This morning I got up early for a quick fish and floated the Mckenzie from Leaburg Dam to Greenwood for steelhead. I’ve never run that section at these levels and a look at the dam got my attention:
Turns out it is even easier with lots of water. For the most part rocks aren’t an issue and higher water makes some marginal runs look really fishy. No steelhead today but this bull trout was hunting:
I was really excited to finally get up close to one of these guys and it was totally unexpected! Other than that I caught a couple planters nothing exceptional. It didn’t matter . . . my day was already made.–KM
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19 responses so far ↓
1 eric // Jun 8, 2008 at 1:26 pm
Big silver hot shot in the net! Score one for the truth.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/onemuleteam/2559176621/
2 Karl Mueller // Jun 8, 2008 at 5:31 pm
I never said how I caught the fish. Swinging flies didn’t produce so I pulled a plug and picked up that bull trout–so what? If I wanted to hide the plug I could have done that eagle eye–I saw it too. It was still notable to catch a bull trout for me. . . there aren’t that many bull trout in the lower river. I thought someone might be as interested in seeing that there are some in there as much as how it was caught.
Oughta spend more time fishing and less time policing the web. Truth . . . give me a break Reingold. As a far as truth goes is that your real name or is it the guy from Wedding Crashers. Railing for the truth behind an apparent psuedonym . . . nice.
3 Karl Mueller // Jun 8, 2008 at 5:37 pm
Eric–wasn’t a silver hotshot. It was green pirate Brad’s Wiggler fished off an 8′6″ Lamiglass with an Abu 5501 left hand retrieve 30# braided powerpro with 10# ultragreen spliced uni to uni fished about 50 feeet from the boat of the left side. I use red magic thread with a bobber stopper knot to mark 50 feet–so there you go.
4 Karl Mueller // Jun 8, 2008 at 5:40 pm
One final thing, it isn’t as if was targeting bull trout so I am not sure what “a bull for that matter means.” As far as the rest of it, I appeciate your interst in our content but if you want to decide what gets posted become an administrator of your own site.
5 Jmartens // Jun 8, 2008 at 7:41 pm
great looking fish!
6 Matt Siegmund // Jun 8, 2008 at 9:32 pm
Nice fish Karl, I’ve never caught one below the dam. That would’ve made my day too!!!! Seems like too many people are spending a lot of time on the net and not much time fishing.
7 fishhead // Jun 9, 2008 at 12:38 am
Nice fish. I thought Montana was the only place the Bull Trout Patrol hung out…
Envy, baby, envy. Loosen up your underwear, live a little. Gotta take a break from chucking flies every once in awhile, might as well try for a Bull instead of a Carp!
8 eric // Jun 9, 2008 at 4:03 am
OK Karl M,
Thanks so much for the clarification. I’m a flyfishing purist snob so it’s my bad on getting the name wrong on your lure. I thought Oregon “fly” Fishing blog might be about flyfishing and not pulling plugs. Whats next, do you have a trout caught on powerbait you want to share?
ericb
9 Bpaul // Jun 9, 2008 at 4:57 am
Ahh the intarweb, full of finger pointers.
For crissakes guys lighten up.
10 Karl Mueller // Jun 9, 2008 at 5:54 am
Eric–I’m conflicted between responding and just letting it go. The post was about the fish not the method. I’m not going to write a post about how to properly pull a plug or modify a wiggler out of the box to increase hook-ups because you’re right it is a fly fishing blog. But the presence of bull trout below Leaburg is notable in and of itself and I thought it would be of interest. I don’t ever bait fish for trout so I don’t have any powerbait pics to share.
11 eric // Jun 9, 2008 at 1:38 pm
KM,
You have a point. I know people that have fished the lower McK for a long time and not caught a bull trout. The char seem pretty few and far between.
The local ODFW office has a number to call to report such a catch. They want to be informed when bulls are caught here. I can’t remember the number as it has been over a year since I called it… I think the “Bull Trout” signs at the boat ramps contain the contact info.
ericb
12 Karl Mueller // Jun 9, 2008 at 3:47 pm
Eric,
I’ll call the local ODFW office today and see what they have to say. Thanks for the heads up.
Chaz–I’ll make this very clear . . . Chris did not post this picture or write this post, I did. Also, as you might glean from the other comments people are interested in the fact that a bull was caught down there apparently including ODFW. Do you know how few adults there are in the system? Also, I am not sure where you get this idea that I’m some kind of interloper and just got off the bus here in Oregon. I think it was the Boston hat I picked up at Fenway when visiting my brother. Have been known to leave the state on occaison . . . but been here for quite a while–not sure how that is relevant though.
I think we can allow other people to decide how they fish and what that makes them and leave it at that.
13 Wes Campbell // Jun 10, 2008 at 2:42 am
I debated whether or not I should get involved in this pissing match but the more I thought about it the more I needed to say something. Who cares how he caught the fish, the whole point behind the the post was to show a rare catch. The fisherman should not ridiculed for how the fish was caught the fish should be admired for showing up in somewhere where it was previous thought to not exist. I too am a die hard fly fisherman but fishing is fishing as long as your on the water to enjoy yourself. Get off your high horse and appreciate what is actually being shown here; a fish making a comeback to its pre-European natural waters.
14 Brent Ross // Jun 10, 2008 at 3:08 am
Well put Wes.
15 Erich Neubert // Jun 10, 2008 at 5:36 am
Thanks Wes, I care about trout and I care about char. Thanks for the inspiring photos toward a possible comeback. EN
16 max b // Jun 11, 2008 at 8:35 am
thanks wes awesome response
17 Matthew K // Jun 11, 2008 at 9:29 pm
Contrary to the belief of SOME people, not all of us have had a chance to see a bull trout face-to-face (or face-to-monitor, as it were).
Those of us who fall into that category really appreciate the pics! That’s a beauty of a fish!
18 Montana Largemouth Bass | Willfishforwork.com // Jun 13, 2008 at 8:06 pm
[…] recently picked up on a post at the Caddis Fly , some guy was giving himself a wedgie because a particular fish was caught on something besides fly […]
19 Brian R // Jul 2, 2008 at 5:10 am
Why do people get upset on how a fish is caught? Isn’t it about the thrill of catching the fish? I have just started fishing at the ripe age of 32 (last yr) and have yet to try flyfishing. So all the jargon about pulling a plug and such is news to me…gotta look it up…but would love to get a pole and learn. Caught a 37lb salmon last yr and have been hooked ever since. Got 5 native trout yesterday on the Mckenzie couple miles up coburg road.
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