Salmon fishing on the Oregon coast continues to be good. I took a couple of friends to the river this week and they managed to find themselves hooked up several times. These guys left me skunked as they hooked big, bright fish just in from the ocean.
One of the secrets of salmon fishing with a fly? Sometimes Pacific salmon like blue! Check out how to tie and fish Jay’s unweighted, short-shank comet.
Jay Nicholas ties a classic West Coast salmon pattern, the Ramone Salmon Killer. You can vary how much material you use with your flies — fuller in high muddy water, sparser in low clear conditions. Jay’s variation uses flat braid for half of the body, and the traditional version uses a full chenille body.
Ramone Salmon Killer
Hook: Daiichi 2141 1,2,4
Thread: Lagartaun X-Strong 150 Denier Black
Tail: Hot Orange Bucktail
Body: Rear body Gold Holographic Lagartun mini flat braid
Front Body: Med Black Chenille
Collar Hackle: Hot Orange Saddle
Eyes: Gold Bead Chain
Artists4action is a non-profit group that hopes to convince artists and their audiences to speak up for environmental action. The group is currently focused on Pacific Salmon and just hosted a benefit show with The Sugar Beets last weekend. Executive Director Cat Koehn came out to our last TU meeting to solicit folks to show up Thursday November 18th at 6:30 in the Tykeson Room at the Library downtown. The organization hopes to hear from anglers on how to focus its efforts to protect endangered salmonids in the Northwest.
Looking over at my desk right now, I have pieces of schlappen, craft fur, and Ice Wing Fiber getting sucked into my laptop air intake. There are UV yarn glo-bugs mixed into my medical bills. I can’t find my checkbook, but can show you the pile of articulated winter steelhead patterns I tied over the last few days. I have my vise out during conference calls. Things are taking a turn for the worse.
Stick around any saltwater destination long enough and those beautiful blue skies and mild wind will turn to dark clouds and 20-35 knot winds. It’s just the nature of the beast. Our first 8 days in the Bahamas, the weather was amazing. Gorgeous caribbean blues that change with the tide throughout the day. Sunrises and sunsets that included moon stars and sun all in the same sky all at the same time! Enough breeze to keep the “no seem-ums” down and the “doctor flies” at bay. Fishing was good to. Great spotting conditions gave us plenty of time to position our casts to avoid spooking the ever wary bonefish.
A sparse clouser minnow with a little bit of flash, and a little gray will work on pressured fish in clear water. When the Elk and Sixes on the South coast get low and clear this is a good one to have in the box.–CD
Winter trouting, or as some call it the “second season” is approaching. Midges, Beatis, and a heavy dose of nymphing are the play December and January. For now the Middle Fork of the Willamette from Hills Creek down to Lookout Point Reservoir remains in good shape with water temperatures in the low fifties. The standard hopper dropper set-up has been productive as well as dedicated nymph rigs. As long as the water levels hold the Middle Fork will fish this Fall/Winter.
Two radical trailers to watch. In the first, check out ODFW Fisheries Honcho Ed Bowles going after the Lower Snake River dams. In the second, just a beautifully shot trailer of the 2010 Drake “Film of the Year”.
The Greatest Migration Teaser from Epicocity Project on Vimeo.
Last summer, Caddis Fly employee Jason Cichy stumbled onto Bigfoot in one of our blog videos. What appeared to be two large hominids were recorded walking around in the frame. Clay Holloway reported the sighting to the Bigfoot Field Researchers Organization, and the video you see here is the on-site scientific analysis of the scene, as well as documentation of bigfoot prints found in the side yard of Ike’s Pizza.
What is Trout Unlimited? I can give a pretty straightforward answer: A national conservation organization advocating for conserving, protecting and restoring North America’s coldwater fisheries and their watersheds. The org is 140,000 members strong and has been around for over fifty years. I actually signed up for TU in elementary school because I liked the copy of Trout Magazine I found in the library.
But somehow in the Pacific Northwest, TU’s identity isn’t quite as clear.
Jay says he has often caught chinook salmon in the estuaries that have small gray shrimp in their bellies. This shrimp fly is designed to imitate those forage critters.
Jay Nicholas’s Elk River Estuary Shrimp
Hook: TMC 811S Saltwater Fly Tying Hook #4
Thread: Lagartaun X-Strong 150 Denier Black
Eyes: EP Crustacean Eyes Crab + Shrimp Med or Large
Tail: Gray Bucktail, UV Gray Krystal Flash
Body: Hareline Plus Adams Gray+ Ice Dub UV Gray
Hackle/Feelers: Grizzly Saddle Hackle
Jay Nicholas demonstrates how to tie another salmon pattern. Surf or estuary this pattern can be a killer “mini baitfish” pattern for fresh Chinook or Coho salmon.–CD
Jay Nicholas’s Chinook Salmon Surf Fly
Hook: Gamakatsu SL12S
Thread: White Lagartun X-Strong 150 D
Belly: White Bucktail
Wing: Chartreuse Bucktail, Krystal Flash UV Tan, Herring Back, Pink Bucktail, Blue Bucktail,
Eyes: Adhesive Eyes
Glue: 5 minute epoxy, Micro Brushes
At this month’s Trout Unlimited meeting, we’re hosting some employees from TU’s national organization to do some focus group work to help TU develop new ideas for the future.
When: Wednesday, November 10th 7pm
Where: Our new meeting location, upstairs at the Vet’s Club, 1626 Willamette St. Eugene.
Early November is prime time for chum salmon (Oncorhynchus keta) in Oregon. According to ODFW, Oregon’s Coastal Chum population is comprised of 13 historical populations. Eight populations continue to exist, two are presumed to be extinct, and three are extinct. Here is ODFW’s document on Chum salmon distribution. Second in size to only Chinook Salmon, Chums are aggressive, toothy fighters. But they’re very habitat sensitive, as they are limited to the lower sections of coastal rivers.
Here are some photos from a recent party with our chums.
