Don’t try this at home folks. Last week, Winston Rods rep Jon Covich came by the shop to demo the flexibility of the Winston BII mx fly rod. These rods are super light, with extra backbone in the butt section. But does the nine-weight have what it takes to pull up a 6lb weight off the ground at full bend? Sure. What about a 10lb boat anchor? Watch the video and find out.
Pick up a Winston BIImx fly rod at CaddisFlyShop.com.
Water temperatures on the Mckenzie are edging up. I fished Friday and Saturday and had a thermometer in the water start to finish. Around 9am water temps were 45 degrees and by 5pm we had 49.6 in some areas. Lower in the river near Armitage temps were over 50 degrees. In close to shore temperatures were higher and bug life was abundant. Numerous cased caddis were crawling around many of them close to full maturity. Willow bushes had good numbers (in spots) of Salmon flies and some Golden Stone fly exoskeletons indicating they had recently crawled out and emerged. I found this giant under a near shore stone.
Although we have had nice weather and warming water hatches have been sporatic at best. The past couple of days we had few shots at consistently rising fish. When they were rising, they were catchable with CDC Green Mckenzie Caddis #10, Barretts Emerging Peacock Caddis #16 and Hackle Stacker flag duns #14-16. When they were not rising, which was the majority of the last two days for me, they did eat March Brown Emergers #12-14, Possie Buggers #10-14, and other traditional wets fished swung down and across.
Things to look for in the coming week are, increased numbers of big green caddis, more stonefly activity both little yellow stones and larger golden stones, as well as smaller lighter mayflies including Pale Morning Duns.
Mikey Wier of SoulFish fame is working hard to catch some wild Oregon winter steelhead. In this blog post from The Cleanest Line, Wier tells the tale of hiking into the Kalmiopsis Wilderness to fish the headwaters of either the Chetco or Illinois River. From Wier’s post:
After post holing through the snow, climbing over trees and descending 2,000 feet with four days worth of supplies on our backs, we finally reached the trailhead and the edge of the wilderness boundary. It’s only a mile from there to where we first hit the river. Once on the trail, the hiking conditions were even tougher. The downed trees were hefty obstacles with such heavy packs on our backs… Every time we came to a downed tree, we had to balance beam along the trunk, climb over branches, or duck under a high spot. There were no stretches longer than 100 yards at a time with no trees down… Still we pressed on in the name of steelhead.
It’s a good read, and sounds a lot like the wilderness steelhead trips Karl and I got into this spring.
Steelhead had been passing Willamette Falls at a steady clip the last few weeks but the past few days have seen warmer temps on the lower Willamette that triggered the stampede. The last three days of April saw 622 sea-run bows blow past the window bringing the summer steelhead to count to 1,968. They are already here and more are coming every day. The 29th was the first relatively “big” day for chinook passage with 354 crossing the window.
Consider giving the springers a break and see about getting into some summer steel. The run is looking really good!
Many thanks to all those who participated in the Sharkskin fly line giveaway. We appreciate all of your comments on the Sharkskin reviews as well as other posts. And now for the winner:
Don Dexter can pick up his line at the shop anytime he would like.
In addition I would like to answer a few questions posed with regard to the Sharkskin Fly line.
Longevity: In recent tests the Sharkskin line has been shown to last 2-3 times as long as other lines. These tests considered cracking, floatation and general wear. Now this line is new, and we don’t have all the testing apparatus that 3m/Scientific Anglers has but so far the line has resisted cracking, collected less dirt, and remained the same color (not darkened in heavily worn spots) like other lines have done under heavy use.
Cleaning: Best to clean the lines with Scientific Anglers fly line cleaner and pad. These lines contain AST which is distributed throughout the line rather than just on the surface. As you wear down the surface you get a new re-conditioned sliker, cleaner surface. Sci-Anglers rough cleaning pad actually roughs the line up to get more AST out.
Dirt Collection: While the micro-replicated surface would appear to collect more dirt in the “valleys” of the surface, it really hasn’t done so. Rather it seems that dirt has a hard time sticking to it. We have had our demo lines out in the parking lot and compared to others, the Sharkskin is much cleaner. And the parking lot is brutal on fly lines.
Trying out the line: Please come by and give the line a run. We have a line on a reel and encourage anglers to take it fishing.
Thanks to all for the positive response to the blog. Special thanks to Matt Stansberry and Karl Mueller for educating me on the ways of the blog. Much more to come.
Chris
Fished the Middle Fork of the Willamette this past Tuesday on another brutal day of weather. The river was high and out of shape until we got to the North Fork confluence, then it was just high and cold. The fishing was tough most of the day with occasional fish being taken on Mega Prince #8, and black stonefly nymphs in #6. Around 2pm things warmed a bit and we caught a few more fish on swung wets. Overall fishing was a bit disappointing.
Even when fishing is tough a good day can be had with lots of laughs. Manufactures representative Kevin Thompson (Umpua Feather Merchants, Cloudveil, Nautilus) and Kristen Mustad owner of Nautilus Fly Reels had a blast heckling each other, tangling lines and talking tackle business. Check out Kristen’s “Violet” Nautilus FW 3 fly reel.
Caddis Fly guide Ethan Nickel had guests out on the Mckenzie this Wednesday. While things started a bit slow the afternoon yeilded some decent fish. The river is still high and cold but appears to be dropping once again. If we could just get some sustained warmth things could really get rolling on the Mckenzie.
A few green Mckenzie Caddis have been spotted on what I am now calling “warmer afternoons”. When we do get a couple of days in a row of decent weather look for the big greens to get bouncing around on the surface and fishing to get much more active.
Fishing swung wets on the lower Mckenzie remains the best overall method. Best patterns are: Possie Bugger #10, Mega Prince #10, Royal Coachman Wet #12, Karnopps Riffle Diver #10, Flash Soft Hackle #12, and Beadhead March Brown Emergers in #12,14.
This week we talked to Jim Teeny, Oregon fly fishing legend about his new projects and product lines. This is an excerpt of that conversation:
What is the most exciting fishing you’re getting into these days in Oregon?
Jim Teeny: Spring Chinook — they start entering the rivers in June. You can always get this info on what rivers have Springers from ODFW. To hook a spring Chinook on a fly is darn near the ultimate fresh water adventure. They’re strong, fast, fat coming in from the ocean. They are going to be in all summer. The springers are explosive.
We’ve had some days on springers where some of us are hooking over 50. You might land one out of three or five and boy is it a workout. We stay with 10 weight rods, a springer can be 12-30 lbs. But as far as powerhouses they’re the best. A lot of guys think you can’t catch them on flies, but they really are wrong.
We use a relatively new line I developed three years ago called our Chuck and Duck — the worlds fastest sinking tips, they’ll almost beat a rock to the bottom. There is tungsten in the coating. It’s not a beautiful casting line. But when you’re in the right water and need to get down, it’s very deadly.
We here you have a new fishing show in the works, can you tell us about it?
Jim Teeny: The show is called Alaska Outdoors and it’s airing in Alaska and British Columbia. It starts September 20th, Saturdays at 5pm. It’s going to run through the rest of the year, and in 2009 we plan to change the name of the program — after my book Fly Fishing Great Waters. We’re focusing on involving kids and groups like Casting for Recovery and Project Healing Waters.
We need to have some meat — big fish — but also have the show be extremely educational. We’d like to talk about tackle selection, and why we’re doing that. My goal would be take the viewer right with me on the trip, and end the program by showing how to tie the patterns we’re using.
What’s new from the Teeny product line?
Teeny: We’re planning to introduce new products this in September at the fly tackle dealer show.
We are working on our popular Mini Tip line. It’s 90 or 100 feet in length and we’re going to introduce a 60-foot entry level line. The reason for the 60-foot line is we are able to greatly reduce the cost of the line to the consumer — it knocks almost $20 off the retail price. If you’re not casting much over 50 feet, then these are a great value.
We’re also working on the Mark Bachmann integrated Spey line. Mark guides on the Deschutes River and owns The Fly Shop in Welches, OR. The one piece Spey line is really going to simplify spey fishing for people who don’t’ like using multiple tips that are looped and hinge lines.
We’re also working on a clear floating tip line with Bruce Chard, very well known guide from Big Pine Key in the Florida Keys for tarpon, permit and bonefish. Our new HPC coating is just the best coating we’ve ever had and if you’re a good caster, you can pick 60-70 feet off the water. Not only can you get the distance — which can be very important in saltwater — but you can get the fly and leader to turn over really well.
This reader report is from Caddisfly Customer Brian Bell. He was accompanied by Roger Saydack and Tim Herrmann from Eugene.
What is the magic about the Opening Day of Trout Season, especially if you have already been fishing through the winter and into early spring, trying to lure trout to March Browns?
For the Deschutes, it is a time of reawakening, luring trout who have not seen a fly since Halloween, the short-lived bright green canyon vegetation that will all too quickly change to its normal desert hues, while perhaps most of all it is a special time and a place to share with special people who care about clear rivers and wild trout as much as you do.
Yes, it is also about new gear, flies and techniques; a chance to put to practice the last six months of reading, asking questions, thinking about your evolution as a fisher and a steward. It is about the change in the aquatic cycle of the trout you are after, or are you really after something else?
On the river before the sun spilled into the canyon we placed the first flies downstream, dead-drifted runs and swung stone flies over the cobbled bottom before any other fisher this year. We saw how fat the Osprey have grown since last fall. We passed the many campers at Mecca who were struggling to trade warm coffee cups for cold fly lines, offering us first dibs on water that would all too customarily been theirs. We only hit one spot,allowing the three of us to each fish totally different water with a range of patterns from small to large, before the campers had walked down the trail. From that point on, all of the walk-in water was left to the walk-in anglers.
It was the harmony of moving the boat with the river, feeling the wonderful tug of the oars, the joy of coming to a stop to wade that is akin to parallel parking your car while the road underneath you is moving, and so the fish don’t look up and think you are a gapper.
What is it about building a sandwhich out of the cooler, the first taste of a cold beer, the mischevious joy of a normally forbidden Oreo’s cookie?
Opening Day also is about the increasing joy of working new pieces of water, no matter how many times you might have cast your fly through this drift before; last year or years before that. Discovery. You have changed and the river has.
With the boat on the trailer, the gear stowed and the slow and painful, bumpy drive up out of Trout Creek underway, perhaps it was the silence of satisfaction amongst three better friends whose thoughts were already zooming ahead to how much fun Opening Day on the Deschutes will be in April 2009!
Despite the absence of anglers since November 1 on this top section the fishing was slow, even with big stone flies and a various assortment of droppers fished by each of the three of us. Catching picked up in the late morning so we had steady action through the rest of the day with rainbows in the 10-12 inch range. We saw one large redside go airborne three times for one happy angler who had been working a back eddy, but otherwise the hookups for others seemed to mirror our fortunes.
Trying to learn new knots can be one of the most frustrating steps in an angler’s development. But there are definitely times that the right knot tied well can make the difference between a sweet shot of a huge fish or the dreaded long distance release. Even the most experienced fishers don’t know every knot or can use a refresher sometimes if they don’t use a certain knot much.
The animated knots site is a good resource for anglers of all ability levels. It gives step by step instructions on how to tie some of the most important knots out there. It isn’t the most glamorous aspect of fishing but ranks up there as one of the most important. The greatest fly rod and nicest line won’t be able to do their job without a few good knots!
Opening Day is still closed for most of the Cascade Lakes due to excessive snowpack. Only Wickiup and North and South Twin have open boat landings along with Odell. ODOT is shooting to have the remainder of the landings open by Memorial Day.
The Middle Deschutes is now open as well as the Lower Deschutes. Remember when floating the Deschutes, BLM requires all boats, private and guides, to have a throw bag on board. These are available at the Caddis Fly. The Upper Dechutes and all sections to reservoirs (Wickiup, Crane and Little Lava) are closed until May 24th. Look for abundant stonefly activity and a good hatch of March Browns.
Owyhee has slowed a bit but still nymphing well. Chironomids and BWO’s working well with a few callibaetis starting to surface.
Chickahominy continues to fish well using Chironomids, streamers and woolly buggers.
Fall River and Metolius’ banks are still high with snow but both rivers offer quality fishing as usual. Metolius has good BWO and Baetis hatches. Fall is also fishing well with light (white or tan) leeches.
The Caddis Fly can order quality women’s clothing and shoes for you from the following companies websites. Please generic cialis soft 20mg check out the websites and you will be amazed at the wide range of women’s clothes to choose from. You will need the size, item number and color choice when you call us to order for you along with a credit card number. Caddis Fly Angling Shop 541-342-7005. It couldn’t be easier!
These are the top-of-the-line companies that you are able to order from:
Mountain Khaki’s have skirts, pants, jeans, capri’s and shorts. The clothes run a trim fit so you may want to order up one size. www.mountainkhakis.com
Orvis has a wide line of women’s clothing and fishing gear. You can also order from any Orvis catalog you receive or through the website. Just let us know what you’d like, and the Caddis Fly will order it for you. www.orvis.com
Patagonia has a fun, young line of women’s dresses, skirts, shoes, capri’s, shirts, pants, rain coats, waders and vests. They run pretty true to size. www.patagonia.com
Simms now has some great new sizing for waders for women. We have a pair at the shop and think you will be very impressed at the look and the wide availability of sizes. We have worked very hard with Simms to come up with new sizing to fit more women. They are also carrying pants, shirts and a great new rainjacket for women. www.simmsfishing.com
Cloudveil is also offering women’s waders and apparel. www.cloudveil.com
Ex Officio is a company we all know when it comes to Buzz Off wear. To keep the mosquitos and no-see-ums at bay on your tropical or just buggy fishing expeditions, look into their line of clothing for women. Good assortment and fun colors in shirts, pants, shorts, jackets. www.exofficio.com
Dan Bailey’s is a Montana company you may have see catalogs for. They carry women’s waders and clothing and we can order anything listed in their catalog or online. www.danbailey.com
Women’s biggest complaint is there are not enough fishing clothes designed for women. You now have quite a wide selection to choose from and it’s easy! Try ordering from the Caddis Fly next time!
We took advantage of the sun yesterday and banged around on the Upper McKenzie River. It was the pellet head opener, but you wouldn’t have known it. The planters decided to wait for things to warm up, but we found some wild fish that were willing to mix it up. Mega Prince nymphs and golden stones pulled fish out of deep holes. Despite a blizzard caddis hatch, not much was working on top. Video montage below…
Sign up now for our Sharkskin fly line giveaway, through May 1st 2008.
Looks like we are in for some much needed warmth this weekend. Anglers should expect more numerous caddis hatches and a diminished March Brown emergence. Look for larger species of caddis and even a few golden stone adults to crawl out and dry themselves on suddenly warm river rocks. Try the following patterns, Hackle Stacker Flag Dun Adams #12,14, peacock caddis #12, Beldars golden stonefly nymphs #8,10, and kaufman stonefly nymphs fished deep under and indicator. Waters are dropping and opportunities abound, enjoy the sunshine.
