Caddis Fly Shop: Oregon Fly Fishing Blog

William and Joseph Tech Jacket gear review.

Posted on November 12, 2008 by Caddisfly

The William and Joseph Tech jacket stuffs under the boat seat and fits in the back of your vest. The Tech Jacket offers waterproof breath-ability for under $60. William and Joseph has produced two or three versions of this lightweight packable jacket. The 2008-2009 model is by far the best yet. The jacket packs down smaller than a football and weighs 5 ounces, it has taped seems, two chest pockets, two side/hand pockets and a hood.

The Tech Jacket is not the coat you take to Alaska or B.C when you need a bomb proof, heavy duty rain jacket. But it’s size, weight and “waterproofness” make it a great coat for your fishing bag or vest. You may run into the odd squall spring or fall when fishing your favorite local water and this coat could save the day. If you are travelling to warmer climates this jacket serves to block wind on the boat ride out to the fishing grounds or flat out keep you dry in a rain shower. For $60 the William and Joseph Tech jacket is well worth owning.

Posted in Fly Fishing Gear Review | 1 Comment

Steelhead fishing on the John Day: Beginner’s Luck

Posted on November 10, 2008 by Oregon Fly Fishing Blog

This weekend, my brother Nate, Ethan Nickel and I fished the lower John Day river, above Tumwater Falls for late running summer steelhead. None of us had experience fishing the John Day, but the promise of big, wild steelhead made it worth a try.

The John Day is a small river, when compared to its Central Oregon counterpart the Deschutes. The John Day was running at 450 CFS over the weekend and the Descutes was about ten times that. The John Day is also slow — maddeningly slow.

This slowness tripped us up. Day one we were fishing what we considered prime steelhead water: Good current in a chute or drop-off. We swung traditional steelhead flies, tried leeches and even nymphed these likely spots for about 8 hours straight, while a few bait guys dropped the hammer on steelhead around us.

Day two we broke the code — switched to full-time nymphing in the slow, froggy, deep pools. Big wild steelhead stacked up in this slow moving water, and we worked each spot with nymph rigs and indicators. The hot fly of the trip was a size 12 prince nymph. Ethan (a full-time steelhead guide) put me and Nate to shame. I won’t talk numbers, but you can probably tell from the photos who had the most hookups.

Nate and Ethan are staying on in Central Oregon this week, fishing the Deschutes. We should have a report from that trip later this week.
-MS

Posted in Central Oregon Fishing Report, Fishing Porn, Summer Steelhead | 3 Comments

Family fun in the Bahamas

Posted on November 8, 2008 by Caddisfly

The weather has been vastly better than our previous week. Clear skies light winds and good tides, you really can’t ask for much more. The kids have been spending time on the beach and Ron Mosher’s son who’s only 8 has been spending some time hunting down Bonefish. The proximity of our rental house allows for fishing, beaching, boating, golfing and the list goes on. Abaco Palms is a great family getaway with angler motives in mind.

Damsel Fliesmember Joan Mcreery who spends much of her winter in the Bahamas nearby came by and fished with Darla Mosher. The had an excellent day. Our guide Robin Lowe holds one of Joan’s many fish for the day in the photo below.

One of our neighbors brought down some local culinary delights, spicy mac and stuffed lobster.

Posted in Fly Fishing Travel | Leave a comment

Gear Review: Cloudveil 8X Wading Boots

Posted on November 7, 2008 by Caddisfly

Like any gear, one pair of boots just isn’t suitable for all applications. I love my Simms G3 wading boots for fishing from the boat or bank but as soon as I hefted them, I dreaded the thought of carrying them into the woods on my back. About 10 times a year I do some remote, hike-in, wish I could just get it over with and lay down and die on the hike out salmon and steelhead fishing. For good fun like that that I need something light. Enter the Cloudveil 8X Wading Boot:

These things are featherweights. If you are down at the shop go ahead and feel the difference–each Cloudveil 8x wading boot is over one pound lighter than my Simms. Recently, I packed these boots into a rugged back country canyon to do some salmon fishing and was pleased with their performance.

Pros:

Light. This was the main reason I purchased these boots. I was thinking about how much better they would feel in my pack. What I didn’t anticipate was how much I enjoyed lugging around less weight on my feet while wearing them. Big points.

Sturdy. The canvas part of these boots is cross braced and they are surprisingly stable for their weight. The synthethic materials also provide a level of stability that you won’t find in lightweight canvas boots.

Sticky. The felt did its job.

Comfortable. Even on the first trip.

Cons:

Small Loops. The loops used to pull the boots on are just too small. They might be the perfect size if only my woman was waiting at the bottom of the canyon to pull my boots on for me. Alas, she was not . . . and never will be.

Lace Guards. These boots have a lace guard that requires hooking built-in gravel guards off-kilter just a wee bit. That upset my sense of order.

Bulk. They are not as collapsible as would be ideal. Of course, if they were they would be less stable. I’ll take the trade.

The Bottom Line: The Cloudveil 8x wading boots are solid kicks for a fair price and almost ideal for the application I described. I’d recommend them to anyone who needs boots for hike-in fishing or someone who just prefers feeling light on their feet while wading.–KM

Posted in Fly Fishing Gear Review | Leave a comment

Coastal salmon fishing heats up as Oregon cools off

Posted on November 6, 2008 by Oregon Fly Fishing Blog

Coastal salmon are making the run from the surf to the rainforest. Keep an eye on the river levels and go out and get ’em. Solid fly patterns for salmon include Clouser Minnows, Comets and glo-bugs.

Nic Callero from the NWF and Nate had a big day Wednesday.

Water levels are on the rise, but may start to flatten out this weekend.

Posted in Fishing Porn, Oregon Salmon fly fishing | 2 Comments

Bahamas log election day

Posted on November 5, 2008 by Caddisfly

Our stay at Abaco Palms has been fantastic. We’ve had a mixed bag of weather but today the sun was on the beach as well as the bonefish flats. It was an excellent day all around.

Ron Mosher Ex Officio, Bauer and Mt. Khakis sales rep brought his family down from Seattle bringing good weather and fishing with him.

Fishing was really good most of the day. We had winds 10-15 mph and clear skies. The fish were spooky at times but they were active enough that I switched my tippet up to 20lbs flourocarbon and tied two flies on one leader in an attempt to catch two fish on one leader. My attempt failed but the fact that the fish had no problem with the 20lbs and the two flies plopping down in front of them was a testament to how good the fishing can me in the Marls of Abaco. You can see the rubber fly tail in the mouth of the fish in the photo, basically a crazy charlie with a rubber fly tail. The “curly tail charlie” and a Barrett’s “Four Eyed Pink Charlie were deadly.-CD

Posted in Fishing Porn, Fly Fishing Travel | Leave a comment

Fishing Links: Election mania, salmon-fest

Posted on November 4, 2008 by Oregon Fly Fishing Blog

Some election day offerings and more…

Monster Chinook in Sacramento River
A fish estimated at 85lb was found dead by a survey crew on the Sacramento River, according to a recent iFish report. Siskiyou Daily News covered the story.

Moldy Chum endorses Jeff Merkley
Moldy Chum posted a YouTube video, linking up Gordon Smith to the Klamath River salmon kill of 2002. His opponent, Jeff Merkley is one of the only politicians in the Pacific Northwest willing to at least consider breaching the Lower Snake River dams.

Speaking of the Lower Snake River Dams…
Retired ODFW fisheries director Jim Martin came out swinging against an Oregonian editorial soundbite touting a new study comparing British Columbia’s undammed Fraser River to the Columbia system. The Oregonian jumped on a press release (that was rejected by the study’s authors and eventually pulled) that implied “Dams make no dam difference” to salmon survival. And Martin is calling them out. 140 miles of slow, steadily warming reservoirs interspersed with four large bank-to-bank dams, whose presence leads most migrating salmon to be sluiced into crowded, mixed-species barges and trucks for their downstream journey, sounds like managing to extinction to me.

Online Fly Fishing mags rule
There is a brand new issue of Catch magazine online. You owe it to yourself to check this out. Amazing fly fishing photography. Also, be sure to check out Fly Fishing Life magazine.

Drift comes to Oregon, but not Eugene
Oregon Trout is hosting showings of the new fly fishing film Drift (from Confluence Films) in Portland and Bend next week. They’re not coming to Eugene (*Thanks jerks… just kidding. Ok, we’re not kidding).

How long should Gore-Tex waders last?
Now here’s a touchy question. The guys at FlyTalk asked readers how long Gore-Tex waders should last. Deeter can squeak two years out of his, and I’d say that corresponds with my timeline. But if you treat your gear like crap and fish 100 days a year, what do you expect? Are you taking the extra five minutes after a 12 hour fishing day to air your waders out and hang them up, or does your gear smell like foot-rot mildew and stay wet for months at a time?

Posted in Oregon fly fishing links | 3 Comments

Fly fishing for salmon in the surf zone

Posted on November 3, 2008 by Oregon Fly Fishing Blog

November is salmon season on the Oregon Coast. Rain falls, the rivers rise and break through to the Pacific Ocean. Salmon surge in on incoming tides, riding the surf into the tidal estuaries of their birth.

Last weekend, my brother Nate, Nick Symmonds (yep, that Nick Symmonds) and I decided to host a homecoming party for our salmonid friends.

We headed out onto the beach in the morning with huge swells and an incoming tide. The river mouth was packed with fishermen. Chrome Chinook salmon were scooting over the bar in pods of four to five fish at a time.

As the tide came in, more fish pushed through and staged in a backwater eddy just inside the mouth of the river. The tide also pushed out the majority of fishermen, who’d decided to drive to the mouth of the river (instead of hiking in like we had) and had to leave before the ocean swallowed up their rigs.

As the water came up around us, we cast into the slower water inside the bar with small comet fly patterns. Barrett (of Caddis Fly Tying Fame) gave us the low-down on size and color schemes. A short shank size 2 hook, small beadchain eyes, tied in orange and white, chartreuse and black, and blue and white are effective fly patterns for Chinook salmon entering the rivers.

Nate hooked up with a jack (a small two-year old salmon) and quickly brought it in. Then five minutes later he hooked into a real hot fish. His rod exploded as the salmon ripped through all of his fly line and into the backing. Nate was sprinting down the beach after it when it jumped in the air and broke free.

Based on a glimpse of the fish flying in midair, at a couple hundred yards away, I’d call it 25lbs.

Soon after that we lost what little high ground we had left and surging waves were practically pushing us into the pool. With a two more hours of high tide yet to come in, we were forced to retreat.

Posted in Oregon Salmon fly fishing, Oregon Saltwater Fishing | Leave a comment

Bahamas trip log continued

Posted on November 3, 2008 by Caddisfly

Nasty weather came in for us this past Thursday and Friday. Thursday we managed a few fish and Friday was blowing 35 mph all day with clouds we didn’t make it to the water at all. We did go trick or treating though. I should have taken more photos but trust me pirates were the theme. Cash was a shark and Patsy a princess.

Saturday improved greatly in terms of visibility. We still had wind but the sun was shining and bonefish could be spotted. Frequently you were casting up wind into shallow water. Cruising fish were often willing to grab the Pink Mini Puff, a favorite fly on Abaco.

Sunday I ran to the airport were my rod tube was supposed to have shown up. Of course no one at the Continental Connection desk had any idea about were my bag was, or who I was, or how to look up my claim, which was now a week old. In fact all the computers were down as well as all the phones. The chick at the desk did manage to order herself breakfast on her cell phone while I was standing there waiting for her to find me another form to fill out.

All week we had been calling Continental Airlines trying to find out what had happened. The story of the lost rod tube is this; as I am boarding the plane the same desk clerk who had just checked us in, and all our bags to Marsh Harbor Bahamas says, “I can gate check that for you” like she is trying to help us. Now “gate check” to me means you pick up your bag when you get off the plane right at the door. With all the wheel chairs and strollers etc.. But what the clerk does, (the same one that just checked us in to the Bahamas) is puts a Oaxaca Mexico Bag Tag on my bag and sends it on the plane. So most of my luggage is on the right track but the rods are going to central Mexico, come on! In addition the clerk does not give me a claim ticket, she says, “I will take care of it for you”. During our travels to the Bahamas we stop in Houston and in West Palm, I am nervous about my bag because it wasn’t at the door in Houston the first stop after Portland. I check with baggage claim in Houston and with Continental and of course they assure me my rod tube has been checked through to my final destination. At that point I am hopeful but nervous. I don’t find out about the Mexico tag for several days, talking to literally 17 different people on the phone, relaying the story and the description of the bag at least as many times.

Finally this Sunday while the chick at the desk is ordering her bacon an eggs I ask the Pilot who has just come in on a small Continental plane if he brought any luggage, he says yes just a few pieces. I get him to take me to customs and baggage claim which are the same room, were I’ve been already on several occasions and I find my rod tube. I have to give the folks in Mexico some credit for sending the thing back through the system I fully expected all my rods to be on eBay.-CD

Posted in Fishing Porn, Fly Fishing Travel | Leave a comment

Saltwater Sharkskin fly line gear review

Posted on November 2, 2008 by Caddisfly

Like the freshwater sharkskin line the saltwater version casts very well. It’s micro-textured surface jumps through the guides with little surface area of the line actually touching your guides. It differs from the freshwater version in it’s core, a stiffer braided mono-filament core that performs great in warmer temperatures. After fishing the line for five straight days and cleaning it once with Scientific Angler line cleaner the line has performed fantastically. Most notably the line has avoided tangles and coils almost entirely. We have had zero problems with line laying flat on the bow of the boat or a knot trying to make it’s way through the guides on a bonefish run.

Benefits

* Taper designed for longer saltwater casts

* Great shootability

* exact stiffness avoiding tangles

* small welded loop making leader to line connections easy

*excellent floatation

*high vis yellow

Negatives

*sand paper like sound

*rougher on your hands than a typical fly line

I highly recomend this line for any warm water saltwater fly fishing-CD

Pick up your Saltwater Sharkskin line at CaddisFlyShop.com.

Posted in Fly Fishing Gear Review | 3 Comments

Wild and Scenic Rogue float, fly fishing for half-pounders

Posted on October 31, 2008 by Oregon Fly Fishing Blog

One of the benefits of working at a fly shop is being able to take advantage of fishing opportunities when they arise. When I was asked by Andy McWilliams to join his group on the Wild and Scenic Section of the Rogue, I knew it was going to be too good to pass up. The weather and the accommodations were wonderful and the fishing did not disappoint.

Over the three day float we covered from Grave’s Creek to Foster Bar staying at Black Bar Lodge and Paradise Lodge. The days consisted of fishing for “half-pounders”, eating blackened steak shore lunch, and negotiating some very tricky rapids (thanks Steve). During the evening we enjoyed fish stories, good food, and the ability to unwind (even take a shower!).

The hot flies were: Copper Bob, Mega Prince, and The Rogue Stone. While the group did well on “half-pounders” only one adult steelhead was hooked and lost in the rapids. We also noticed some salmon in the front half of our trip, the numbers thinned out as we closed in on the ocean. Overall it was a great trip, but one that should be taken with people who know how to do it!

-NS

Posted in Southern Oregon | 4 Comments

Weather improves in the Bahamas, so does the fishing

Posted on October 30, 2008 by Caddisfly

Saltwater fly fishing trips can be completely wrecked with bad weather. On the other hand when things clear off, suddenly the flats are illuminated and you can see fish 150 yds away. We had a great day yesterday after the cool morning gave way to a light breeze and bright conditions. We were in fish most of the afternoon.-CD

Posted in Fishing Porn, Fly Fishing Travel | Leave a comment

Bahamas log continued

Posted on October 30, 2008 by Caddisfly

Day two and three brought clear weather but severe northeast wind. Our Bahamian guides call this a cold front but the 75-84 degrees feels pretty good. We spent most of day two collecting supplies at Marsh Harbor grocery stores and making calls to Continental Airlines regarding the lost rod tube. Around 4:30pm we walked down the beach from our house to a near shore flat and an incoming tide. The fish are in shallow water and willing, an excellent quality in a fish.

The hunting of bonefish, along with the anticipation of hooking a sighted fish is difficult to replicate. The satisfaction of making the right cast and having that fish dial into your bug as you strip it away from him is an absolute blast.

Day three had us heading to the Marls, but high tides and 25mph winds made the day a short one. The canal we normally use to get out to the fishing grounds was severely flooded with incoming water.

We headed back to the house and the easy access waters near the house. The wind is still howling but the fish are around. We manage a four or five fish before cocktail hour.-CD

Posted in Fly Fishing Travel | Leave a comment

Last chance for Oregon’s sea-run cutthroat trout

Posted on October 28, 2008 by Oregon Fly Fishing Blog

Fly fishermen who pursue sea run cutthroats should be aware that these wonderful fall days are coming to end very soon. The coastal streams are currently running low enough for sea runs to hold up, and the fish are starting to target salmon spawning areas to gobble up stray eggs.

Borden specials, Spruce patterns and egg patterns are continuing to be successful as this great fall weather continues. The long range forecast for the coming weekend looks good for some gray rainy days which keeps the sea-runs active all day. Meanwhile, let’s hope we can continue to enjoy these fantastic days. We are very fortunate to have the opportunity to fish for these special species. -LV

Posted in Fishing Reports | 2 Comments

Chinook Report–Low Water, Stale Fish

Posted on October 27, 2008 by Caddisfly

This weekend I camped on a favorite small Oregon coastal river on word that decent fish were in. If they were, they had scooted through by the time of my arrival. The water was really low and there was good number of bashful chinook and wary coho. After the first day of fishing it was clear the fish had the common and rarely fatal disease “lock jaw.” That aside, I wasn’t seeing any salmon that could be described as table fare even in the most generous sense of the word.

So, I adjusted my expectations downward and hoped that overnight a couple of fresh fish would move into the holding pools. Hitting the river first thing in the morning, I shortened my leader about 18″ to minimize the risk of “flossing” or worse and swung a chartreuse and black clouser through the run that I hoped held some fresher fish. Instead, on my fourth or fifth cast the fly was hammered by a bronze hen chinook. She fought as well as a bronze fish can but was brought to hand and released after having completely trashed my fly:

I gave up hope of finding chrome and decided to quit fishing, break camp and head for tidewater to find something fresh just about the time Matt strolled out onto the bedrock ledge. I gave him the run down but he needed to run his fly through a few of the fishy looking spots before completely bagging the trip. Fair enough. In short order he was rewarded with a coho which was also released:

That was it for the fish and we left soon after Matt caught the coho. On the bright side, the weather was good if you like sunshine, the chanterelles were pushing up the duff, I spotted a bunch of redds, tested some gear, the coho were thick and I had a good camping trip.

Now to traffic in rumors: I hear that there are big schools of chinook hanging near the jaws of several area rivers and maybe they are late but on the way. This next rain will probably tell us a lot about how the rest of the season will go. I’m doing the rain dance.–KM

Posted in Fishing Reports, Oregon Salmon fly fishing | 1 Comment

William and Joseph Tech Jacket gear review.

Steelhead fishing on the John Day: Beginner’s Luck

Family fun in the Bahamas

Gear Review: Cloudveil 8X Wading Boots

Coastal salmon fishing heats up as Oregon cools off

Bahamas log election day

Fishing Links: Election mania, salmon-fest

Fly fishing for salmon in the surf zone

Bahamas trip log continued

Saltwater Sharkskin fly line gear review

Wild and Scenic Rogue float, fly fishing for half-pounders

Weather improves in the Bahamas, so does the fishing

Bahamas log continued

Last chance for Oregon’s sea-run cutthroat trout

Chinook Report–Low Water, Stale Fish

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