Upriver Coho Salmon fishing has been decent! Stripping flies for Coho is one of my favorite fisheries in Oregon. It can be Type II fishing when a whole bunch them are splashing around you and no one is biting. But when its good…its good! I have not had any amazing days this season but I have not been skunked either. For salmon fishing on the fly that is pretty good! We have a week and half to a month or so, depending on the fishery, left of Coho Salmon fishing on the Oregon Coast. I would expect fishing to improve after this week’s big rains. If you see fish rolling that is a fine spot to fish. I target the frog water, pools and tailouts casting and retrieving flies. I will experiment with different strips throughout the day. Usually you will have the frog water and pools to yourself. Salmon are moody. The ones around you may not initially be in a biting mood. They could turn on at any moment. I tend to stick it out 30 minutes to an hour in a spot that has been productive in the past. When things are grim and morale gets low: remember salmon hit flies in Oregon, not just Alaska.
They do hit flies
When fishing for Coho salmon I use single hand rods with Intermediate or Sinking Lines. While you could get away with using a 8wt, I would recommend a 9wt or 10wt if fishing around wood (everywhere) or in heavy current. The Boost Blue is a quality option that I fish in a 9wt. I also use a pair of old Cam Siglers in 10wts that I bought from Chris, on consignment, years ago when I was a customer. You should fight Coho like you do bass. Do not let them run too much or they will go for wood. When they roll… do not pull. When they stop spinning… reef on em’. The SA Full Intermediate Line gets put to work early season or on our Coastal Lakes. The line I use the most is the SA Sonar Titan I/3/5 . It works for deep pools, mid depth frog water and tailouts. This line gets your fly in the zone and the intermediate running line helps it stay there. Outbound Shorts in various sinking configurations are another option from RIO. I fish Clouser Minnows and bunny leech flies that I tie in various colors. Chartreuse-White, Chartreuse-Pink and Red-Black are the colors I fish the most. Plain pink, purple or blue all work too. It really helps to tie your own flies so you can have various colors, weights and quality hooks. Boss or Comet style flies can excel in low water.
Getting Bent
On the steelhead front I have put in a few half hearted half days and been rewarded with what I put in. Not much! Steelhead fishing locally should be productive for another week or two. We have heard a few positive reports from the Willamette and McKenzie. This can be a great time to head out to the John Day, Deschutes or other Eastern Columbia Tributaries.
We have been loving all of the Backcountry Skinz products. This short video illuminates the BC Skinz ethos, in the field. If you haven’t checked out the awesome non-wader, wading products from Backcountry Skinz, take a look at the links below the video.
Work on the Rewilding of the McKenzie River Basin:
Planned restoration projects for 2025 seem to have been productive. The Gate Creek Flood Plane Enhancement was largely completed, expanding on the work previously done at Finn Rock Reach on the McKenzie River. However, several key staff at the USFS either left or were fired as that agency adjusted to the priorities of the new administration. As most of the Upper McKenzie Basin is part of the Willamette National Forest, it is now unclear to what extent there will be needed federal participation in projects going forward. However, for 2026, there are plans to expand the flood plane restoration on the Lower South Fork towards Cougar Dam. At this point, it appears that funding will be available for this work. However, beyond 2026, the program will need to find new sources of funding to maintain the goals and expectations of the various partners in this basin-wide program.
I am currently working with the McKenzie Watershed Council and the McKenzie River Trust to identify promising sources of supplemental funding to provide ongoing support. The working premise is that there will be about a six-year period of unreliable federal support that will need to be “patched” with new sources of funding. The good news is that, in preliminary contacts with foundations that traditionally support conservation programs, they are well aware of this situation and intend to step up their participation as needed.
On a more positive note, the McKenzie River Trust continues to expand their holdings as landowners transfer basin properties to them. Of course, this process sets up an assessment of work that is needed to return the land to the services that meet the organization’s charter. This in turn stimulates project planning, including budgeting. Accordingly, the funding needs for basin programs increase and putting more pressure to resolve the funding issue described above.
The Status of Spring Chinook:
At this point in the year, the returns of ESA listed Spring Run Chinook Salmon at Willamette Falls were very close to their 5-year average. Data for salmon entering the McKenzie River at Leaburg Dam have not been released. However, it is expected that, given the efficiency of the Leaburg Dam sorting operation, only a small percent of hatchery origin salmon (HOR) will achieve the upper river to spawn. Last year the reported PHOS for the upper river was less than 5%.
However, the salmon spawning grounds below Leaburg Dam are extensive with a very high PHOS (>40%). For reasons that are not understood, HOR salmon moving up to Leaburg Dam seem to avoid the sorting operation and spawn below the dam. It is notable that if all spawning data are aggregated for both above and below the Leaburg Dam, the overall PHOS for Spring Chinook in the McKenzie River Basin is about 25%. This number is substantially above the recommended all-river PHOS (<5%) called for in the NMFS BiOp for this subbasin. In discussing this point with ODFW’s regional fishery biologist, Jeff Ziller, he opined that because the lower river (i.e., below Leaburg Dam) has warmer water, he did not expect that redds in that segment to be as productive as those above the dam. However, he offered no data to support that claim. NOAA’s 2024 5-year review (2024) of the status of listed salmon and steelhead in the Willamette Basin concluded that no progress has been made in the recovery of these listed species. ODFW seems to agree with this finding, but no party has committed to a serious process or program that might accomplish the purpose of the ESA listing.
Looking Forward:
The fate of the Leaburg Dam and bridge seems to be settled, in that the owner, EWEB has committed to decommissioning the Leaburg Power Station, it’s diversion canal and removing Leaburg Dam and the associated bridge. This system was put in place during the nineteen twenties and has provided electricity to the Eugene-Springfield area. The current move to remove the power station was spurred by a discovery of substantial instability in the canal used to divert water to the power station. This led to the decision to remove the entire system and the recognition that FERC would require dam removal as part of the decommissioning. Initial estimates of this project have been in the range of 20-30 million dollars. At present water previously diverted to the canal has ceased and is not expected to be reopened, even on a temporary basis. However, EWEB has recently notified their members that they expect to need about 5 years to assemble the relevant documents to submit to FERC as a petition to remove the project and that they expect to begin the physical removal process in 2032, with no estimate for completion.
Associated with these actions, the ACOE owned and operated McKenzie Hatchery is dewatered so that its only use is limited to recovering eggs from captured salmon and to caring for them until they hatch. Independently, the only other hatchery on the McKenzie River, the Leaburg Hatchery has suffered from increasing temperatures in its rearing ponds so that it now fails to meet the Oregon temperature standards for releasing water into rivers. Accordingly, fish are no longer reared and released from that hatchery. To further complicate these issues, ACOE seems to have taken the position that regardless of any commitments it may have made in prior mitigation agreements, now that they are being pressed to directly address issues of fish passage at their dams, the prior financial commitments are moot.
Fish Passage at Trail-Bridge Dam:
In the nineteen sixties EWEB developed a system of reservoirs and dams in the Upper McKenzie River Basin which they refer to as the Carmen-Smith Hydropower Project. The system provided several power stations and associated reservoirs, the lower segment ending at Trail-Bridge Dam and reservoir. The position of this dam acts as a barrier to listed Spring Chinook Salmon reaching spawning grounds above that dam. Also, a serious concern is the threat to the remaining isolates of endangered Bull Trout in the Western Cascades. By the time this species was recognized as highly endangered, its range was limited to small (>200 spawning fish) isolates above either Trail-Bridge or Cougar Dam in the McKenzie Sub-basin. As neither dam provided effective fish passage, efforts were made to reintroduce Bull Trout below Trail-Bridge Dam and above Hills Creek Dam on the Willamette River Middle Fork. At the time, it was assumed that fish passage improvements at the dams would support inter-connection of these populations and thus produce a more robust and sustainable population.
Downstream fish passage at Cougar Dam is a work in progress and an occasional Bull Trout passes down to the mainstem McKenzie River. However, their chances of moving back up to their natal spawning grounds are highly unlikely. In the case of the Carmen-Smith Project, when the FERC relicensing process was initiated in 2006, several conservation groups and ODFW pressed for the inclusion of fish passage to support Bull Trout and salmon spawning. After much back and forth, the license was renewed in 2016 with the specific inclusion that effective fish passage would be implemented at Trail-Bridge Dam, but exempting two dams higher up in the system.
Since then, and despite substantial prodding from the conservation community, EWEB has only implemented a pipe apparatus, large enough to hold a single fish attempting to move above the dam. By periodically checking this apparatus, the fish can, in principle, be captured and trucked above the dam and released in the above-dam reservoir. EWEB has provided no data on how many fish and of what species have been moved by this manner, but Jeff Ziller tells me that ODFW has assisted EWEB in moving “a couple of fish” above the dam. In 2024, a Bull Trout eDNA survey carried out by the McKenzie Flyfishers, and supported by the USFS and ODFW documented the current failure to expand the Western Cascade Range of these highly threatened fish.
How EWEB will respond to their obligation to provide effective fish passage is unclear. As noted earlier, they face substantial costs with the decommissioning of their Leaburg Power Station and associated dam. In response to the recent Federal Courts dismissal of the lawsuit regarding Trail-Bridge Dam fish passage, EWEB has simply announced the “We Won” with no explanation of the issues or the question of jurisdiction. In July they announced a new power contract for purchasing electricity from the Bonneville Power Administration (BPA) from 2028 when their existing contract ends and extending it for another 20 years. The ultimate cost of this contract extension is expected to be from 2.5 to 3.0 billion dollars; all of which will be passed on to rate-payers. This is not a fixed rate contract, but only specifies the number of kilowatts that are being purchased, so the cost of electricity could rise substantially in the future. It is interesting to note that BPA is providing at least 80% of the power needed by EWEB. Hence, the in-house capacity of EWEB to produce electricity at the Carmen-Smith Project is limited to backups in times of high demands or as should BPA power not be available. Currently, EWEB has not released a time-line or cost estimate for Trail-Bridge fish passage, but their board of directors were advised that the costs would likely be above 20-30 million dollars. Given the current commitments to Leaburg and the BPA, we can expect that EWEB will be motivated to delay the project as long as possible. Whether there will still be Bull Trout in the Upper McKenzie Basin by then is at best an open question.
Perhaps independent of all these issues, on September 18th, the EWEB CEO and General Manager, Frank Lawson, announced that he is retiring next year. The utility has initiated a search for a replacement.
In this video, Simon ties a fantastic Mahogany Dun nymph. These insects are often overshadowed by their more popular fall counterparts: Blue Winged Olives and the mighty October Caddis. These small mayflies can offer fantastic dry fly fishing if you catch their emergence. If you happen to miss the initial hatch, there generally is a phenomenal evening spinner fall much like the summer PMD/Sulphur hatch. By this time of year, trout are keyed in on feeding on their nymphs. This pattern effectively imitates Mahogany Dun nymphs. Its sheen below the vinyl rib is suggestive of a gas filled emerging nymph. This is exactly what experienced trout are searching for. This fly is a great fall searching nymph; tie some up and enjoy your next day on the water.
In partnership with McKenzie River Trust, Our local Trout Unlimited Chapter, Redsides will be volunteering at the special Green Island property on Saturday, Nov. 15th. Following the work, the property will remain open until 4 pm for exclusive fishing access to the Willamette River and the property’s pond. Please join us!
Join us for a day of willow harvest at Green Island, just outside of Coburg, Oregon, to support replanting efforts in the newly restored Quartz Creek! Quartz Creek, located near Blue River, Oregon, is a key tributary of the McKenzie River, benefiting native species like salmon, trout, lamprey, beavers, and more.
We will work in the morning and welcome people to stay to fish in the afternoon along the Willamette River or the island’s restored gravel pond to help remove non-native species such as largemouth bass and bluegill.
Work will take place from 9:00 am — 12:00 pm, with gates remaining open to fish until 4:00 pm. This event is geared towards the fishing community – please help spread the word and invite friends to join you! Registration is required to help us prepare tools and materials – Register HERE.
Willow has a strong root system that helps filter water, stabilize banks, and control erosion while providing shade and thicket to support nesting habitat and shelter for fish and wildlife. It is also an important food source for native pollinators, hummingbirds, and beavers.
The willow processed at this work party will go upriver for a community Willow Planting Party at Quartz Creek the following day. Willow will root right out of the stem when put into the ground. One long branch can be cut into several pieces, and each piece will sprout, so long as it is planted right side up. We hope to have at least 1,500 stems to plant, and we could use many hands to help make this possible!
You don’t need any experience; tools, gloves, and chairs will be provided. This activity can be done standing or seated. Some project pieces include bending, lifting, and walking on uneven ground.
Additional project details will be shared ahead of the event. Porta-potties and drinking water are available on site. Snacks and beverages will be provided! Please bring a lunch that meets your dietary needs if you plan to stay and fish.
Directions: Green Island is located at the confluence of the McKenzie and the Willamette Rivers and the property is reached via Green Island Road in Coburg, OR.
In this video, Simon ties a fantastic fall searching nymph pattern. October Caddis are a large species of caddisfly that hatches in many places out west. This is a hatch that both anglers and trout alike are excited for. The pupa emerge in lower light conditions and offer trout a large, vulnerable meal. Fish key in on their presence and there are several weeks each year where trout feed on October Caddis Pupa with reckless abandon. The rabbit making up the body compresses beautifully into an irresistible pupa. This fly works best dead drifted or swung mimicking a pupa adrift or ascending to hatch. Feel free to size this up or down. The bead size of this fly can also be adjusted for water conditions or depth. We like to carry these in a variety of bead sizes to accommodate different conditions.
Our group of 8 anglers flew to Manaus Brazil late August for a combination trip targeting Peacock Bass and Arapaima. The first seven days were spent on the Rio Marie fishing for Peacocks. The next four days/five nights would be spent in the Mamiraua Reserve at Pirarucu Lodge seeking 100+ pound Arapaima.
The Rio Marie River is home to some of the largest Peacock Bass in the world, and once again, it did not disappoint. Using 9wt rods with jungle clear tip lines we fished the dropping river’s lagoons and creek mouths with 3-8″ long streamers. The daily program is pretty simple, guides were given daily beats to insure you were fishing unmolested water. Anglers make accurate casts from stable aluminum skiffs all day long. The more times your fly is in stripped through cover and ambush zones the Peacock Bass inhabited, the more success you had.
Some exceptional fish were taken on our week. Fish over 20lbs are considered trophies and our group was lucky enough to find several.
Fly styles varied but 2/0 to 4/0 black and orange, and white and red flies that pushed water were consistent performers. Poppers in red and white were also effective. This trip is not just about big fish. Butterfly Peacock Bass are super plentiful and can be caught in numbers. Willing “Butterflies” are around 2-6lbs and are super hard fighting. No need to change flies for the smaller fish, they readily gobble up big and small flies.
On the last night of our stay we had a fantastic beach BBQ hosted by chef Leandro who has been with Untamed Angling for more than 10 years and his food was fantastic all week.
After a float plane ride from our floating accommodation on Rio Marie to Tefe, Brazil we took a fast boat approximately one hour to the Mamiraua Reserve and Pirarucu Lodge. Pirarucu means Arapaima in Portuguese. The Mamirauá Reserve is more than 1 million hectares, and was created to preserve Arapaima and their habitat. The area is renowned for its fantastic wildlife, with 427 species of mammals, 1,300 bird species, 378 species of reptiles, and more than 400 species of amphibians. Our cabins sat on floating logs in a wide spot in the river. Caymans and Arapaima rolled, swam and splashed 24 hours a day. Monkeys could be heard in the distance most of the time and innumerable bird species flew and called all day and most of the night. The place buzzed with life!
The water was extremely high for September, our guides were in week three of about a 14 week season. They had never seen the water this high! Pirarucu’s season starts in late August and finishes in November. This timeframe is chosen for low water! Which was not the case for our stay. Huge masses of grass floated down the river, trees were submerged 5-6ft underwater and there was no visible river bank. Fishing was tough but rewarding. With the high water fish were not concentrated and were able to feed literally inside the jungle. You could see and hear these monsters rolling 50 yards back in the jungle. Other species that are normally available to anglers such as Arawana and Tambaqui were also deep in the cover and we had no shot at those until the last day when the water had finally dropped enough in a few spots that the fish decided to come out to some degree.
Arapaima fishing is done with 10-12wt rods and sinking lines, on our week really fast sinking lines. Tippets range from 60-120lbs, the best lines were Sci Anglers Custom Cut Jungle sinking line and Sci Anglers clear Full Intermediate sinking line. Flies were massive 8/0 streamers in variety of colors, I don’t think pattern was vital, but hook quality definitely was. The fishing reminded me of tarpon fishing in many respects. Hooks sets, hook set success… strength of fish and how hard you need to pull to land the fish. On our week, we had extra challenges associated with the high water. Once hooked, nearly all the fish would race for the trees, controlling them early was key. Since there was no river bank available, we had to hoist fish into the boat to unhook, photograph and release them. No one was injured but I can definitely see how a tail slap could be a problem with these super strong fish.
Fly fishing in the Amazon Basin is absolutely incredible. Not only are the fish super exciting to catch but the place itself is really something to behold. If you are interested in booking this trip or need advice on what to bring and what to expect please feel free to contact travel@caddisflyshop.com.
Late in the summer and early fall is when several caddisfly species make their emergence out West. As the weeks tick on by, we find more species of caddisflies in our stream side vegetation. In this video, Simon ties up a great caddis searching pattern that will work as a great choice among the several hatching species of caddis. This pattern is fished well in the afternoon into the evening when the insects are most active. It also makes a fantastic searching pattern on smaller streams. It is buoyant, and visible making it a great choice as trout put on the feed bag before dark. The Fulling Mill Ultra Dry Yarn for the underwing aids in buoyancy, and the tuft in pink makes the fly especially visible when light is low. The chenille on the rear serves as a target point, helping this fly mimic ovipositing female caddisflies. These were deliberate choices in the fly’s design to create a caddis pattern that delivers for their evening activity. Typically, October Caddis steal the show in the fall, but you mustn’t overlook the several types of smaller caddis species that make their emergence during late summer/ early fall. This is a pattern that effectively imitates several of these species, and is responsible for bringing eager trout to the surface. Feel free to size this up or down, or tweak colors depending on your fisheries needs.
In this video, Simon ties a simple, but effective ant pattern. As summer progresses into fall, ants become more and more of a staple in trout’s diets. This is especially pertinent on small streams, spring creeks, and high alpine lakes. On small streams, terrestrial insects make up over 50% of a trouts diet in the summer. This means ants are on the menu, the brusher the banks and the more narrow the stream, the more important land based insects are to sustaining these trouts. On alpine lakes, ants are notoriously on the menu for trout. This is especially true for lakes with significant amounts of dead and downed logs on the banks. These are hot spots for terrestrials, and often trout hold near this structure and pick off ants that end up in the water. This ant is simple, buoyant, and uses few materials. It casts a realistic profile in the water featuring three body segments. It is small so feel free to add some Fulling Mill Ultra Dry Yarn in Pink or Orange or Montana Fly Co Widows Web in bright color for visibility. If you want to add a hi-vis spot after the fact, the Scientific Anglers Indicator Markers work great for on-the-go visibility. Feel free to size this up or down, tying it up in brown for a cinnamon ant would be great too!
In this video, Simon shares a great terrestrial pattern he developed with dry dropper setups in mind. This pattern was born out of a need for a small, buoyant dry fly that could suspend a tungsten nymph below it. When developing the fly, Simon knew he couldn’t put any dubbing on it. This decision was deliberately made to maximize buoyancy. The Creek Surveyor is tied on a Klinkhammer style hook, which is often suggestive of an emerging or injured insect. This fly’s construction allows it to float high because of the foam and large Widow’s Web wing. The foundation of the fly being tied on a Klinkhammer style hook drops the abdomen of the terrestrial into the water. This is suggestive of not only a struggling insect, but a sinking one. This will make this fly even more irresistible to the discerning trout. Simon has tested this fly extensively on our local freestone streams, as well as the Midwest’s Driftless Area’s spring creeks. It is certainly one you want to tie up while the terrestrials are still happening.
We are nearing the end of the dreaded summer period where things are a bit too hot for a trout’s liking. Hot air and water temperatures reduce waters efficacy at holding oxygen, this in turn produces both stressed and lethargic trout. Pair that with a natural lull in aquatic insect hatches, and you’ve likely got a trout’s least favorite time of year. The good news is there is hope on the horizon, and many of you likely felt it the last few days of cooler more Fall like weather. As the days and weeks tick on, our fall hatches begin to ramp up, living conditions improve for trout, rivers become a little bit less crowded, and for many of us we enter our favorite time of year for trout fishing. This last hoorah for summer is great time to do some bushwhacking and get off the beaten path. Many easy to access places have been being hammered all summer, and it pays off to do some walking.
Aquatic insect hatches are sparse, but not for long. Soon our rivers will be popping with Nocturnal (Shortwing) Stones, Baetis species (Blue Winged Olives, BWOs, Olives), Mahogany Duns, a few other assorted small Caddis species, and everyone’s favorite the “Great Autumn Brown Sedge” or October Caddis. Despite the current lack of the insects just listed above, there still are plenty of options for trout to eat; they just appear in less predictable “hatch-windows” as they are the plethora of terrestrial or land based insects. For those who don’t know, these include Grasshoppers, Beetles, Ants, Crickets, and other land based insects that end up in the water. Especially as fall weather moves in and mornings cool off, the terrestrials are slow to wake just like us on a chilly morning. Late morning or early afternoon on a windy day near brushy banks is a great way to fish terrestrials.
The lower to middle portion of our Mckenzie and Middle Fork Wilamette rivers have taken the brunt of the summer heat. These rivers spread out wide and there is less riparian tree cover to provide shade on the river. These areas are also the furthest away from the cold springs which feed our rivers. That being said, working your way upriver and fishing our smaller tributaries this time of year is advantageous. Carrying a thermometer is a good idea this time of year. Many of us run the Digital River Keeper Thermometer from Fishpond. This thermometer can be clipped to your boot lace or onto your net for quick, accurate measurements. It is widely regarded to stop fishing at temps above 68 degrees. I personally start moving for cooler water around 65 or before for the trouts well being, and fishing in warmer water is generally more work with less fish. This time of year, finding appropriate temperatures is always easier closer to our rivers’ headwaters and in their tributaries. Another option for late summer which can be hot is to head to our many high lakes. Especially with things cooling off there are countless hike in lakes that will reward you with hours of dry fly fishing. Fishing our smaller high lakes is enhanced with a small personal float tube, which can be hiked in with on your back or pumped up at the lake.
The bulk of our searching this time of year is with a dry dropper setup. It allows you to search the surface with a large, bushy, and buoyant dry and probe the depths with a nymph simultaneously. On especially hot days, the dry fly can be ignored, especially in the middle to rear of a run. In this slower water there is less oxygen and lethargic fish that are less apt to surface. On hot days, look for dry fly eaters in rifles and the heads of runs where there oxygen content is significantly higher than in slower moving water. If dry fly fishing is slow, especially durning the middle of the day, I will do the best with a double nymph rig under an Oros Indicator. When fishing the terrestrials on rivers and streams, guide your attention to prime lies that have natural debris and overgrown brushy banks. On our high lakes it is wise to guide your attention to similar brushy banks or the wood structure in the shallows and fish ants or throw small streamers near the snags. As our terrestrials ramp up most of the action is in the evenings when it is cool, keep your eyes peeled for an additional report on how to approach the several hatches coming up in the coming weeks
This time of year your dry dropper setup can look all sorts of ways. If you’re on the mainstem Mckenzie or Willamette it will likely consist of a large chubby with a heavy nymph below. On small streams it may be a small chubby or hopper with a lighter nymph below. For our high lakes it may look like an ant with an unweighted pheasant tail or Chironomid tagged below. If you are only running nymphs below it is to your advantage to be running fluorocarbon tippet. Mono affords some versatility and you can swap your nymph dropper for an additional small dry such as a mahogany or small caddis. This level of versatility becomes more important in a few weeks. I have been experimenting with the Dropper Rig Fly Box and have been pleased with my ability to quickly change out rigs without retying. Here are some suggestions for large buoyant dries for your rig: Chubby Chernobyl, Craven’s Big Fat Angie, Montana Fly Company Water Walker, Double Stack Chubby Chernobyl Fly, Burkus Bearback Rider Stone, or for smaller creeks a Hi-Vis Micro Chubby Chernobyl. Here are some hot nymphs that we have been running below: Jigged Possie Bugger, Jig Sexy Walt’s Worm, Jigged Duracell Nymph, Jigged Frenchie, Jim Sen’s Improved Jigged 20 Incher, or a Loren’s Stud.
We have been using Scientific Anglers Indicator Markers for a while now. These markers work great for Euro setups marking your leader. This last winter I experimented using them to help keep track of my small Blue Winged Olives and they worked great. I’ve also used these markers to add notches for my streamer fishing too. This summer I’ve experimented with using these markers to mark actual dry flies. Especially this time of year, we fish our flies in turbulent water where there is more oxygen. This makes it hard to track a white winged chubby, especially for my nearsighted eyes. I have been marking Chubbies, Hoppers, and small flies on their wing or post and am pleased with how these markers instantly turn any fly into a hi-vis one.
This time of year is when getting off the beaten path really helps. It also is the last hoorah to explore new water before the weather goes south for the fall. Many of our easy to access places have been hammered all summer and the fish are ready for a break. Many of our favorite floats are just getting better and better as things cool off into the fall. If you need any help with gear, flies, or looking for a spot to explore, swing by the shop, we are happy to help.
Keep your eyes peeled for a supplemental post regarding fall hatches in the coming weeks.
Despite marginal returns summer steelhead fishing the last few weeks has been just good enough to keep anglers interested. Compared to last year, we have about a quarter as many fish in the Willamette Valley which translates to about a tenth the amount of pressure. Water temps this year, at least on the Willamette, have been much colder than last year and water levels have been superb for fly angling unlike the high flows experienced last summer. Not going to lie and say I have had many, multi fish days like last but anglers who know where steelhead sit are catching fish every couple of outings on the Willamette and the McKenzie. The cooler, fall weather coming up should help keep “the bite” steady till early November.
Steelhead road trip options abound in the fall. We have gotten decent reports from the upper Rogue. Excitement may have petered out a bit on the Deschutes, but we have heard of many productive trips. A peep or two has come out of the North Umpqua despite poor returns. Conditions were excellent when I went down there in early august, overcast with water temps at 58 degrees! As we head later into fall Columbia tributaries like the Klickitat, John Day and Grande Ronde should be worthwhile road trips. If you are feeling adventurous, after our first fall rain try to figure out where this classic video by Todd Moen was filmed.
Some great steelhead flies to be throwing currently follow: RIO’s Coo Coo for Cocoa Puff’s, Hoh Bo SpeyChou’s, Mooshoo Muddler, Moal Leech, Anderson’s Euphoria, or a Mack’s Canyon. Carrying an array of sinking tips will allow you to cover many types of water. We are especially excited for the new Rio MDC Sink Tips which feature a progressive sink design aimed at keeping your fly in the zone for longer. Through the fall I keep it simple and continue to fish 10 feet of T8 or a 5/5 T8 on most of my Skagit lines. The new MDC Sink Tips from RIO pair well with the remade RIO Elite Scandi Body, a versatile unique head. The MDC tips can be fished with Skagit heads as well. Great straightforward Skagit lines like the RIO Elite Skagit Max Power or *Airflo Superflo Max Skagit continue to excel. The Airflo Superflo Max Rage Compact is my favorite fishing Scandi line for Oregon because most the rivers I fish tend to get a bit windy. For a more a classic Scandi line the RIO Scandi Launch. Fall is a fun and productive time to try to get some surface bites or swing smaller flies.
Our coastal Coho run looks excellent and opens in about a week in most places. Most of the time they are a lot easier to catch on flies than Chinook. I am inexperienced in fishing for them in tidewater but I’m sure it will be productive for those who put their time in. Once the fall rains hit, they will move upriver or uplake and become easier to target. In terms of Valley Coho the Clackamas should have the notoriously stingy A-runs in anytime now. The Santiams should follow a in few weeks. Make sure to check the ODFW regulations and updates on their website. When it comes to salmon angling there are lower river deadlines and some deadlines change within season. Look out for a more in depth how to on Oregon Salmon Fly Fishing in a couple weeks.
We are thrilled to invite you and the community to the 2025 Southern Oregon Fly Tying and Fishing Expo, hosted by Fly Fishing Veterans! This exciting, family-friendly event is dedicated to celebrating the art of fly tying and fly casting skills while honoring veterans and welcoming anglers of all skill levels.
The Expo will take place on Saturday, October 25, 2025, at the Winston Community Center, 440 S.E. Grape Ave., Winston, Oregon from 9am to 5pm.
Highlights of the event include live fly tying and fly casting demonstrations, beginner fly tying and fly casting lessons, raffles, silent auctions, and the chance to connect with industry and community exhibitors. A special feature will be the “Quilts of Valor” presentation, a moving ceremony honoring veterans with handmade quilts as a token of gratitude for their service.
As Doug Myers, Director of Fly Fishing Veterans, states, “This event is about more than fly tying and casting — it’s about bringing people together. Whether you’re a veteran, a beginner, or a lifelong angler, you’ll find something here to inspire you”.
Veterans receive free admission; food and refreshments will be available for purchase by all attendees.
There are so many threats to freshwater fisheries in the United States and Canada, and how anglers perceive these threats is important for conservation, management, policy, grassroots movement, industry engagement, etc.
With that, the Danylchuk lab is conducting a MASSIVE ANGLER SURVEY to get a sense of what they are seeing on their home waters, as well as what they feel are solutions for making their fishing experience better. The survey has an option for anglers and guides.
Evan Prasky (copied) is the PhD student leading the survey and has created a novel backend method that will allow us to examine regional differences, differences by target species, gear types, and more.
This is a HUGE and IMPORTANT endeavor….and…….
WE NEED YOUR HELP SHARING THE SURVEY
WHEN: Official launch date Monday, July 28, 2025, and the survey closes Monday, November 24, 2025, at midnight EST.
HOW: Use social media, websites, word of mouth, etc. We need to encourage as many freshwater anglers in the US and Canada as possible to take this survey. It doesn’t matter what gear type, species, or habitat they fish in – they all matter!
Thanks for taking the time to help gather data to protect our fisheries!
In this video, Simon ties a fantastic caddis pupa pattern. Caddisflies are among the most widely distributed family of aquatic insects in the world. It is no surprise that in many places around the world, caddisflies make wonderful searching patterns. The pupal stage of caddis is their most vulnerable state. This stage which sits between larvae or nymph, and winged adult renders the pupa helpless on its journey from the river bottom to the surface. The beauty of a good caddis pupa pattern lies in its versatility. This fly can be dead drifted or swung. Another hallmark of a great fly is in its simplicity to tie. This fly utilizes some great materials from our friends at Fulling Mill; most notably their: Super Suede Micro Chenille, Flat 70D Thread , 5045 Jig Force Hook, Slotted Bead, and Tactical Microflash Dub. A turn of Starling, which is perfectly sized for smaller flies, gives the fly an enticing collar. This fly can be tied up quickly and can withstand the beating that a good fly takes. Feel free to tweak colors and sizes, but this fly is one you certainly want to have in your box.
