The Caddis Fly: Oregon Fly Fishing Blog

After 5 days with the in-laws in town, my friend Jeff needed to get out fishing before he freaked out. With inspiration from the Fly Fishing Film Tour videos from the night before still fresh on our brains, we headed out early for coastal winter steelhead. After making the shuttle arrangements (hoping the rig would [...]

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This is part two of Jay’s winter steelhead technique primer.

Swing traditional and leech flies. Traditional steelhead patterns catch winter steelhead like they have for decades, so you don’t have to throw out your Green Butt Skunks, Polar Shrimps, or Thor flies and replace them all with Intruders or Leech-style flies.
That said, big [...]

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I was finishing out a beautiful tailout, lifting my fly as it rounded a boulder, then dropping it into a promising bedrock slot. Matt had wandered down river with his switch rod. Our morning, so far, had been blissful. I started the day farming a fish after some solid head-shakes, so I figured I was [...]

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It’s been a weird week on the Oregon coast, and at the vise. But things are working out.

-MS

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I have this friend, see, who’s on the verge of committing to year-long, exclusive use of a fly rod. He loves to fly fish for trout. You should see his eyes sparkle when he talks about fly fishing for sea-run cutthroat: Daybreak mist on the water, silvery streaks exploding on his fly. [...]

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The barrage of egg-pattern variations continues! This is the Gorman’s Caballero Egg, a dead drift winter steelhead pattern that is very effective on local rivers. Check out our Steelhead Pattern Index for more fly tying instructions.

Gorman’s Caballero Egg
Hook: Gamakatsu C14S #4-10
Thread: U140 Ultra Thread Pink or Orange
Bead: 5/32 copper bead
Tag: Uni floss Neon Chartreuse
Body: [...]

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After a month of wild weather and high water, this weekend is finally shaping up to be a classic. Rivers are dropping and fish are moving. The weak tides ahead may not bring a lot of fresh steel from the salt, but there are solid numbers of fish already navigating and staging in Oregon’s coastal [...]

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