It happening folks, it is time to get out trout fishing. This is absolutely my favorite time of year, and conditions are only improving. I live in downtown Eugene and can be wadered up/boat in the water in under 20 minutes and fishing for some of the most beautiful trout in the world. We are unbelievably lucky people, I think. Anyway, here’s what I’ve seen the last few days on our local trout rivers. Sunday I fished from Hendricks to Hayden, and had it stuck in my head that the first half from Hendricks to Bellinger was not going to be great since I haven’t had much luck in there recently. We caught a number of gorgeous fish in the top half, and by the time we got to Bellinger the March Browns were hatching enough to get the fish interested. I found a group of rising fish, but an hour went by along with a couple dozen trout to the boat before we had to move on. It was cold and the surface activity didn’t last long. I was out today, it got up to 70 something degrees, and the march browns were in full effect. Swinging a soft hackle in the morning was best, followed by dries from 11-noon and then back to swinging softies and nymphing in the afternoon. I was fishing a possie bugger and march brown emerger for my swing setup, purple haze for my dry and an assortment of jigs under an indicator or big dry fly. If you live in the area and love to catch trout as wild as they come, now is the time.
Also, as an aside, there are a few tricky spots on the lower river right now. Please, if you have any hesitations or questions about a float, call us at the shop and we will give you the low down so you don’t get stuck in a sticky situation. Be safe and have fun out there!
JH