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.

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

Summer Steelhead Whooping! Check this out!

A few days ago, I ended up getting a call from Orvis, letting me know that if I wanted the day off, then I could go for it. I opted for it; since I had a bender of guiding and working for days on end. Nikki and I ended up going fishing late afternoon for summer steelhead on the McKenzie River. We got out there, and there were a lot of people being that it was the Saturday for the 4th of July weekend. Nonetheless, I ended up sticking a crazy steelhead in the very first spot that I decided to swing my blue and black moal leech. Unfortunately, the battle was very short lived, but it was super exciting. I got my butt kicked by that steelhead, and happened to make a little film clip of it. Somehow, Nikki caught the craziness on film, and also some foul language due to the battle going haywire. You'll notice some bleeps on the audio, and that is to make it clean. Too bad you could not hear the live version! Enjoy the video clip!

Steelhead Reports Looking Up...

One of my friends who knows steelhead really well has reported to me two really good days of steelheading in the Willamette Valley. One day he landed 4 fish within an hour, and all of the fish were on a swung blue and black motion prawn. The day before he hooked and landed two fish on the same fly. Water levels are going down and down, and the fish are coming in more and more. We have had the highest water spring possible, but now we are going to get rewarded with some wonderful summer fly fly fishing.

Too many people think the water is ridiculously high, but levels are wonderful across the board. Normally rivers are too low at many locations, and this year we have plenty of water at places that are normally too low for fishing or running boats. Good fishing possibilities are here, and you can only have a good day of fishing if you get out there and experience it. I have talked to too many people who have not been out in months or weeks; complaining of too much water, and all the time has passed with no fishing tales to pass on. I know that I have experienced some amazing times in recent weeks and months, but it has required adaptation.   Between carp, trout, and steelhead, there have been some serious hoots and cheers of joy. Get out and enjoy fly fishing! Get out and seek some chrome! It's time!

Summer Steelhead Time......

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 .

Summer Steelhead Time is Here!

Steelhead numbers have recently been increasing for the Willamette Valley rivers like the Middle Fork of the Willamette, McKenzie, North Santiam, and the South Santiam. Also the Clackamas River should be kicking into high gear with the arrival of fresh summer run steelhead. The early summer steelhead can really make your fly reel scream as your fly line empties out into fly line backing many times when you hookup.

Clackamas River Steelhead with Dry Fly

The early summer steelhead are super vigorous, as they arrive into the rivers very sexually immature. The omega three fatty acids convert into egg mass and sperm sack mass in both the males and the females as they mature while being in fresh water. Due to this, these steelhead are very aggressive and somewhat predictable in their habits. Also they are in the fresh water rivers for about 9 months versus winter steelhead which enter fresh water on a mission to spawn and return to saltwater as soon as possible.

A Chrome Bright Willamette River Hatchery Summer Steelhead

These summer steelhead will move far for a fly, and sometimes they will literally swim 10 feet to destroy your swung wet fly. After they are hooked, many aerials will happen, and your fly line will scream out of your fly reel so fast; that you will have to clear your knuckles in order to prevent bruising them or breaking the fish off. Fly Fishing for summer steelhead is a total addiction, and it can be done with a spey rod, a single handed rod, swinging flies, nymphing flies, etc.

Willamette River Steelhead Caught in the "Town Run"

Fly Fishing for summer steelhead in the Willamette Valley can be everything from a traditional style wet fly swing on a floating line to spey fishing with Skagit Heads and large intruder like patterns. The moal leeches in black/blue or purple/pink are two of my go to colors, and also a fly called a motion prawn in purple with a pink butt is a wonderful out there. A Silver Hilton is a great traditional pattern that works very well on the Willamette River steelhead. The McKenzie River and the North Santiam tend to have colder temperatures; so the fish tend to be more oriented with sinking tips and larger weighted flies. Nymph fishing also works very well on the McKenzie steelhead, and the fishing tends to be a more swing oriented style on the Willamette and Clackamas Rivers.

High Water McKenzie Steelhead

Fly fishing the Clackamas River for steelhead is the trip for you; if you are looking to book a guided trip while visiting Portland, Oregon! If you would like to try the McKenzie River for steelhead while swinging flies, nymphing, or sight fishing, then contact me to get a date booked before they fill up. If swinging a spey rod is what you love, then the Middle Fork of the Willamette is what you are looking for; so get a hold of me to book a guided fly fishing trip for summer steelhead.

Tight Lines!!