Category Archives: McKenzie River

Authentic Fly Fishing

Yesterday on the McKenzie was special. John O’Hurley was in town with Spamalot and we had an adventure that was a “throw back” to fishing the McKenzie fifty years ago. Fly fishing from a wooden McKenzie style drift boat, with … Continue reading

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McKenzie drops into excellent shape

Today I fished the lower McKenzie from Deerhorn down to Belinger. The river was as low as I had fished it in 2009. Drop offs, seams, midstream depth changes and structure were far more evident with the water around 4000cfs. The … Continue reading

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Trout Opener Tip: Avoid Marten Rapids

Saturday is opening day of trout season on the Mckenzie River, a day that always brings out the crowds. If you plan on floating the Mckenzie in the next few weeks be sure to avoid Marten Rapids. The log that … Continue reading

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Lower McKenzie Fishing Report

This Tuesday and Wednesday were beautiful days on the river. Sunshine, clear water, and great air temperatures. But 81 degrees has it’s downside as well and it wasn’t until Wednesday afternoon that I could get a water temp above 50 … Continue reading

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Fourth Annual Mckenzie River Wooden Boat Festival to be Held Saturday, April 25.

Coinciding with the opening day of trout season, the fourth annual Mckenzie River Boat Show will be held this Saturday, April 25th at Eagle Rock Lodge in Vida, Oregon. The event is free and features historic wooden Mckenzie River drift … Continue reading

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Warm weather bring on the Caddis

The shallow edges of both the McKenzie and Willamette rivers are currently inandated with small cased caddis. These case makers and other caddis species are sporadically emerging throughout the spring but really pop when we get air temps to about 70 … Continue reading

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Trout Unlimited Lower McKenzie outing trip photos

Last weekend, Trout Unlimited put together a crew to tackle the Lower McKenzie River, floating from Armitage to Cross in search of native redsides. A few rainbows were caught, along with dozens of cutthroat and some trophy suckers. We saw … Continue reading

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Lower river reports: McKenzie and Willamette Rivers

The lower McKenzie and Willamette rivers have dropped into fine shape and are fishing well. The March Brown emergence continues to develop and best dry fly fishing has been between 2 and 4pm. When the temperature rises enough to get … Continue reading

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Profiling the genetics of the Willamette and McKenzie redside rainbow trout

The McKenzie Redside rainbow is one of the most beautiful and sought-after native fish in the Northwest. But how much have we diluted the genetics of these fish with massive hatchery programs? Where are the most pure strains of native … Continue reading

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April sunshine on the lower McKenzie

We floated from Hayden to Armitage today 12pm-4pm.  The water had dropped and cleared considerably since Thursday. As expected the bright and windy conditions made fishing a bit tough. But the beautiful day made up for any angling related deficiencies. The … Continue reading

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April Caddis emergence has started

Early April sunshine and a slight warming of water temperatures have spurred our annual “mothers day caddis hatch”. Be on the look out the next few days for ridiculous numbers of tan, charcoal, and black caddisflies sizes #14-18 in AIG … Continue reading

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McKenzie near Eugene continues to fish well subsurface

It’s always great to fish dries, but phenomenol hatches and good fish up on top don’t happen everyday. This past Saturday I had two skilled anglers up front and we nymphed and swung wets all day. Fishing was great and … Continue reading

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Mckenzie remains high, but fishing well

Prospects for the lower McKenzie near Eugene continue to improve. Although the river did not take a big drop today, it did fish well.  We swung wet flies most of the day. March Brown bead head Emergers and Mega Prince … Continue reading

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McKenzie River dropping into shape, but March Browns still slow

Not much in the way of surface action today, but the McKenzie is clear and dropping. Lots of nice fish under the thingamabobber, golden stonefly nymphs, megaprinces are turning out fish.

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March Brown hatch about to go off on the Lower McKenzie

Lots of big fish and big bugs on the Lower McKenzie River today from Hayden Bridge to Armitage. Clear skies and stiff cold winds kept the major March Brown hatches from coming off, but it should be happening in the … Continue reading

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