Summer Steelhead Report and Short Video

With recent weather patterns staying away from the "Heat Wave" factor, we have had better fishing conditions. Fishing has been fair typically with good moments, and it should be picking up as the fall comes closer. Days are noticeably getting shorter, and that means more shade on the water for longer, and lower light angles on the fish now. That should cause them to be less freaked out from predators like os, and the bite should consistently get better and better as time goes on. That is what happens this time of the year; where the fishing for both trout and steelhead really picks up over the next several weeks, and the best action of the year occurs between now and Halloween typically.  

After I landed this fine summer steelhead, it was time for "Go Ducks!!"

Recently on my guided trips we have been averaging at least one steelhead on the slower days, and having an occasional day where we will hook three to five fish and land about two or three. That should change when the weather pattens shift over to a more fall like weather trend; where you can expect several hooked fish days more consistently. The one fish landed days are semi standard for the hot and bright weather days; while those results would be slow for the typical outing in the latter half of September and through October. More often we have multiple steelhead days with fish biting on swung wet flies, than do we have the days where we struggle to land more than one fish once the fall weather sets in.

Bald Eagle hanging out in cottonwood on the banks of the Willamette River

The fall fishing is just around the corner and the best problem with the fall is that there are so many good fishing opportunities to try out; where it is hard to decide where and what you want to fish for. Between trout, steelhead, and fall salmon, there are too many good things to fish for!

Below is a short video clip to enoy!

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.

First Summer Steelhead

Summer Steelhead Taken on Switch Rod

This past Sunday Nikki and I went out fishing for fun in the Willamette Valley. We fished for both trout and steelhead, but the main focus was to get Nikki into her first summer steelhead. We have gotten out together once before for summer fish, and I hooked one, and she never got a pull that day. This time however, the planets lined up, and her swing's call was answered by the steelhead phone. She was fishing a switch rod (and doing an awesome job on it - might I say), and a heavy poly leader with a marabou string leech that was purple with pink. The fish took the fly and went nuts jumping and tearing line off the reel, but I did not get that part on video. I ended up filming the final portion of the battle, but it was an awesome moment to see her first steelhead. Luckily it was a chrome hatchery fish too; so we took it home to enjoy this evening.

We ended up having a wonderful day out there; despite the rain and cool weather that should not be hitting us this time of the year. Cutthroats were all over stripped muddler minnows, and the dry fly and dropper nymph was also very productive out there. I hooked up with two steelhead in one spot, but the battles were short lived. I did get to see both of the fish boil up while they were tearing line, but then they unbuttoned. Nikki had one other quick hookup as well, but the fish did not lock onto the end of the line the way that it needed to in order to stick. 

Cutthroat Trout on Possie Bugger Nymph

Willamette Valley Steelhead Counts are Screaming for Some Swinging Flies!

With all of the high water, the summer steelhead counts have been kind of going undetected. This year happens to have some of the better fish counts in recent years, and not many people have been putting any pressure on these robust fish. More or less, many of these fish have been sliding by without anyone throwing anything to them. Now that the water levels are dropping and stabilizing; it is time to get out there to target these summer steelhead. We are at the time in the run when the fish are coming in with the largest numbers, and it should remain strong until about the 4th of July. After that the fish counts will slow up, and then they will pick up a bit more in the fall again. This does not mean the fishing will slow down. These summer steelhead will hang out in the river for literally about 9 months, and they do not spawn until next winter (Jan, Feb, March). The fishing stays red hot throughout the summer, and into the fall when the rivers turn brown, and you decide to fish elsewhere.

Date	Count
June 3rd	8,816
June 4th	9,135
June 5th	9,625
June 6th	10,392
June 7th	10,669

Now is the time to target these fish; especially if you like to eat fish. The summer steelhead run in the Willamette Valley are mainly a hatchery run, and the fish are stocked to be a "put and take" fishery. This way we can be eating quality fresh anadramous fish; while not having to supposedly interfere with the "wild fish" stocks. Nonetheless, the fish are full of vigor, and they have tons of fatty omega three acids to make them savory and desired. The same hens that have skeins of eggs that are larger than a trophy trout in the fall, will have tiny skeins that are no larger than a finger with 1000's of immature eggs. These eggs will develop in the freshwater portion of the steelhead's lives by utilizing those fatty acids for sexual development. Thus one of the major differences of the physiology of the summer and winter steelhead. That is why catching one of these summer runs right now can be so awesome. They are so sexually immature to the point where they fight with vigor and cartwheel aerials like you have never seen. 

Get out there and experience it!

 Willamette River Summer Steelhead

Summer Steelhead Numbers Are There!

The summer steelhead counts for the Willamette Valley are happening right now. Many people ask me often, "when is is time to go for steelhead?" Well now is the time! Water levels are a bit high, but with the trends we have this year so far; you just have to get out there and go fishing. The counts was last updated on the 18th of May is it was 5,134 summer steelhead over the fall fish counter. There are a number of fish that pass over the falls and do not get counted, and there are the same indicated numbers going up the Clackamas River too. You can use the counts as an indicator for what the trends are, and not there is heavy anadramous fish passage going over each day (including spring chinook, summer steelhead, and winter steelhead). Also the water temperature at Oregon at Willamette Falls is in the perfect zone where it is running in the low 50s. Once the temperature hits about 52-53 degrees the fish start really coming over in good numbers; so the trend should stay similar until about the 4th of July. Then the counts can slow up due to warmer temperatures.

Hopefully water levels will drop, but I would still recommend going fishing for these summer steelhead. As the time passes while you are waiting for water levels to drop, you are missing out on the fishing possibilities. Fish are fish, and they live in water; so they do not really care about higher water levels. We anglers need to adapt in years like this; when the water levels are up and seemingly not going to lower down anytime fast. You just have to fish with heavier lines, and adjust your tactics to be more like winter steelheading. The hitch is that summer steelhead are super aggressive and they will move far for a swung fly. So you are going to have to adapt to more winter steelhead like techniques, but you are fishing for aggressive summer fish. It will pay off with big rewards!

As of late the water levels are dropping slowly, but gradually.....Lets hope that trend continues....... 

Some seriously good fly fishing opportunities exist all around Oregon now!

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......