The lower Mckenzie River near Eugene continued to fish well today. From put in to take out, roughly 9am-5pm the river dropped about 800cfs. The graph was heading straight down. NOAA river forecast has the river coming down to around 6000cfs by Saturday, still a big number but much better than the 8000-9000 we have had the past few days. Swung wet flies remained the best producers, although this afternoon a massive Pale Morning Dun hatch had fish up on the surface a bit. We caught several great fish today but the oversized cutthroat pictured below is one of the biggest I’ve ever seen on the lower Mckenzie.
This fish had a huge jaw, it is hard to see in the photo but he had a big golden stone nymph half way down his throat when we landed him. Best flies to have in the box right now include Sparkle Dun Pale Morning Dun #16, Possie Buggers #8-10, yellow and hare’s ears soft hackles #12-14, March Brown Wet #12-14, Green Mckenzie Caddis #8-10, Brown Elk Hair Caddis #12-14, and Outrigger Caddis #14.
More photos below including a terrible osprey wound in an 18 inch native Mckenzie Rainbow.CD