Some time ago I argued that Oregon has the best year around angling of any state in the U.S. period. It’s still true. As the eastern half of the United States tried to dig itself out from a blizzard, Greg Hatten and I decided to float the Middle Fork of the Willamette River from Oakridge to Black Canyon in pursuit of native rainbows. We had wanted to chase steelhead on the coast but the forecast was 100% chance of rain with our coastal rivers rising fast and so we decided instead to use Hills Creek dam to our best advantage.
I thought for sure that the trout would want something smallish and I spent Saturday tying #14 flash back pheasant tails, prince nymphs, copper johns and a few BWO adults but I was wrong. The fish ate Mega-princes. Go figure. Now, the fishing wasn’t red hot or anything but we caught a couple nice healthy wild rainbows. Not a bad way to spend a December day.–KM
5 responses so far ↓
1 Arlen // Dec 21, 2009 at 11:46 pm
Hey, you should have kept the camera rolling while you went through Hell’s Gate. I’ve only been through it once (someone else at the oars), and it would be nice to see it again.
2 Randy // Dec 22, 2009 at 5:17 pm
I was thinking the same thing as Arlen….that would have been nice to see.
3 Karl Mueller // Dec 22, 2009 at 5:26 pm
Next time I go through there i will put that together–we gotta mete out our content judiciously.
4 Moon // Dec 22, 2009 at 7:53 pm
Nice, even if you do fish like a heathen….
“if it ain’t dry - it’s a lie”…..
Some elitist, though a very wise man - once said that….
5 G Hatten // Dec 23, 2009 at 7:16 pm
Hey Moon… don’t be knocking the nymph - in winter, I turn into a “nympho” (dare I say) “maniac”. Call me a heathen - I kinda like the sound of that.
GH
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