On Monday May 5th 2008 Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife (ODFW) announced their proposed changes to the 2009-2012 Oregon Sport Fishing Regulations. There are eight different proposed regulations that would allow for the harvest of wild winter steelhead on the Umpqua system. A very vocal, organized group is doing their best to get the 1 wild steelhead/day, 5 wild steelhead/year kill regulation re-instated.
We need all advocates of wild steelhead from far and wide to speak out strongly and in large numbers against the proposed kill regulations if we are to see the current wild steelhead release regulation stay in place on the Umpqua. ODFW adopts the sport fishing regulations through a “public process”—it is up to the public to let ODFW know which regulations they support or oppose. This is your opportunity to speak loud and clear to ODFW regarding your stand on killing Umpqua wild steelhead. Here is how to get your voice heard:
Write a letter: Share your thoughts with ODFW on the proposed regulations. Address letters to: ODFW, Angling Regulations, 3406 Cherry Avenue NE, Salem OR 97303 or you can email your letter to Rhine Messmer (Angling Regulations Coordinator) at the email address listed above. All letters and emails will be forwarded to the Fish and Wildlife Commission as part of the public record. Anyone who is affected by the proposed regulations is encouraged to write, one does not have to reside in Oregon to participate.
Attend a meeting:
May 13 Blue Mt. Conference Center 404 12th Street LaGrande OR, 97805
May 14 Central Oregon Community College, Hitchcock Auditorium 2600 NW ollege Way Bend, OR 97701
May 15 OSU Extension Service 3328 Vandenberg Road Klamath Falls, OR 97603
May 16 Jackson County Auditorium 400 Antelope Road White City, OR 97503
May 19 North Bend Library 1800 Sherman Avenue, North Bend, OR 97459
May 20 Douglas County Library 1409 NE Diamond Lake Blvd, Roseburg, 440-4311
May 21 Lane Community College Forum Building (#17), Room 308 4000 East 30th Avenue Eugene, OR 97405
May 22 Hatfield Marine Science Center 2030 SE Marine Science Dr. Newport, OR 97141
May 23 Oregon Dept. of Forestry 5005 Third Street Tillamook, OR 97141
May 27 Oregon Dept. of Fish & Wildlife Headquarters 3406 Cherry Avenue NE Salem, OR 97303
May 28 Sunnybrook Service Center (Clackamas County Building) 9101 SE Sunnybrook Center Clackamas, OR 97015
Testify at a Commission Meeting: There are two Commission meetings where the public has the opportunity to comment: August 8th at ODFW Headquarters in Salem and September 12th at Oregon Hatchery Research Center near Alsea. You can find details on presenting testimony to the Commission at the ODFW website.
Fly fishing author John Geirach is coming to the University of Oregon Bookstore tonight at 7pm to promote his new book, Fools Paradise.
From the event listing:
Fool’s Paradise chronicles the fishing life in all its glory (catching your biggest fish ever) and squalor (being stranded in a tent during a soaking rainstorm). In Gierach’s world, both experiences are valuable, and both evoke humor and insight.
Fly tying video: The PMD Sparkle Dun was developed in West Yellowstone, Montana by Craig Matthews. The sparkle dun is one of the best overall mayfly patterns ever created. It’s easy to tie and low maintenance.
This is actually one of my favorite videos so far, Chris breaks the thread and still finishes the fly with a series of tiny half hitches.
Pale Morning Dun (PMD) Sparkle Dun
Hook: TMC 100 size 16
Thread:8/0 Uni
Tail: Z-lon shuck, ginger
Wing: Comparadun deer hair
Dubbing: Fine and dry yellow
This Saturday Caddis Fly guide Ethan Nickel had a great day floating the lower Mckenzie between Hayden Bridge and Armitage Park. Again it was March Brown wets, Royal Coachman wets, Soft Hackle Hares Ears, Partridge and Yellow and Beadhead March Brown Emergers in sizes #12 and #14 doing the bulk of the work. He did see quite of few smaller March Browns. We think these are the species Rithrogena Hageni a lighter colored close relative to the March Brown mayfly. In addition there were small caddis and Pale Morning Duns out in decent numbers.
Despite all the water things have picked up considerably on the lower Mckenzie. It would appear we have crept out of the super cold water temperatures and fishing will be good, to very good in the days ahead.
This coming weekend the largest gathering of spey casters, spey rod manufacturers and instructors in the western hemisphere will be held at Oxbow Park outside of Portland Oregon. The event caters to anglers interested in two-handed fly rod fishing. The Spey Clave provides a format for the exchange of Spey casting and fishing information. It is a free Spey casting college for all who attend. You will have the opportunity to watch and learn from the worlds best rod designers, spey casters and spey steelhead and salmon anglers. This event has been termed “The Woodstock of Spey Casting Events.”
Wickiup Reservoir is picking up according to customer Glen Thompson who made a loop through the east side this past week. The campground near the Davis channel is open. Best flies included wooly buggers and thin mints. Chironomids did not produce for Glen as expected. Look for the chironomid activity to improve.
Other highlights of his trip included Crumbo Reservoir and Chickahominy Reservoir. He fished a variety of buggers and streamers having excellent success on Crumbo and medium action on Chick. He did say that Chick was much clearer than it has been and water temps appear to be warming. Next weeks improved weather should really improve the high lakes that are open.
Davis Lake is also open and anglers have begun to slay the bass.
What started out as a slow afternoon with high water turned out to be a dry fly bonanza yesterday as Caddis Fly Shop guide Lou Verdugo put Frenchy Laroux and I on a shallow riffle with scads of rising cutthroat trout. We drifted from the McKenzie/Willamette confluence to Harrisburg in the afternnoon, but didn’t see much action until 4-5pm. Most trout were in the 8-10 inch range, but we caught a few that were larger. The hot fly of the day was a March Brown sparkle dun, size 14.
Just about the end of the hatch “Mongo” decided to come out and play — the big dogs of the lower Willamette River — fat trout slurping mayflies in slack water. But they don’t get that big being dumb and I put them down with a couple sloppy casts.
The lower Mckenzie River near Eugene, specifically the drift from Hayden Bridge to Armitage Park fish fished surprisingly well yesterday. The water was high, around 6600cfs but softer inside turns and the few defined bars that were available did produce good action. Most of the fish were native Cutthroats from 6-12 inches, with a few rainbows mixed in. We did find one fish rising, dropped the anchor near him, cast a Hackle Stacker Flag dun Adams #14 on him and he ate it. That was it for the dry fly fishing. All of the other action was on a 2 fly rig cast down and across (traditional swung method) with a Possie Bugger #10 and a Royal Coachman Wet #12.
On May 5 NOAA fisheries released its latest court ordered Biological Opinion intended to guide the operation of the Snake and lower Columbia hydrosystem in a manner safe for the 13 threatened Snake/ Columbia River anadramous fish stocks. This was the agency’s third attempt, the previous two biological opinions didn’t meet the requirements of the Endangered Species Act to recover listed species.
In the previous Biop, NOAA contended that it was not required to consider the effects of dams on the fish populations in the basin because the dams were an immutable part of the environment. NOAA was roundly defeated in the courtroom and sent scurrying back to the drawing board to come up with a plan that wasn’t an embarassment.
Not surprisingly the NOAA concluded that the hydrosystem, with what it sees as improvements including removeable spillways, increased barging, predator control, habitat improvement and changes in spill practices will be sufficient to ensure recovery. Recently almost all of the affected tribes dropped their opposition to the newest plan in exchange for securing 900 million dollars of habitat and other fisheries improvments on tribal lands.
The State of Oregon, the Nez Perce Tribe and many conservation groups including the Save Our Wild Salmon Coalition longstanding plaintiffs appear unimpressed by the Feds most recent plan. In fact, these groups are concerned that the newest Biop does even less than the previous plans to protect salmon. Governor Kulongoski recently outlined Oregon’s opposition stating that the new plan reduces flow and spill and fails to make meaningful changes to the dams instead relying on hatcheries and habitat improvments that the Governor feels are insufficient to recover native salmon.
We’ve all seen this dance before–the feds claiming that their plan will recover salmon, conservation groups and Oregon asserting the plan is a roadmap for extinction.
It looks like this plan won’t be leaving the courtroom anytime soon.
The yellow stimulator is one of the most popular flies in the West and it’s a great imitator for a Golden Stonefly. It’s got excellent floatation and you can hang a good sized nymph off of this fly. We tie the stimulator for speed and durability. This is a heavily dressed pattern and it fishes all summer long on the Deschutes, McKenzie and Willamette rivers.
Yellow Stimulator Pattern:
Hook: TMC 200R size 6-16
Thread: Yellow or hot orange 8/0
Rib: Yellow thread
Body: Yellow or gold fine and dry dubbing
Hackle: Brown dry fly
Wing: Yearling elk
Thorax: Yellow dubbing, grizzly dry fly hackle
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