Oregon Weekend Fishing Forecast: Trout tomorrow, Steelhead Sunday

Posted on February 29, 2008 by Caddisfly

In a perfect world, we’d recommend trout fishing on Saturday and trying your hand on steelhead on Sunday. Here’s why:

Rain is forecast and our coastal rivers are expected to rise fairly quickly presenting challenges for steelhead anglers of all stripes on Saturday. The Siuslaw is projected to crest at approximately 7.28 feet on Saturday afternoon. It is still fishable at this level though and the persistant angler may be rewarded.

The Alsea is projected to crest at 5.5 feet on Saturday afternoon. The North Fork Alsea remains fishable below 9 feet but without a boat to float the mainstem expect a fishing carnival. The Siletz should also remain at a fishable level. If heading up there without a boat concentrate on Moonshine Park.  The lower Gorge should also hold some fish (just upstream from the park).  If you plan on drifting it, the section between Twin Bridges and town is always a good bet.  The rising levels may put fish off the bite some but the persistent angler is often rewarded.

After cresting on Saturday afternoon the coastal rivers are projected to begin falling slowly. Sunday could be absolutely dynamite for coastal steelheading everywhere.

Trout fishing should remain good this weekend. The west side Cascade rivers are extensively dammed and should remain in good shape. Try Golden Stone nymph patterns in size 10 as well as size 12 Possie Buggers. Pheasant Tail nymphs, Prince nymphs and Copper Johns all should produce fish as well. Keep an eye out for a decent hatch of Blue Wing Olives in sizes 14-16 and keep your fingers crossed for the appearance of the March Browns.

Good luck this weekend! — Karl

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2008 Northwest Fly Tyer & Fly Fishing Expo comes to Albany next weekend

Posted on February 29, 2008 by Oregon Fly Fishing Blog

The Oregon Council of Federation of Flyfishers is hosting it’s 2008 Northwest Fly Tyer & Fly Fishing Expo March 7-8 in Albany, Oregon. That’s a Friday and Saturday — it’s hard blowing a sick day and not actually fishing, but we’ll be there.

Trout Unlimited Chapter 678 had a booth at the event last year and it was a great time. We have a booth this year as well.

Here are some write ups from the 2007 fly tying event and photos. See you in Albany.

Posted in Fly Tying, Oregon Fly Fishing Clubs and Events | Leave a comment

Congress members request Snake River dams study, Northwest delegation largely absent

Posted on February 29, 2008 by Caddisfly

The Snake River was once the most prolific producer of spring/summer chinook in the Columbia basin averaging 1.5 million of those fish per year.  In addition to spring/ summer chinook the basin supported fall chinook, coho, steelhead and a strong sockeye run.  Snake River coho are extinct, four sockeye returned last year to Redfish Lake and native chinook are spiralling toward extinction.

NOAA fisheries recently released a draft biological opinion for the operation of the Columbia Hydrosystem.  This is the NOAA’s third bite at the apple, the previous two opinions have been thrown out for violations of the Endangered Species Act.  The third plan is presently in litigation and many groups feel that it is worse for native salmon than the previous plan. 

It is against this backdrop that nearly 100 members of Congress signed a letter urging the Administrator of the NOAA to at least include a study of the likely benefits of the removal of the four lower Snake River dams in the BiOp.  Oregon Fly Fishing Blog has obtained a copy of that letter.  Here are some excerpts:

“The draft BiOp appears to avoid any significant departure from status quo operations of the hydropower system.  In some respects, . . . the draft Bi-op provide[s] less protection . . . .  For many years, we have requested that all scientifically credible options, including dam breaching be analyzed, . . . yet this BiOp still contains no analysis of lower Snake River dam removal.  This analysis was also requested by Judge James Redden, who remanded the previous BiOp. . . . Your own agency, in its 2000 BiOp stated, ‘ . . . breaching the four lower Snake River dams would provide more certainty of long term survival and recovery than would other measures.'”

“Unfortuntely, the key elements of an aggressive non-breach strategy, . . . are also missing from this BiOp.”

This letter was signed by nearly 100 members of Congress.  Strangely, many members of our northwest congressional delegation appear to have little interest in recovering threatened Snake River chinook.  In fact, Earl Blumenauer, Darlene Hooley and Jim Mcdermott are the only northwest congress people to sign the letter.  Notable non-signatories include Peter DeFazio and David Wu.

It seems odd that for leadership on northwest salmon issues we should have to look to Wisconsin.

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Oregon Winter Steelhead Fishing Porn

Posted on February 28, 2008 by Oregon Fly Fishing Blog

Caddis Fly Steelhead Trip

Caddis Fly Steelhead Trip

Once again the “lowly glowly” (lead eyed egg) coupled with a “Thingamabobber” does it’s damage to wild winter run steelhead. Low water makes these fish a bit vulnerable to the angler willing to search out a lesser known steelhead run. The good thing about the fish we caught and spotted was they were not on the spawning beds or even near a gravel bed/bar. Prime, low water conditions should continue all week.

Posted in Fishing Porn | 4 Comments

North Umpqua fast and cold — like you like your women

Posted on February 28, 2008 by Oregon Fly Fishing Blog

The North Umpqua is staged for a tremendous winter run for wild steelhead. Water conditions are less than ideal being high and cold. Numbers are great over Winchester Dam. As weather warms and fish move out of the lower river the fly only section should offer incredible fishing in March.

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Fishing Report: Middle Fork Willamette fishing fairly well

Posted on February 27, 2008 by Caddisfly

Hatch Note and Conditions:  I observed a decent hatch of #14-#16 Blue Wing Olives coming off but didn’t see any fish moving to take them.  I also noted some midges but no March Browns.   Size 10 Golden Stone Nymphs and Size 12 Possie Buggers were both effective.  The river was at an excellent level for wading (3.03 feet) and the water clarity was good.

I headed up to the Middle Fork Willamette near Oakridge this past Saturday to give the new Sage Launch 690 a trial run.  After fishing for ten minutes as my #10 Golden Stonefly Nymph/ #12 March Brown Wet dropper tumbled through a prime feeding lane I saw my indicator plunge down out of the corner of my eye as I strategized about where I would fish next.  I set the hook too late and I was only briefly connected with a native redside of about 10 inches.  Left with little choice, I took it as a sign of good fishing to come.

I headed upstream to a place where the heavy current is broken a large boulder and cast into the pocket.  Almost immediately the indicator was pulled under and I was connected to a 13 inch redside.  The fish bolted from the pocket and into the Class III whitewater.  I was able to coax him into the water directly below me.  As the fish thrashed around it threw the hook but not before I was able to see that it had taken my #12 Possie Bugger. 

I crossed the river at a shallow rapid and decided to fish a side channel that often holds a nice fish in the summer.  The channel provides trout relief from the faster current in the main channel, the low overhanging banches offer protection from above and the choppy run serves up bugs as reliably as a buffet dishes out cherry pie.  A sidearm cast delivered my flies beneath the branches and as the flies swept through the run I saw a nice fish in pursuit that headed back to its holding water when they started dragging.  A second cast and I saw the fish chasing the flies again except this time it took my Golden Stone Nymph and I found myself fast into a 17 inch redside.  I managed to land the fish and took a couple photos:

Upper Willamette Rainbow

Upper Willamette Rainbow

This was definitely a respectable first catch on the new Sage.  Apparently fish love new fly rods.

I continued to fish in the main river and caught another trout, this one a 10 inch fish that was deemed unphotoworthy.  Needing to get back to Thurston I fished down quickly missing a couple bites along the way. 

After the first fish it didn’t seem to matter.  Not bad for a couple hours in February.

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Report: McKenzie River fishes well, will improve with warmer temps

Posted on February 26, 2008 by Oregon Fly Fishing Blog

Last week Chris Daughters tackled a large stretch of the McKenzie River, drifting all the way from Leaburg to Armitage — a long drift, not a lot of fishing. Local fly tying guru and guide Barrett did catch a 9lb steelhead and a few nice trout. They didn’t spot any March Browns, but a few Blue Winged olives and dark winter stones and midges.

Fishing Pics -- Chris Daughters

On guided trips earlier last week, guests caught some monster rainbows on stonefly nymphs and the new thingamabobber (The Mule’s favorite indicators). Again no bugs to speak of — water temperatures need to come up a bit.

Fishing Pics -- Chris Daughters

Fishing Pics -- Chris Daughters

Go to The Caddis Fly site to book guided Oregon Fly Fishing trips, or stop in the fly shop to pick our brains on Oregon fly patterns or buy some Thingamabobbers.

Posted in McKenzie River | Tagged | 1 Comment

Walleye population increasing in the Upper Willamette

Posted on February 26, 2008 by Oregon Fly Fishing Blog

A growing Walleye population could spell trouble for salmon, trout and steelhead in the Upper Willamette River. Walleye, invasive predators from the Midwest, have been found as far upriver as Lookout Reservoir.

Biologists say it is improbable that the fish moved upstream from past the Dexter and Lookout Dams, but instead were likely introduced by local jackasses. According to the Register-Guard, biologists estimate 300-900 walleye have migrated past the fish trap at Lookout Dam between mid-November and the end of January.

Posted in Oregon Conservation News | Tagged , , , , , , | 4 Comments

Oregon Coastal Steelhead streams heating up

Posted on February 26, 2008 by Oregon Fly Fishing Blog

Just a little disclaimer on our Oregon Coastal Stream reports: These waters aren’t big enough for publicized fishing pressure, so they will remain anonymous. Just assume that conditions and stories will be similar wherever your secret coastal stream may be.

Oregon winter steelhead fishing

The wild steelhead are in the streams. We managed to have a really good day last week. I hooked up with two chrome fish before lunch on a chartruese and hot pink marabou micro-jig (1/8 oz) under a Frog Hair indicator.

Oregon winter steelhead fishing

Karl and Wild Bill were on the water with me — thankfully, since my Sage z-Axis crapped out on me. It was my fault. I’d put it back in the tube wet and the wooden reel seat soaked up the moisture and swelled up and the reel wouldn’t fit.

Oregon winter steelhead fishing

Oregon winter steelhead fishing

Karl said the hen, the first fish ran about seven pounds. It slammed my fly on the third cast, actually on the swing and not dead drifted. The buck, which was a little bigger, I hooked on the dead drift, upstream in a boulder garden.

 After lunch, lying down on my back on the rocks in the sun, it was 50 degrees and sunny, warming my face and drying my sweat. A giant sentinel Douglas Fir stood guard over the stream — not a bad day in February.

Oregon winter steelhead fishing

PS: Quick reccomendation on winter wading. Put your studs in. Seriously. I’d never used them before and I’ll never go back. I’d been wading in just felt for years and had never bothered. Now I’m sold. It saves energy and may keep you from drowning. 

How many of you out there have skipped the studs in the boots?

Posted in Coastal Steelhead Fishing | Tagged | 1 Comment

Fishing Report: Middle Fork Willamette (Below Hills Creek)

Posted on February 22, 2008 by Oregon Fly Fishing Blog

This week we spent an afternoon fishing below Hills Creek Reservoir on the Middle Fork of the Willamette River. The water levels were very fishable from the dam at Hills Creek down to the town run in Oakridge, Oregon. The water level rose as it flowed downstream from the mouth of the North Fork Middle Fork to Black Canyon.

Middle Fork Willamette River

We didn’t spot any fish upstream near the dam, but got into some rainbows near the town run. I hooked several fish on a two-fly rig; a size ten golden stonefly nymph, weighted like a sparkplug with a size 12 brown soft hackle trailing. Unfortunately, my four-weight was too delicate and I still have steelhead hands and lost all of the fish, but not before seeing at least one of them was really good sized.

Middle Fork Willamette River

Conventional widsom says nymphing with possie buggers, prince nymphs and Beldar’s golden stones with copper johns, and pheasant tails dropped of of them will fish all fall/winter long. Small egg patterns work as well as there are spawning rainbows and whitefish right now. Look for an elusive Blue winged olive hatch during the mid-day to bring a few fish to the surface.

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