Trout Fishing With a Little Steelhead Fishing in the Mix Report

I love this time of the year because fish start to become aggressive and they will eat fun presentations you dream about fishing during the cold months. You can fish all sorts of presentations too, and many days lots of them will work. The nice thing is that you can pick and choose your methods too, and lately I have been sick of staring at Thingamabobbers drifting down probable feeding lies; so I opted not to have my clients Dave and Rose throw any full throttle nymph rigs on their day out. The only way I was going to set up a nymphing rig was if it was absolutely going to be needed, and if we were not producing fish on any of the methods we chose to fish. Luckily, the nymphing rig was not needed whatsoever, and the fishing was quite good at times.

Royal Coachman Wet Fly Stuck in the Corner of this Coastal Cutthroat's Mouth

We had a Chubby Chernobyl Norm with a nymph dropped off, and the nymphs we used were Possie Buggers, Prince's, and Zug Bugs. They all worked, including the dry fly; although the nymphs got way more attention. The biggest "catching" contributors of the day were the Muddler Minnow fished on a super fast sink poly leader stripped back in on a down and across wet fly swing. Swinging soft hackled wet flies and also the Royal Coachman wet fly on a floating line were a hot producers as well. We had times when the "bite" was ultra consistent, and other times when it was a fish here and there. The slow times correlated with the sunshine being bright and the cloud cover lacking. When the fishing was hot and fast, it was overcast, and cooler out. The weather shifted back and forth a couple of times, and it was interesting to see the fishing productivity relate to the weather that was happening at the given time.

Muddler Minnow Stripped on a Fast Sink Poly leader took this nice Upper Willamette Trout

We dabbled in a little steelhead wet fly swinging, and Dave had two close ones. The first fish was a few casts into a small short tailout feature, and as the purple and pink Extractor was followed and Dave saw the chromer attack the offering. Unfortunately the fish was practically at the end of the swing; so it was short lived and not much more than a hard grab and line tightening up, to then loosen up again. The second grab was in a super sweet productive steelhead run, and the same fly pattern was intercepted again to see the line tighten up like a clothesline; only to then slacken again. Sometimes the grabs are so close to being the chrome glory, but that is what keeps us coming back for more....

A nice deep bodied upper Willamette Cutthroat Trout during battle

Trout Fishing should remain strong for the next several weeks as long as conditions stay consistent and we do not get any events that will blow the rivers out. Steelhead fishing will continue to get better and better as more fish fill into the Willamette Valley rivers as the summer run continues to show good numbers going over Willamette Falls.

On tight while stripping a Muddler Minnow

Late spring fly fishing is a wonderful time of the year to get out there to enjoy trout fishing. Lots of good fly fishing opportunities of are abound this time of the year; so get yourself out there to enjoy it! When it is raining hard and cold in the winter, we are dreaming of this time of the year; so get yourself out there....

Muddle Minnow stuck in this cutty's grill

Fall Trout Fishing Was Totally On Fire!!! - Along with Steelhead Bonus!

Yesterday I ran a fall trout trip for two regulars, and we completely got into them BIG TIME! The fishing was off the hook, and I mean the best day you could possibly have out there. We even lucked out with an incidentally caught steelhead on a 8.5' five weight rod on a #10 orange softhackle. We almost had a huge steelhead eat a 9" fat rainbow when Rose was about to land it. I saw the fish slash at the trout like a shark, and Dave and I yelled to leave the trout hanging out there to see if the fish would wolf it down. It slashed on the surface with a toilet flushing boil, but it never quite committed to the swirling trout. I even had Dave swing a leech to the fish, and it slashed at the offering two times before disappearing out of the picture. That is the third time in my life that I have witnessed a steelhead trying to go after a fish being reeled in. At first I thought bull trout, and then you can see the colors of a large male steelhead. Craziness!

Bald Eagle Perched Above Willamette River

The first hot line ripping fin clipped "half pounder" like steelhead of the day

Besides catching lots and lots of rainbows and cutthroats, we had several fish that were hot as a rocket with airs and line ripping runs. They turned out to be immature steelhead that were fin-clipped and they had an ocean freshness look about them. I decided to clean one, and gutted it to see that it had orange sea run flesh to it. We'll see how it tastes tonight when I try it out. How strange that the Willamette River has a little surge of strange little "half pounder" steelhead that have come up it. We happened to hooked into about four or five of them, and they were hot fish that perplexed me for why they were there. Just shows what you see when you are out there all of the time.....

This Fall Caddis Pupa Pattern Swung Down & Across Was A Hot Ticket

Swinging wet flies was super productive, and we took fish on a #18 blue winged olive softhackle, a #14 yellow softhackle, a #10 orange softhackle, and a #10 October Caddis Pupa. Never had to change the flies all day from what I had showed up with from the start of the trip.

 Admiring the Hot Powerful Willamette River Immature Half Pounder Type Steelhead

  Fishing with a foam bodied fall caddis dry fly with a possie bugger nymph in a #10 was also super productive. We caught fish all day long on that set up from the start to the end, and the fish were eating the nymph with a little bit more frequency throughout the day, but the dry fly had plenty of attention, and some of the biggest trout of the day were on the dry fly.

One of Several Doubles Where Two Fish Took Each of the Two Flies

Doubles happened several times, and they seemed to occur when the "bite" was really on fire. It would be so good where I would have them bringing the lines back in to go on to the next spot, and a double would happen when trying to have that be the "last cast" in the spot. Then we would get another double on the next "last cast". It was like you practically couldn't keep them off the end of your line.

Rose Showing Off Another Fine Willamette River Double Catch on One Cast

Just when you thought things couldn't get any better; then whammo!    Steelhead On!! The fish was hot as a rocket, with so many line ripping runs on the 5wt. We had it in a great spot to fight it, and Rose battled the fish until it yielded to the net. We were all so STOKED!! What a day to have experienced!

This Willamette River Steelhead Was Taken on a #10 Orange Softhackle on a 8.5' 5wt Fly Rod

How can you beat being all alone on a river, with fish biting on everything you are giving to them throughout the entire day from start to finish. All sizes of trout from small to as nice as they come on the Willamette River, and filled with Cutthroats, Rainbows, and a Steelhead to put the icing on the cake. Fall is so awesome!!

One of the Many Gorgeous Coastal Cutthroats - Willamette River

As long as the weather holds up, we will have wonderful fishing opportunities abound. Don't miss the best fishing of the 2011 calender year. This fall is proving to have the best fishing of the year!!

Dave checking out another fin-clipped half pounder type immature steelhead

Fun Fly Fishing Day In The Oregon Summer Rain - Video From Last Sunday

Willamette Valley Coastal Cutthroat Trout 

Well the weather recently has been a nightmare for a tourist visiting possibly, but heaven for a fly fisher. Rain and clouds always seems to pick up the action when you are out seeking trout and steelhead. This past Sunday was no exception, as we had steady trout action all day, and we had fair action for steelhead too. If we had hooked up with all the steelhead that took our fly, we could have had four. Instead I hooked two brief enough to have the fly line get pulled and both fish boiled up, while Nikki had one swing get yanked tight only to get right off as it happened. She did land her first summer fish (as I mentioned on yesterday's post about the same day). Below is a video of some of the fishing from the day; so you can see more than the steelhead which I posted a video about yesterday. Enjoy the video!

Willamette Valley Hatchery Summer Steelhead

If you would like to go out on a guided trip for fishing like this then email me at fish@mckenzieangler.com or call me at (541)-232-6360.

Trout and Steelhead Action: Satisfying Day Off Playing

My friend and I fished in the upper Willamette Valley yesterday for trout and steelhead. I managed to hook up with a steelhead on a long cast with my brand new switch rod while swinging a long purple and pink marabou string leech. The fish totally crushed my daylights leaping a 3 plus foot air, and then tail walked for 30 feet, and then sprinting into the backing on one solid sturdy run. Then it came towards me full throttle, and it became unpinned while I was frantically stripping it back in; in attempts to keep up with it. Bummer!

The trout fishing was stellar, and we got into cutthroats and some rainbows while fishing a Chubby Chernobyl Norm with a size 14 possie bugger dropped off of it. A super fast sinking poly leader off of the 6wt with a muddler caught a lot of fish while short stripping it back on a broadside swing. Softhackles swinging on a downstream 45 degree down and across were the ticket in a few spots also. The dry and dropper took the most fish, and the muddler was the second best producer, and the swung wets were only good here and there. Sometimes it can be the exact opposite, but that is what makes it interesting. We caught many fish, and most were on the smaller side on this day, but we did catch several fish that were looking fat and had some shoulders on them. The nice thing was that the trout were everywhere they should have been, and they were taking the presentations that we showed to them. You cannot control whether it'll be a big fish day or a small fish day, but it still is nice to see the target species responding to what you are giving them.