The fish are definitely looking up for October Caddis patterns on the McKenzie and Willamette rivers. Fishing has been really good of late using Morrish’s Foam October Caddis and Kingrey’s Better Foam Caddis. Twitching and skating this pattern from fast flows to a bit softer edges of currents has been deadly.
The Willamette River near Oakridge is really low and very “wadable” in many areas. A couple of really productive spots are Black Canyon Campground and Greenwaters Park — walk down stream to the Salmon Creek confluence. Best fishing between 11am and 5pm.
It’s been a pretty tough year for steelhead on the Willamette this year but if you were going to give it a shot the next week is pretty ideal. Water conditions are great, around 800 fish came over Willamette Falls in the month of September and the fishing pressure has been all but zero.
Enjoy the beautiful fall weather!
