High Water Flows in Western Oregon - Fishing Retreat for Lots of Brown Trout

This past weekend, I was feeling "spur of the moment" after having to cancel several trout trips I had booked due to super high water conditions from the last storm. I asked Nikki if she would be into taking a drive east in search of dryness, sunshine, and low water. She was into the idea also, especially since we got back from Florida, the sun has been lacking and the rains have been overly plentiful. We both decided after we both got off of work, we would bolt out of town eastward to the Owyhee River. I had not fished it ever, nor had she, but I knew it has been fishing well from recent reports. Midges, blue winged olives, and skawala stones were all hatching, and the fishing was going to be better than sitting at home waiting for river levels to drop in the swollen west-side rivers.

We got to the river, and it was full of big brown trout. It was also full of anglers, but we were prepared for the traffic and "human hatch" we had been warned about. It is true too that Boise people are the the most plentiful angling force out there. It is about an hour from Boise, and really far from anywhere else that is a major metropolitan area; so it flocks the anglers from there more so than Oregonian. It seemed like there were angler/s in about every decent looking spot, but the weather was sunny and warm on the first day. The fishing was great, and we caught a lot of fish on a variety of fly fishing techniques.

The second day had cooler but sunny weather, and the "human hatch" was way mellower than on Saturday. The fish were more interested in subsurface offering as well, but we caught way more fish than we did on the first day. It was really fun out there fishing with my sweetheart, and I thoroughly enjoyed watching her yard in large brown trout. We caught fish on everything from skawala stone dry flies, midge dry flies, and the best fly was a weightless nymph called a bubble top fished from the surface film to a few inches under water.  It was really neat to see how well we did fishing a pattern that was not on the surface, nor on the bottom, but right under the surface.

Below are a bunch of photos from our trip, and I hope you enjoy them.....

Checking out a nice long brown trout

The "Bubble Top
was the hot fly

Fish On ! Brown trout fishing in Oregon

Filbert is Admiring this fine Oregon Brown Trout

Nice Dots on this Brown Trout - Eastern Oregon

#22 Black Midge Dry Fly took this brown trout

This brown trout fell to a Skwala Stone surface fly pattern

One of the many large browns that reside in Oregon's Owyhee River

Filbert really likes brown trout fishing

Bubble Top fly pattern pinned in this brown trout

gorgeous spots on this brown trout

Nice jaws on this long lean brown trout

April Fool's Day was all about fooling brown trout

Brown trout acting feisty on Owyhee River

"Bubble Top" fly stuck in this brown trout's grill

Beautiful specimen of Oregon brown trout

Displaying a brown trout

Working the water for brown trout - Owyhee River

The Classic Photo - Orvis Superfine Touch Rod With CFO Reel & Brown Trout

Winter Steelhead Video

Enjoy this video while the weather is stormy and unsettled. It is a recent quick video we shot with GoPro cameras, and an attempt to coordinate all of the different film clips together in sync. It is an amateur video, but it is practice to get better; so enjoy it.  

High Water Winter Steelhead Report - (3-18-2012)

This past Sunday, I had a trip booked with two anglers named Taylor and Rob. They were both itching to get out, and had a case of "Cabin Fever"; which can prove to be a widespread ailment in Oregon this time of the year. The weather lately has been nothing short of atrocious, and being outside and being active is the key to treating a bad case of "Cabin Fever". The conditions were far from favorable on Sunday, and I was going to cancel the trip, but the guys insisted that they wanted to hit the river. The assured me that they wanted to learn how to fish for winter steelhead effectively more than wanting a guided trip just to catch fish on. They told me that they would not hold anything against me since I was going to call the trip off, and they just wanted to fish, and learn how to better their angling techniques for getting into winter steelhead.

Rob on tight to a wild Oregon winter steelhead

When we got out there, the river even looked a tad bit more messed up than I was anticipating, but you have to deal with the given conditions. I was showing them the water speed and type of spot you would want to see to try for winter steelhead with a bloated high water river. We hit the first spot, and it did not yield any fish, nor any signs of fish, but you have to fish spots in order to catch anything.

A nice deep bodied wild male Oregon winter steelhead

The second spot proved differently, as Rob stuck a fish within a minute or two of fishing it. The fish took the offering hard, and the Thingamabobber took a savage dunk and Rob struck tight to connect with the wild winter buck. It was a pretty fish with rose colored cheeks, and a super deep body for its length. We admired the fish and sent him off to continue his run upriver to find a hen to pair up with.

Nice shoulders on this wild native Oregon winter steelhead

 Now it was Taylor's turn to get tight to a winter steelhead, as Rob was totally stoked to pull out a fish from the swollen water that the recent weather has pumped into the river. Taylor was fishing hard, and after a couple of spots later his indicator went under showing signs of a take. He came tight to the fish, but the hook did not hold the fish for more than a little while. It was another good sign though; since the water was high, and just getting a fish on was a big deal.

Showing where the fish should be holding in the pool....

 Luckily, the very next cast just a little bit upstream resulted in another take, and Taylor struck hard to see life on the end of the fly line. It turned out that a snarly snag of roots somehow got onto the line, as I scrambled over to wrangle it off. Luckily it worked out, and the line was clear to rip through the guides of the Access Switch rod. The fish ran hard down stream, and it thrashed on the surface only to free the hook.

Pushing a "stack mend" onto the Thingamabobber

This fish ended up giving itself a LDR (long distance release), as we all grumbled a frustrated sigh. Luckily Taylor is the kind of angler who was stoked for the hook up, and not bummed that he lost the fish. So many anglers do not value getting tied into a winter steelhead, and they only care about landing fish, and numbers. Going out and hooking up when the conditions are not in your favor is a treat in itself. Just hooking up with a wild winter steelhead is crazy enough!

On tight to a wild winter steelhead....

Rob and Taylor had a killer day of winter steelheading, and their angling skills soared through the roof on this day on the river. It is always rewarding for me to see people roll cast across a river, and get a several second dead drift to their fly, when it was not in their mind to do that in the beginning of the day. Getting out on the river can always prove to be worth while, and when you hook up with more than one steelhead on a day when the conditions are less than favorable is always a plus.

Working a winter steelhead run.....

You never know what a day of fishing can offer unless you get out there. I often hear people complain in the winter about high water and miserable weather, but it is always better when you are out there. Many times the weather is better out on the river than it can be in the Portland metro area, and you cannot catch winter steelhead on the couch.


Tight Lines!!!!

Florida Vacation Part II: Snook Fishing

Nikki and I visited both my parents and her parents while on the trip to Florida. Her dad Lance loves to fish as much as I do which is totally sweet; so I knew a fishing trip was in order for the four of us. We inquired about guided fishing trips, and found Bad Fish Charters, and Captain Cayle proved to know where the big snook were hanging out. He also knew how to put 4 anglers (Nikki, Lance, Mary, and I) of all different skill sets onto the snook in a smooth and patient manner. He also was able to guide us with everything from casting live white baits gently and accurately on circle hooks to casting flashy baitfish flies in the dark near bright lights where the baitfish accumulated the snook like trout boiling on dry flies. It was really cool and very different, and it kind of reminded me of fly fishing in the Sacramento Delta for striped bass and fly fishing the night in Oregon for rock bass and lingcod smashed together, but add the tropical factor in and you have night time snook fishing. Kind of......, but not really......Just like any fishing, you just have to experience it to know what it is really like.
Snook fishing in the night was totally rad!!!

My First Snook - also the first catch of the day.

We motored out to an area where there was a lot of structure. That is what the snook like to hang out around, and Captain Cayle knew the snook were here. It was simply a matter of when the snook wanted to play. Snook love being around pilings and areas where the bait is accumulating. They are also very lazy, but love to hang out where there is a current moving through the structure; so getting right near a piling is the key to success.

Nikki caught a nice large spotted sea trout on a live white bait

Circle hooks were something I was very impressed with. They literally work like they are supposed to, and all you do is reel down when you can tell you have a fish taking your offering. You do not want to set the hook because you will literally "farm it" out of the fish's mouth. If you reel down tight, the fish will take the point of the hook in the corner of the mouth every time perfectly. I had more trouble keeping a nice good hook set with my flies compared to the circle hooks with the live bait.

This snook ripped the line hard!!! We wondered what was swimming on the other end.

 When it was sunny out, the bite was tough, but Lance was pulling the snook out on a higher frequency than the other three of us. He had the touch the snook were looking for, and since I am a fly fisher, I was feeling a little foreign to the spin tackle. My flies were not working either; so I was wanting to hone in the skills with the circle hook fishing. Funny to think how I used to bass fish super avidly with spin tackle when I was a youngester, and now I feel like a lamo on a spin rod. It is something I do not do often; so that is my excuse.... NO EXCUSES !!!

Another Fine Snook Caught By Lance on a White Bait & Circle Hook

 Lance kept on getting into the snook, and kept us all entertained with the radical action these fish put on. Captain Cayle assured me that the night time would offer snook to the end of my fly line, and I was also confident since I have experienced days in Oregon where I catch rockfish with regularity in the darkness after getting skunked in the light.

As it got dark, fly fishing started to really work well for the snook on small pfp flies

 We ended up seeing some insane fishing when it became dark out. Fish were boiling in a light that Captain Cayle took us to, and I was able to see snook chasing my flies when I was stripping them back. It was really cool, and super visual. Fish were boiling in the light at times, and it was almost looking like the snook were trout picking off flies from the surface. Only the snook were ambushing the white bait from below, and I thought how cool it was to see this behavior from another fish I have not ever fished for before this afternoon/evening.

Flies imitating small white baits took snook once it became dark out on the full moon night

 When the fishing was fast and furious, we were not able to get the good pictures that you can take in the daylight; so we refrained after a few fish. We tried to video some of the fish taking bait and flies, but that did not come out the way you would want it to. We had a blast catching lots of fish, and it was great having a great guide take us right to the hot fishing area.

Captain Cayle showing Mary's Snook

The spot was like a production snook catching conveyer belt. He would tell us when to cast, and then the line would pull tight with a snook crushing the offerings. I would strip the fly when it was my turn, and I would see shadows honing in on my baitfish fly. It was tough keeping the line speed/fly speed all in check with the variable currents coming around the structure.

This Grill of the Snook looks really similar to a Largemouth Bass's Bucket Mouth

 I was able to take snook on flies and also even got fish to chase a crease fly on the surface which was totally cool. Lance hammered snook on the white baits and circle hooks, and made me realize how tough it is to mimic the action of live baits on a fly rod. I was getting into fish, but once in every so many retrieves compared to almost every cast at times for the actual live bait. Fishing was fast and furious at the spot where we had a large light on the water attracting the baitfish, and it was a spot I could have fished for hours and hours.

Snook have eyes adapted for night time ambush predatory feeding

 We caught a lot of fish, and we took turns for who was up next to get into a snook. Everyone got to fight a snook, and everyone caught snook that were pushing sizes that any angler would be happy to catch. The snook is a fine game fish that hits your offering with total authority, they fight with explosive power, they jump, and they can hit sizes that will make you yell "WOW" when you tie into a trophy sized fish. Call Captain Cayle if you are ever wanting to go fishing the while you are visiting the Charlotte Harbor area of Florida.

The Snook were interested in a small FPF White Baitfish fly and a Crease fly

Florida Vacation - Beach/Pass Fishing Short Report

With all of the nasty rains we have had, and skyrocketing water levels....

I had to come back from my tropical vacation to this......

Recently I was at Florida with Nikki visiting our families, and we also got to do a lot of fishing. One of the days I was playing around at a beach pass where the ocean met a bay through an inlet. I was throwing a tropical intermediate line with a small sparse baitfish pattern, and it proved to be interesting light tackle fly fishing. I was simply casting out and stripping back in areas that looked fishy, and I ended up increasing my species resume quite a bit.

Blue Runner - Captiva/Sanibel Island Blind Pass

Admiring the power of the Jack Crevalle - What a tough little machine!

A close up look at the Crevalle

Small Ladyfish caught at Sanibel/Captiva Blind Pass

Built for speed.... ladyfish are the closest relative to bonefish and tarpon

My First Flounder Caught on a Fly Rod - Gulf Flounder

Fly pinned in this flounder's grill.......

Fishing Blind Pass - Captiva/Sanibel Island

Smiling about the freakiest catch of the day.....what is it?

Lookdown Fish - a rare catch supposedly - in the Jack Family

Beach fishing proved to be very fun and interesting. I was totally winging it, and was learning on the spot how to get into these fish. I got several of the Jack Crevalle to take, and the other fish were mostly incidental while targeting the jack type species that were running through. I could see baitfish boils and predatory takes on the surface; so I knew I was in an area where fish were (besides having lots of other people fishing in the area). Surprisingly, I was the only person out there fly fishing, but it just shows how many fly fishing opportunities go untouched out there. It was also rewarding to see that I was getting into fish more consistently compared to the other anglers, and most of them were using live bait. Flies work well at times I feel due due to the subtle presentations (my super sparse pattern was too hard to resist) and being able to cover the water super effectively in some areas.

I will be posting more about this trip, but this is my first blurb about it for now. Next will be posting about our snook guided trip we went on. 

Tight lines......

Quick 3/2/2012 Fishing Report - Gorgeous Winter Steelhead Buck

Lots of huge airs, runs, and sheer power......

Winter Steelhead Money Shot

Rose Colored Cheeks on this Wild Buck

Trout Beads Work Like a Charm

Winter Steelhead Admiration

Clothes-lined to a winter steelhead.....

This winter steelhead gets a 10 for the arch....

You can see the rainbow red stripe on this steelhead

Nice arch for this air! Kurplunk is about to happen.....

Popping an air! - After I thought I was about to land it!

Stay tuned for this fish on video......