Short Summer Steelhead Video - Fall PDX Steelheading 2015

I attempt to make the blog educational when possible, and this video is a great example of a method of how to possibly work a steelhead spot. In this case it is the fall and the water was as low as it gets, but cold and nice for a probable steelhead bite. Fall is the time of the year around the Pacific Northwest when steelhead really like to play. Anywhere you have summer steelhead, and holding water like tailouts, heads of pools, or run that are a few feet deep or less, you can try this method out.

The first thing I like to do in the example of the river in this video is to skate a dry fly, and I do it because the fish may come up and eat it, and often they boil after it even if they don't chomp it. On other rivers I skate dries, but it may be more "spot" specific, and much of that is my confidence in the "specific spot" I am fishing. I tell people when they are choosing steelhead flies, "You can't get steelhead on surface skaters, unless you fish with a surface skaters." Reality is that some rivers are better for steelhead dry fly fishing than others.

In this video I have a cast that lands near the right bank far into the tailout, and when it lands a steelhead boils and then splashes water at the fly. I cast several more enticing presentations into the same area of the spot, but the fish never commits to the fly, nor does it even show itself after the first time it gave its location up.

The next thing I do is reel up the line to short again, and I put on a subsurface purple wet fly. A few swings into the spot, and the line tightens up with a feisty small steelhead on which the click and pawl reel screams with some radical line peeling runs. After the fish was landed I went back out to the same exact rock and stood there stripping line exactly where that first fish ate my fly. I then started working through the tailout like the first fish never even touched my fly. I knew the fish that boiled on the dry fly was farther back in the tailout, and the first fish was likely a "bonus fish". As I worked my swings farther down the into the tailout, my fly landed near the bank where the fish boiled and splashed my dry earlier. As the fly swung off the bank, my line tightened up with a head shaking life to it. There was a fish right where it revealed itself with the dry fly earlier.

The fish tore me up, and make some serious runs all over the shallow wide pool. It was a real hoot fighting this fish, and seeing it light up my reel several times. Woo Hoo!

Two fish in one tailout is not bad; especially considering the summer steelhead run of 2015 is the lowest count on record. What I also noticed were the fish counts at Willamette falls went from approximately 30-90 fish per day for a few weeks, and that meant fish were coming into several rivers. Even though the fish counts were not high, if you take several weeks of fish adding up, with little angling pressure, the equation starts to add up to enough fish around to have fun with. It just shows what steelheading can be like when nobody is pressuring the fish, and it is fall. A low fish run with light fishing pressure can offer some good sessions. Fall is in the air; so get out there and go fishing!!

Click on Video to Watch
(Suggestion - viewing is much better on full HD and full screen mode)

Steelhead Fishing With Pictures

This season has been a fun winter to experience, and it epitomizes why I live in Oregon. Winters when the steelhead runs are robust are really enjoyable because you can get stoked during the time when most people are dreaming of the summer, and you can also learn to appreciate the seasons even more. I have been fishing long enough for winter steelhead where you see the subtle things happen like the new shoots popping out of the ground of stinging nettles in February, and that tells you spring is around the corner. You see the early mayflies, and once in a while a cutthroat slurping one on a warmer calm cloudy day. The moss carpets anywhere it can cling onto, and its green starts to become much brighter than that of the earlier part of the winter. The other day there were so many of this one type of mushroom all over the place, and three days later there was not one to be seen. Conversely, weeks back, and even a few weeks ago you could smell the partial remnants of decaying salmon far from the rivers where animals dragged the fish into the woods. A fishing session nowadays doesn't pass without some major raptor; whether it be a bald eagle or some type of a hawk swooshing down through whatever river valley I have been visiting for the given day.

Sometimes you look down and see a perfect little disc rock.

This bug hooked up with a fish that went totally bonkers before heading over a falls.

Signs of how high the water was on the very last high water event.

This rough skinned newt was quite entertaining to observe.

The newt's choice of water isn't bad either.....

The deformed right front hand made me wonder what all of the possible reasons would be.....? Amphibians are the true tell tail responders to things being messed up in the environment. With all of the beautiful water and amazing green mossy forests out there, things are hidden right in front of our eyes.

From here down are pictures from this past Valentine's Day. I was lucky and got to go fishing with my wife Nikki. We more or less had the river to ourselves minus seeing a couple we know that were leaving when we arrived. Later we saw another two people I know, but we didn't interfere with each others water anyhow. Gorgeous weather and good fishing!

The head of the head is looking rather fishy....

Fish on the swing in the first spot of the day we decided to fish!

This colored up buck decided to chomp on the black and blue swung wet.

Working a run......

Waiting for the tug.....

Mending up the Thingamabobber

Fish on and pulling hard in very heavy water. It seems like it is going to be a really nice steelhead.

Every time I could budge it into the shallows, it would sprint back off into the mysterious green depths.

 This winter steelhead is a gorgeous two toned chromer !

They don't get much brighter than this!

How much joy it was to spend time with you, but you must go back and complete your mission.

The little tributary picture was taken by my wife Nikki - she's got skills!

Working "the upstream areas" is a nice advantage of dead drifting under an indicator

Focusing hard on the presentation after the cast for those elusive steelhead.

The anchor is releasing from the water in this pic. Good timing on the pic Niki!

Nikki has great photography skills, and in this pic she caught the line in the air all the way across.

Cast is landing and getting ready to start lazily swinging across....

Nikki scoping out the run....

I always love this big mossy tree

Working the top of a nice productive run

Mushrooms are super cool!

Nikki was playing around with some of the filter functions, and this one looked nice and green!

"Green Clover" - Steelhead fishing needs a little luck added into the equation....

Short Winter Steelheading Video

Here is a quick short video from a fish I tied into this past Tuesday January 27th. Enjoy!

Click Here To Watch Video

Getting the Cold Shoulder on the John Day

This entry is a photo journal from a trip that Adam McNamara (store manager at Orvis Portland) recently experienced the weekend before Thanksgiving. 

I was recently joined by a bunch of friends for a trip on the John Day, probably my favorite Summer Steelhead river of all time. While the John Day can be absolutely amazing it is also notoriously fickle, and as some of our group traveled from as far away as California and Vermont quickly learned swinging for Steelhead in the Northwest is always far from a sure thing. Regardless of the outcome we had a great trip and are already planning the same for next year.

Day One

Cold and Clear

Good Morning - The view from the deck of the house. You can see the river is almost frozen over downstream of the house, it was entirely frozen over upstream.

Bit of Ice- Getting ready for the first swing of the day......

Hope spring eternal - With ice on everything and water temps at only 33 degrees you need faith to fish the swing.

Day Two

McDonald Crossing - Crossing the river at the McDonald's ferry river crossing is a bit more interesting in the ice and snow of winter

Rods on Ice - Desperate times called for desperate measures, someone put an indicator on this Spey rod; It didn't work.

Bare Necessities - Everything you need for a great day of swinging fish, regardless of the weather.

A cold Klick morning - A couple of us headed to the Klickatat one morning; it is a fairly short drive but a drastically different river. Many thanks to Jay from the Evening Hatch for the amazing day and great fishing.

Day Three

Middle of the Klick - Orvis endorsed guide and all around fishy dude Brandon Bischof gets after it on the Klickatat. Sometimes you need to wade deep to get the right swing.

Finally some Chrome - Chuck from Wildwaters Fly Fishing left excellent fishing on the Klamath to come see some new water. After a lot of work busting ice and freezing his but off, he finally gets some payoff.

Flying the fin - This beautiful hen just couldn't resist a bit of cerise and purple no matter how cold that water was.

Careful release - This little girl is about to head home none the worse for wear. I love a shot of fish in the water, it seems as close as you can get to seeing them in their world.

Tis The Season.........To Get a Chromer........Try, Try, Try, Try, Try....., Try, Try, Try, TUG!!!!

When water levels do this during the wintertime in Oregon, it means it it time to go steelheading

Winter steelhead have been reported in several coastal streams, and they are also in the Clackamas and Sandy along with a few other rivers. With a recent blast of rain the rivers have risen significantly, and now most of them are on the drop, or are about to crest out and start falling. That means that all of the steelhead that were itching to enter freshwater, or the ones that were stacking up down low in the rivers during the last low water event are going to scream on up to their destinations.

Wild Steelhead like this fish are really special creatures. Treat them well - you know they treat us right!

2012 Winter Steelhead - This fish was caught while my friend & I were fishing "high water". Water level was falling...

 There will be mainly hatchery run winter steelhead for the early run, but there are some really nice wild fish here and there. I saw a picture of a gorgeous wild steelhead caught on a coastal river right before the levels bumped up; so fish are in. It's time to go winter steelheading!

Swinging with a "low & slow" presentation will produce winter steelhead

 In order to catch winter steelhead on the "wet fly swing", you must alter your techniques to get your fly into the strike zone of the fish. There are various little nuances you can do with your rod/body stepping to alter your cast, mend, swing speed, etc to get your fly to the steelhead's strike zone, and those variables alone could be enough material for a chapter in a book. The main thing for winter steelhead fishing with a wet fly swing is that you need to fish with sinking tips that keep your fly down in the zone for as long as possible. You also need to fish with fly lines and equipment that helps you get that fly into the zone for that long duration, and also with ease while doing so. With the modern day of equipment it is easy to say that switch rods and spey rods get your fly out there with ease, and they handle your line  the best and with the least effort possible. Skagit heads are the lines that throw your winter steelhead flies with the most ease, and between the Rio Flight Head or the Airflo Skagit Compact, they are both great choices. You will want to have a variety of sinking tips ranging from T-8 through T-14, and that can be a whole huge topic in itself. The main point is to have appropriate sinking tips to get your fly down per the given spot. Otherwise you may be hanging up all day long or you may be getting your fly just under the surface and it is several feet deep in the spot you are fishing depending on sinking tip being too heavy or too light. Choosing flies can be confusing for winter steelhead, but it is more important to fish with three very different flies regarding color, profile, weight, materials, etc. For example a wise selection would have one large black with blue highlights large profiled fly that could be made of rabbit, ostrich, or rhea feathers. The second fly could be a orange and pink tube fly with a large bead head that is 2 inches long made of rabbit fur. The third fly could be a smaller marabou Spey style fly with no weight, or a marabou muddle minnow for that matter. Showing a fish three radically different flies, vs three flies that are all 2.5 inches long with pink materials will likely produce more while swinging. You can even use the same fly pattern in three or four different colors and sizes, and that would do the trick to make it simple. An easy setup for swinging for winter steelhead would be a skagit head looped to 7.5 feet of T-14 sinking line, and then a 4-6 foot long leader and a black with blue highlighted articulated ostrich fly. It produces for many anglers, and will work in a variety of winter steelhead conditions.  

Dead drifting egg patterns and other flies can be very productive for winter steelhead

Certain times, spots, and situations call for dead drifting flies. Many fly anglers condone it, and give an attitude to the fly anglers that chose to participate in this technique. Fact is that is completely crushes fish, and it can be a method that leads to numbers when done properly at the right place at the right time. My personal belief is that people should be open to it, and realize that it is a moral decision to put nymphing for trout as okay, but you are a terrible person if you use a Thingamabobber for steelhead. When nymphing for steelhead you can do it blindly to slotted defined water that you can assume a fish would be holding there. You can also rely on seeing fish from climbing above the river and looking into clear spots for fish holding in tailouts, heads of pools, and near boulders in runs and pools. Egg flies, trout beads, marabou flies tied for dead drifting, & steelhead style nymphs can all produce winter steelhead while doing a dead drift presentation. An easy setup that will produce winter steelhead dead drifting would be a Thingamabobber on your leader 3-5 feet above a weighted pinkish orange egg pattern with a weightless steelhead orange egg pattern tied off the first fly's hook bend. It works and it is relatively easy to rig up.

Hope you get out on the rivers; 

so you can get tight to a 

chrome bright winter steelhead!!!

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......