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....

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.

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