust out a rod that has a fly reel loaded with 30# backing and 30 meters of 12# test on it with a wiggle wart plug. Occasionally it has saved a day that would have been a skunking, and other times it adds on one to several bonus fish to fight on a fly rod without fly line on it. Anyhow, no need to justify my fly fishing; since I do that firsthand, and have that Rig as an extra tool in the boat. The one particular tailout is super deep and always has fish in it, yet I have never caught a fish in there any other method besides with a plug and backtrolling. I know the drift guys can get them in there, yet I cannot get down with any shooting head or indicator dead drift set up (so far).

Bruce Casting a Skagit Switch Fly Line on a Switch Rod

Nonetheless, one of the other fish was hooked up with a Skagit Switch Head with 7.5 feet of T-11 sinking line, and a leech I tied with blue ostrich hearl in the rear and black ostrich in the front. The fly had small dumbell eyes, and about a 4 foot leader of 0X Orvis Mirage Tippet was used off of the sinking tip line. It was taken while working toward the tailout in a deeper run, and the fly was taken hard, but Bruce let out a frustrated sigh when the fish's battle was short lived.

McKenzie River Summer Steelhead Caught while Nymph Fishing

Blaine's fish was hooked while drifting down from spot to spot. We were passing by a short run and I was having both guys nymph off the side of the boat with a stonefly nymph and a Trout Bead dropped off of it. The fish took a 8MM Natural Roe pattern with a size 6 hook, and it was fought with 1X Mirage Flouro (I use 0X to the 1st fly and 1X to the second; so you possibly only lose one if you have to break off). The fish stuck on for the whole battle, and we got  to enjoy it chrome ocean fresh coloration before sending it back off for someone else to enjoy again. After that the steelhead did not want to play anymore, but having three fish hooked up on a 90 degree bright sunny day and hitting the water at 9am isn't too bad......We also caught a fair number of trout after the steelhead seemed to quit biting, and enjoyed being on the water on a hot and sunny day. At least then you can dunk your hat in the water and get your feet wet instead of being in the city all hot and sweaty!  

Enjoy the Video of the fish Blaine Caught....

McKenzie River Slam While Trout Fishing

This past Thursday, we floated the McKenzie for trout, and ended up having a wonderful day out there. The day had a pleasant surprise that ended up making it a totally memorable one. We were swinging wet flies under the surface film, and the trout were responding quite well to the presentations. We caught rainbows consistently throughout the day, and there was not much of a bug hatch while we were out on the water. We also fished with a large October Caddis dry fly and a Possie Bugger nymph dropped off of it, and that was not the best producer this day, but it usually works very well throughout the fall.

A nice 15" Coastal Cutthroat taken on a yellow softhackle in the Surface Film

 The first fish to make the "slam" criteria was a fine 15" coastal cutthroat that tore up a yellow softhackle pattern swung down and across in the surface film. The McKenzie River cutts do not get much bigger than 15"; so I was totally stoked to see that gorgeous fish. It was quite the scrapper too, making a few little runs and jumping clear out of the water several times.

 Hot Turbo Charge McKenzie River Rainbow Trout Taken on a October Caddis Pupa

 The next fish to count towards the "slam" was a fine 15" rainbow that hit a swung October Caddis pupa pattern in the surface film. The fish ripped Lance up nicely, as he commented on the fish's strength and long battle that would not cease. We admired the hard bodied rainbow before releasing it back to continue its piscatorial pursuits. Little did we know that the fishing would yield a super awesome bonus that would make the day one hard for Lance to forget.

Chrome bright 33" steelhead taken on a 8'6" 5wt fly rod on a swung October Caddis pupa

We were coming through a nice run/flat and the swung October Caddis pupa came tight with a solid grab. I commented that the fish was probably the best of the day, when suddenly the water erupted with a chrome bright steelhead. I freaked out with stoked excitement! We fought the fish for a couple of hundred yards to luckily come upon a nice gravel bar beach to be able to finish the battle off. The fish eventually yielded to a long battle filled with several hard runs. It was a 33" chromer that was on its way up the river and Lance's fly happened to intercept its coarse up the river. What a bonus!


It is awesome how you see pleasant surprises on the river, and fall can fill you with many good times while fly fishing in Oregon. Tight Lines!!!

Fly Fishing McKenzie River 2011 Video Clip

Check out this video clip of McKenzie River highlights for the 2011 fly fishing season. There are clips of trout and steelhead fly fishing from the lower river to the upper river. Filming is from the spring through the early summer; so there is none of the hot fall trout and steelhead fishing that is around the corner. Enjoy the video clips!!

If you are interested in experiencing the hottest fall fishing for trout or steelhead on the McKenzie River then email me at fish@mckenzieangler.com or call me at (541)232-6360.

McKenzie River Fly Fishing Report 7/7/2011

The McKenzie River was pretty good yesterday, with fish taking golden stone dries occasionally and eating subsurface beadhead nymphs like a flashback pheasant tails and possie buggers. We got lots of nice fish and a several fish breached the 16 inch mark; with one fish being a real beast. The fish pictured below literally had a 6 inch trout juvenile hanging out of its mouth when we landed it. I aided the fish by pulling the fish out of its mouth, since it seemed like it was trying to get rid of it during the fight when we caught it. I though I caught the whole thing on video, but somehow I ended up not recording it. Bummer, since you never would imaging seeing such a large piece of food hanging out of  trout's mouth.

Nice Native Wild McKenzie River Rainbow Trout

Most of the fish during the day took either the flashback pheasant tail #12 or a possie bugger #12, but we did have several fish take the Chubby Chernobyl Norm, and it is always awesome seeing a trout come from the depths in the clear water to smash your dry. There were not many bugs out, but we did see some green drakes still straggling around and a few golden stones also.

McKenzie River Fly Fishing

McKenzie River Trout Fishing Was Thumbs Up!

FISHING REPORT 

 McKENZIE RIVER - GUIDED FLY FISHING TROUT TRIP 

5/22/2011

It was one of those days where the vibes were chill and the fishing was fun. Good consistent trout fishing is a blast, and yesterday was one of those afternoons when the fishing was the way it is supposed to be. The only factor we lacked was a day of catching trophy rainbow trout after trophy rainbow, but you can't ask for everything. The day was calm and stable more or less; with a consistent cloud cover that wouldn't yield. When fly fishing for trout on the McKenzie river, I prefer cloud cover, and even a spritz or two throughout the day. When it is sunny with high pressure the confidence factor as a guide drops; due to statistical evidence that shows the lesser weather days shine out there.

Yesterday, I took a regular client and she brought an awesome fishing partner named Clark along. Clark was "new" to fly fishing, but did it years ago; so refreshing his casting and "what to do" was what he needed. He picked it up really quickly, and was into fish before too long. It is really awesome to see when your clients shine, as Gail torched fish after fish at a certain point in the day. Once the "bite" got going, the fish were being taken on every few casts in certain spots, and as a guide I was able to "call" the fish. I love when you can say, "you are going to get one.......now!" and then a fish pounces the flies. It was like that on swung wet flies from about 2-5pm with the fishing being moderate before that time, but there was no major hatch of any kind, and the nymph fishing was slow. Not that I mind when the trout are coming up to the surface and yanking on swung wet flies in the surface film.

A really great aspect of the trip was how quick Clark picked up the techniques for McKenzie River trout. He claimed he was new to fly fishing, and did it years ago. Well it seemed like he did not miss a day, but he was also an awesome learner and listener. Lots of fish resulted, and it was a pleasure to have met him. Gail really fly fished like an accomplished angler. Over the time of taking her out, I have seen her angling skills soar, and now she fished the McKenzie like a veteran fly fisher. When you take someone out for the first time on a river, you can see them learning the little nuances of the techniques that get the job done, and how they are different from destinations that they already have experience from. It is really a great feeling when you see the someone get better and better, and to have a greater understanding of where the fish are, and what it takes to get them. Over the years, I have seen a lot of my clients really improve their fly fishing skills, and the trips typically get better and better as a result of this.

Flies that worked well yesterday were the Red Butted softhackle in size 12, yellow softhackle in size 12, Royal Coachman Wet in size 12, a green caddis wet in size 10, and no fish are dry flies, and nothing nymphing. We did not nymph too much; since the wet fly grab was on, and it was too much fun to put those rods down to have to throw a Thingamabobber out there. The bite shut down about 5pm, and then we headed towards the takeout. After reeling in the boat, I visited a good friend in Eugene for a bite to eat, and then I was headed back to Portland after a wonderful day of guiding fly fishing.

McKenzie Trout Fly Fishing - There is actually a trout double going on....

Catching Early Summer Run Steelhead on the McKenzie or Middle Fork Willamette Rivers -Part II

(Part II)This is the second part of the story from several days back; so if you have not seen and read Part I, then click here.

The focus of this entry is to discuss techniques for catching summer run steelhead on the Willamette River up high in the Eugene / Springfield area. Previously, I mentioned fishing techniques for steelhead on the McKenzie River, and now I am going to explain the secrets to getting into steelhead on the Willamette. The Willamette River is structurally different than the McKenzie, and it flows with a velocity that varies a lot, dictating how to approach the different pieces of water. I will discuss how to crack the code on what lines to use, and how to choose the right fly patterns to hoax the steelhead into biting.

Steelhead on Tight - "Town Run"

The Willamette River in the Eugene / Springfield area can be broken up into a 3 sections. There is the section that people refer to as the "Town Run", and it is literally the water that flows right through the city limits of Eugene and Springfield. It is wide and shallow with mostly ledge bedrock tailouts after long slow "frogwater" pools. There are a few runs, but most of the water is classic steelhead tailouts, and typically fishing is done with fly lines that run shallow in the water column. Floaters, Type II or Type III sinking tips are all you need when the water levels are good for fly fishing. Flies that I use which are proven to get into plenty of steelhead are the Purple Motion Prawn, Moal Leeches, Silver Hiltons, and basic marabou patterns. The fish are very aggressive, and they will move far to strike a swung wet fly.  

Relishing the Rewards - "Town Run" Steelhead

The "Town Run" more or less runs from the confluence of the Coast Fork Willamette down through town north to the Beltline Highway crossing. Above that you have two sections that you could classify; although the techniques for fishing would be the same for both. At the top most upstream portion of water that the fish run up to is Dexter Dam, and that is the end of the road for the migratory fish (salmon and steelhead). The fish keg up below the dam, but so do the anglers at times. It can be crowded and intense out there in the early season, and fly fishers are the minority by far. On the other hand, there are plenty of times where you can slip in to water that is lacking people, but happening with steelhead numbers. Fishing for steelhead below Dexter Dam can be done with fly lines ranging from a floater through Type V, and the flies that I prefer to use are the same as the ones mentioned for the "Town Run". I do also have a few spots that I will probe flies under a strike indicator with a stonefly nymph (catered for steelhead) and a glo bug dropped off of it. Generally the Willamette is a swinging fly river, but there are a couple of hot spots that you can dead drift flies in, and you can have good success doing so.

"Town Run" Steelhead

The river below Dexter Dam has some minor rapids, but enough to slow the fish up into classic steelhead water. Runs, tailouts, and pools are where you will typically target steelhead from Dexter down, and the water is loaded with back to back fishable spots. You do not have to row far downriver to come up to the next spot after you are done fishing a given location. Floating lines should be used in the shallower water (3 feet deep or less), while the sinking tips should be determined by the depth and speed of the water. A type V sinking tip may be more useful in the early season, while it may be only useful in a spot or two when the water drops down to the lowest summer level.

Middle Fork Willamette Steelhead

Downstream of the Dexter Dam stretch, the water changes a little bit in the way that it flows, and the fish tend to hold in slightly different water. Below Dexter Dam, the fish tend to hold in water that is easy to read, and it is a bit more straight forward to the average fly fishing steelheader. Conversely, the water in between the "Town Run" and Dexter Dam is what I would deem as the most ambiguous for steelhead water in the area. It is one of the pieces of river where it looks good just about everywhere. The water is walking speed just about everywhere you look, and the depth is from about 18" to 5' deep just about everywhere too. Lots of places for steelhead to hold in, but how do you know where they are at? So how do you figure out where the fish are holding in the stretch? It is difficult, and I would say that if you are coming to fish the Willamette on your own, this stretch would be the hardest to figure out. It is a stretch of river where you have to pay your dues, and learn the river; since the fish are harder to find. Once you learn it; you will realize that the steelhead are creatures of habit, and they will be at the same spots day after day.

 Steelhead taken while learning how to cast on a fly rod - "Town Run"

The fish in the stretch in between Dexter and Town are generally running through, and not holding in the early season. Many of the fish are headed to Dexter Dam (where they were stocked before running to the ocean), or straying from the "Town Run". The river widens in this stretch, and the bottom is made up of mostly uniform sized cobbles; so there are not really large boulders breaking up the current to help with steelhead choosing their holding spots. Due to this, a lot of water that looks classic may be fish-less; while some of the hottest spots do not really look like they would be all that productive. Swinging flies tends to be the best method out there for this area, and the wide shallow river dictates to cover a lot of water. Nothing cover vast parcels of steelhead water better than swinging flies, and the fish will move far to drill your fly on this stretch of river.

Steelhead Taken at the Middle Fork Willamette River

Flows can vary a lot on the Willamette, and there is not much of a warning from the army corp of engineers about when they are going to release water from Dexter Dam. Sometimes the river is running high for weeks; while other times it will be lower than you can imagine with exposed gravel bars all over the place. Typically lower flows are preferred, but the water can get to be too low at times for good productive fishing. When the flows are running high, it gets more difficult to figure out where to fish at, and the fish seem to really spread out and are hard to find. Water temperatures run a lot higher than the McKenzie River, and it is probably the one of the most important reasons why the fish are aggressive and will move far to strike your swung wet fly. The river runs steelhead green with good clarity, but enough murkiness to make the steelhead fearless. The McKenzie runs tap water clear and super cold; so the fish on the Willamette seem to be easier to catch, and more apt to take a swung fly on a floating line.

Motion Prawn stuck in the grill.....

In a nutshell, while fishing the Willamette River, you can fish with heavier flies and denser sinking lines higher up the river towards Dexter Dam; while fishing more towards the surface as you get lower down the river. The lower you go on the river the more you can use a floating line and fly that is more oriented towards to surface. On the flip side, I have skated dry flies on a floating line below Dexter Dam and I have done very well. That was a late season thing though; since in October the river can have maybe 1 person or nobody on it.
 
** With steelhead fly fishing you can catch fish with a variety of techniques. I have mentioned things in this blog entry that will work for someone going to fish the southern Willamette Valley area for the first time, and they are wondering what to bring how to use it. There are literally only a few steelhead fly fishing guides out on these areas I have mentioned who work out there with heavy consistency, and we all share the same spots, notes, and fishing tips with each other. We help each other with spots and how to perfect fishing them. These tips mentioned in this blog are from me, but my knowledge of these areas is from endless experience and sharing the knowledge with a couple of  other successful anglers who are out there.   

Willamette River Summer Steelhead

One thing that I can say about the Willamette and McKenzie Rivers are that they are VERY GOOD for summer steelhead. The runs come in early compared to many summer steelhead fisheries. Watching a sight fished McKenzie steelhead in the cold gin clear water eat your fly is any bit as cool as fishing in the crystal clear waters of New Zealand. The fish in the Willamette can be as aggressive as any Deschutes steelhead or North Umpqua steelhead, and the fishing pressure can be light after the initial hype of the anadramous fish runs in the spring is over. Last fall, a statistic I can brag about was that the worst day I had on my fall guide season was one 1 fish day. That person was barely able to cast the Skagit head out of the spey rod (some people are only capable of making a super short cast), and we still managed to get into a landed fish. I hear of people getting skunked for days on end at some of the "famous" steelhead rivers like the Deschutes and North Umpqua.Otherwise the rest of the days for my fall guiding for steelhead were met with multiple fish hookups and simply GREAT STEELHEAD FLY FISHING! 

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

Get Ready for the McKenzie Green Caddis

It is GREEN CADDIS time! The McKenzie river gets a big green caddis that really pulls the large rainbows from the depths. You can really have some amazing days of fly fishing during this hatch, and two places where it really shines are the McKenzie and Middle Fork Willamette Rivers. The fly is large and very active on the water; making for an excellent hatch for beginner and expert fly fishers. It is the kind of a fly that you can skitter across the water, and some explosive takes from aggressive rainbow trout result. The best thing is how the fly is large and easy to see on the water; so you can watch those trophy rainbows CRUSH your fly!

A Freshly Hatched Green Caddis Adult

The fly can be fished in both a wet and dry version, and when they are hatching; you will know. There will be explosive rises out in the fast whitecap soft chop water. It sometimes takes a moment to realize that they are rise forms; since the water can be fast and bouncy where these flies hatch and get taken by hungry trout. When you experience a good day of McKenzie Green Caddis fly fishing; you will be hooked, and every season you will make it a priority to experience.

A Fat Rainbow Trout That Ate a Green Caddis Dry Fly

 The hatch tends to come off about 2pm-ish, and it can last for hours intermittently. On the sunny hot days, there can be epic "evening rise" times; where the trout are eating them gluttonously, and you can rack in the numbers of trophy rainbows. The best days tend to be the muggy days with spotty rain showers and sunny breaks in between. The kind of days where you have your rain gear on, but you never really get wet. All you have to see out there is literally a few of these large caddis, and you will know it is time to put one on. The fish get super keyed into them, and they will seek out green caddis and that will be it.

Many Trout Like This on a Green Caddis Day

The Green Caddis is one of those hatches that can be considered one of the best times to fish the McKenzie River, if not the BEST. If you are interested in booking a guided trip for trout, call me at (541)-232-6360 or email me at fish@mckenzieangler.com .

McKenzie River Trout Fishing Is Hot - Get Yourself Out There!!

The McKenzie River is in peak condition right now, and fishing will remain strong until the first heat wave of the summer, or if we get an unfortunate large dosage of water. As long as we do not get a heat wave, or the water levels stay steady, the fishing will be very good. The green caddis has not been reported yet, nor have I seen any when I am out there. It is the time though, and they are seemingly late as of now. Although, this year seems to be late for many things though; so lets hope those big green bugs start hatching soon. 

Fish On!!

 Recently, I tool out a regular client for a day on the lower McKenzie, and our trip was focused on improving techniques and skills. Shortly after we started, Gail was really getting dialed in on her nymphing skills, and she was casting the heavy flies upstream with a nice D-loop water loaded roll cast motion, and then mending the strike indicator just upstream from the flies. I was impressed by the improvements I was seeing, and I knew that a trophy fish was in the making to reward those skills.

Lower McKenzie River Sunshine....

We had a serious dunk on the strike indicator not to far from the ramp, but the connection with hook and mouth didn't exist when Gail struck; so it was time to attempt to get another presentation intercepted. We probed the flies into the depths; since nothing was looking up, and I told Gail nymph fishing would be most productive until the fish showed interest towards the surface around "hatch time". A little ways down, the strike indicator went down, and Gail struck the line tight. The line swam off, and it was FISH ON!! The rod had a deep bend in it; so I assured her that the fish on the other end was a serious one to contend with. I managed to get the boat to a safe landing spot, and the fish ceased to the landing net after a sturdy battle. 

Picture Perfect McKenzie Native Rainbow Trout

We fished on throughout the day, and caught a lot of fish, but none were larger than that gorgeous rainbow. A short windowed March Brown hatch occurred, but they only came off for literally about 10 minutes, and just as the fish started to respond with surface feeding; it was over. Luckily, the wet fly swinging had really picked up after that short hatch happened; so it at least made the fishing more surface oriented. A gorgeous weather day it ended up becoming, and I would say that the McKenzie fished much better when there is some intermittent showers in the mix. High pressure and bright sunshine are not the most productive of conditions for the river, but being in the nice weather is always a plus.

Carp Time! Fly Fishing the Carp Flats

Carp fly fishing is something that I did not pay much attention to when I had lived down in Eugene, but when I moved up to Portland things changed. I knew there were plenty of areas where these weary fish lurk around, and I also knew that it is a relatively underground fishery. One of my favorite things is to tap into a underexploited fishery; so I can see what potentials there are, and sometimes you get "hooked" on something new. It turns out that I am totally into carping out in the flats, and it is probably one of the most technical fisheries that exists.

When I have been going out, the fish have been cruising along the shallows, and they are rooting out looking for bugs & crayfish. They are super weary, and you basically are spooking them when you are standing 40 feet back from the water; so you have to more or less walk are slug speed. That is one of the main things to success, and also realizing you have to have ultimate patience while waiting for them to start feeding around you.

When you get into position finally, you then have to cast accurately and gently too. When you get the good cast into where you want it to be, then you have to present the fly, and that is determined by the pattern you are using. Some flies have to escape prey; while others need to sit dead as a doornail on the bottom. If you are fishing a crayfish, it'll swim away when a predator moves into the area. When you are fishing an aquatic worm pattern; you must have it sit on the bottom perfectly; without any movement. The rewards are awesome! The fish fight a relentless strong and sturdy battle. They are rather larger, and seem to average at least 3-4 pounds and can get to be 20 pounds and larger. They challenge the best of anglers, and you are fishing a similar style to something like Louisiana redfish marshes; except you have not even left the state. It is a great avenue for the fly fisher looking for something very different.

Lower McKenzie Trout - Grannom Caddis Blizzard

(Fishing Report From 4/12/2011)

I apologize for the dated report, but I wanted to document some days from the recent past. Since I have been transitioning for a former Kaufmann Streamborn employee to a full time fly fishing guide, I have been really busy, and posting entries has been conflicting with my life's schedule, but now I am more or less all caught up and ready to roll on this blog style website. 

Recently I had a trip with two of my regular clients, and we had a fun day out on the river as usual. At first, the fishing was good, but the catching was rather slow. It was sunny, bright, and high pressure filled the sky, but I always have the attitude that it is better to be out in the sunshine with slower fishing; than to be out in a nasty weather day getting cold and catching fish while being wet. At least sometimes...

Beautiful Rainbow Trout Taken on a Golden Stone Nymph

The hatch came off at about 2pm, and it was rather gruesome. There was a grannom caddis hatch of epic proportions, and it was literally all about "bug mass" out there. It was basically snowing out of the water, and the bugs were matting up over a couple of inches thick on some of the current seams. If you took a seining net; you could gather pounds of insects in no time (LITERALLY!). 

I have seen this hatch come off year after year, and it is funny because the fishing is literally never that good while they are coming off. It seems like there is simply too much bug life out there when this phenomena occurs, and the fish either get full, overstimulated, or something we do not know. People may try and be "know it all" and say, "we should put an emerger on, or a subsurface pupa pattern." My rebuttal to that one is other anglers, guides, and I have already tried all of those tricks, and not one of them has worked yet. I have seen the hatch bring all of the nice fish up, but that is literally only on a few occasions over all of the years. On the flip side, when the March Brown mayflies hatch while the grannoms are hatching; it creates a feeding frenzy that brings the hefty trout up to the surface. During that time the larger native trout become vulnerable to swung wet flies and dead drifted dries.

 Rainbow Trout Appreciation

After a while, the hatch tapered down to a level where the fishing got better, and you could start to target specific fish rising to flies. Wet fly swinging and dead drifting dries was consistent, but the larger fish were hard to come by. Many times, the caddis hatch like this will bring the interests of the "little guys" but the big ones seem to want something different. We were going to go back to nymphing again; as we wanted to get a trophy rainbow trout.

Lower McKenzie 20.5" Rainbow Trout

We got into a good spot and the day was really winding down. The fishing had slowed down to a level, where the surface action was more or less shut off, and we nymphed around some probable bed rock slots and boulders. The indicator plunged down, Bruce struck the line tight, and life was on the other end. The line went out of control for a few seconds as Bruce gained the line back onto the reel. His Rio Indicator Line peeled off of his reel as the large trout surged downstream. It was the trout we had been looking for, and now landing it was the quest. I pulled the boat over to the bank and Bruce hopped out to battle the fish from the beach. After a few runs and surges, the fish was in the net, and it measured out for a reading 20.5". Sweet!! We let that nice male native redside back off into the river to continue on with its bug feeding; so it could maybe be seen again at 21+". A couple more fish after that, and we called it a day. A wonderful day it was!!!

The McKenzie River really shines hard for the next several weeks, and there is a large Green Caddis that will be hatching from about here on out until summer really heats up. It is more or less the best time of the year to experience the lower McKenzie for its large wild trout. If you are interested in booking a guided trip for trout, 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!!!