Fall is Steelhead Time!

Stoked Angler With First Caught Steelhead - McKenzie River

Now that fall is right around the corner, it is time to start thinking about fall steelheading. It can be the very best time of the year for getting into numbers, and you can have some memorable days out there. Right now, we are in a heat spell; which can slow things down dramatically. When the air gets that fall coolness to it; then it is time to get out there. The best fishing for summer steelhead is right around the corner; so don't miss out on the opportunity.

Steelhead Report - Almost a Banner Day of Catching...

This is just a quick short report from the fishing on 6-17-2011 for summer steelhead. I took out a woman who was a very good caster, and she swung many casts through probable lies. Unfortunately, the steelhead were behaving like the mythological 1000 cast fish, and they were not chasing down wet fly patterns. They were probably put down from the heat and sunshine that was on the particular river, but they were around in good numbers. We hit a pool that has been holding lots of steelhead, and they were in there again. The spot requires a dead drifted presentation, and so we rigged up with a stone and egg pattern dropped off. She hooked three fish, and they were all on the single pinkish egg pattern. One fish torched her, and lit up the water like a stick of dynamite going off. It blasted out of the pool and peeled line into the next pool down before straightening the hook. The other two were quicker battles before unlatching themselves. They were all chrome bright beauties, but some days they do not want to get landed.

Summer Steelhead Time! It's Game On!

With good numbers of summer steelhead passing over Willamette Falls, the only issue we have been facing has been the water levels. Recently the water levels have been stabilizing and dropping, and the rivers have been much more approachable for fly fishing for summer steelhead. Recently, on a day off, and a good friend and I decided to pursue some chrome. Luckily for us, we were rewarded with a fresh sea run turbo charged steelhead that my buddy landed, and I lost another one too. Even one of my swings went through, and there were three solid tugs before the fish decided it was not going to commit to my offerings, and it was gone. Close one though, and the one fish day could have easily been a three fish day if the planets lines up slightly differently.

McKenzie River Summer Steelhead

With the higher levels, the fish hold in different spots then they do in the lower summer level conditions, and knowing where to look is the biggest part in achieving success out there. Think like a steelhead, and know that they love water that is walking pace and from approximately 18"-5' deep, and that variable can clear out a lot of water that may seem fishy. If your normal go to spot is faster and deeper than when you slammed the fish last summer, then you may want to fish another spot. Many of my high water spots will not even hold a fish in low water; yet there may be a half of a dozen chromers sitting there waiting for you to show them something. Knowing where the fish hold in the current conditions will create your success. Fishing your standard low water spots will only make you feel bleaked out when you have thrown 1000 casts without even a tug or a sniff.

Stoked Angler with a Fresh Willamette Valley Summer Steelhead

When you are out there and fishing, think about the water levels again. You can get a fish to come up through the depths to check out your classic wet fly patterns or you can sink down to their level and you can grab their attention with a nice and bold large profiled pattern. On the flip side, don't forget that these fish can see some small things, and they will take a subtle fly pattern when the masses are bombarding them with all sorts of hardware. The other thing to think about is how the fish may respond to a dead drifted offering. When I was out with my friend, I hooked a fish on a swung fly presentation with a type II 15' sinking tip that was attached to a Skagit Head with a long "moal leech like" marabou pattern with the color combo being black, purple, and blue in the back. My friend followed me through the spot and his swings went undetected. After rowing the boat out into the pool, and with the sun behind us; we could see several steelhead holding. We tried to sight swing to the fish, but they did not move an inch.  

Super Bright McKenzie River Summer Steelhead

My friend Brian threw a few casts to a fish that I saw, and I coached him into each drift; since he could not see the fish from his vantage point. He threw a cast in, and as soon as it hit the water, I said, "that's the one....". It dead drifted down to the holding lie, and I told him "NOW!" right when the Thingamabobber probed over the sighted fish. Suddenly the Thingamabobber subtly dunked under only about 8" underwater. Brian struck hard, and the result was a surge of chrome that looked like a shiny car bumper in a river. FISH ON!!. We pulled the boat over to the bank, and Brian jumped out to enjoy the battle from the shore. After a sturdy long fight, the fish yielded to the net. We were stoked! Steelhead fly fishing takes persistence and will, but the rewards are huge. A successful day out on the water for summer steelhead makes you feel like you are on top of the world. Get out there so you can enjoy that feeling!

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

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 .

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 .

How To Catch Early Summer Run Steelhead on the McKenzie or Middle Fork Willamette Rivers -Part I

There are summer steelhead in the McKenzie and Middle Fork of the Willamette Rivers, and targeting them properly is what it takes to catch them effectively. I am going to discuss how to go about targeting the steelhead on each of the two rivers. The McKenzie River is going to be the first river I will discuss, and catching summer steelhead on this river is a little different than your average river for summer run fish. You can fish the way that you will fish for summer steelhead on a river like the Deschutes, and you may pick up a fish here or there, or you can fish the McKenzie River the right way, and you will catch fish with regularity.

Chrome Bright Early Summer Run McKenzie Summer Steelhead

The first thing about the McKenzie River is that it is cold and clear all summer long. It doesn't warm up like many of the rivers around Oregon; where they will have summer water temperatures in the mid 60s or higher. The McKenzie River runs no warmer than the upper 50s in the steelhead fishing portion of the river. Typically the river can be in the low 50s, and even around 48 degrees into the end of June on some years. The river is very clear, and the water runs rather swiftly. With that being said, the fish tend to hold in classic steelhead water, but some of the tailouts, runs, and riffles may be running a little faster than some of the standard steelhead rivers you may normally fish. The trick is that the fish are holding in the same speed water that they always would hold in, but larger boulders are what is breaking up the current speed and creating that "walking speed water" that we steelheaders are seeking to present our flies in. There still are slow deep pools fading into glassy slow tailouts with fish holding in them, but there are a lot of the types of water that I mentioned earlier.

Spring Steelhead on the McKenzie River

The McKenzie steelhead should be fished with a cold water mentality. Deeper presented flies will take more fish in colder water. Typically, I fish a variety of sinking tips with a multi-tip set up, and that can be done two different ways on the Mac. You can fish from the drift boat, and you can fish single handed rods, and weighted flies. In the case of my boat, I run a Clackacraft; so I can have two people fishing at the same time, and often I will have the person in the front of the boat with a floating line and a motion prawn.

Purple Motion Prawn

The person in the back of the boat (the second fly through) typically has some sort of a sinking tip; which could be a Type II (Scientific Anglers) or Type III (Airflo or Rio), and the fly would be a Moal Leech with the color being black with blue. This way the first fly through the water is traveling higher up in the water column; while the second fly is traveling lower and slower right behind the first offering.

Black/Blue Moal Leech

 Sometimes, I am running the boat with someone fishing one side with a floater because it is only about 2-3 feet deep; while the other side of the boat will have someone running a Type V sinking tip because it is swifter and 4-5 feet deep. You want to analyze the water that you are going to fish, thinking about depth, and how fast it is flowing. That will help you decide the density of sinking tip to use, and if you want a heavy fly, or a lightweight fly.

McKenzie Steelhead taken on Purple Motion Prawn

The same approach can be applied to spey fishing from the banks of the river. You can pull the boat over, and get out to swing away with two handed fly rods, but you should think about the sinking tips to use for the given piece of water that you are going to be fishing. A Skagit Head System is the best choice for a fly line for your spey rod while fishing the McKenzie. For the spring, you can use T-11 or less dense sinking tips, and 12-15 foot type III to Type VI sinking tips will be the best for the typical spring and early summer water levels. Also, don't forget that floating tip for your Skagit Head, because you can throw a large weighted fly off of the floater, or you can even skate a DRY FLY for one of these summer steelhead. 

McKenzie Steelhead Taken on Egg Sucking Stone

Another productive method for catching McKenzie Steelhead is nymph/indicator fishing. I would recommend using a Thingamabobber, stonefly nymph, and an egg dropper for McKenzie River steelhead. I prefer to nymph fish to fish that are spotted and holding. Also nymphing the water that is slotty and focused is where I dead drift flies; while I prefer to swing in the bigger broader water. Some spots are too small and too slotty to swing, while other spots are too vast and ambiguous to nymph ; unless you see a holding fish to present your fly to.

This is how I like to fish on the McKenzie River, and it is literally due to statistical evidence of fishing the river for years, and spending day after day on it. I understand that other methods will produce steelhead out there, but these are tips for someone wanting to go there, and wanting some recommendations that I know will produce.

****** I Hope these tips are helpful for anyone willing to try out the Mac for steelhead.........

Part II coming soon......