The Wire Midge is a universal food source for trout that gets down deep where fish are feeding. Try different colors to suit your needs.
Hook: Tiemco 2487 Size 16-22
Thread: Veevus 8/0 Brown
Wire: Ultra Wire Amber/Silver Small
Thorax: Hareline Super Fine Dubbing Brown
Air Bubble: Krystal Flash Pearl
In this video, Jim Sens ties a Hobo Spey Steelhead Streamer Fly. This is a great pattern to use for Winter Steelheading and will fish in the middle-to-high water column. Come on by the shop to check out other Steelhead flies tied by Jim. Enjoy!
Rigging:
Hook: Aquaflies AquaTalon Swing Hooks #2
Power Pro Fishing Line: 40-50lb (available at Fred Meyers, Wal-Mart, Cabellas, Bass Pro)
Tubing: Pro Sportfisher Classic Tube
Fly Pattern:
Shank: Aquaflies Return Eye Shank 27mm
Thread: Danville’s 210 Denier Orange
Dubbing Bump: Ice Dub Shrimp Pink
Hackle: Strung Guinea Feathers Orange
Body: Ice Dub Green Caddis
Back Marabou: Fish Hunter Marabou Spey Blood Quill Dyed Burnt Orange
Accents: Hareline Lady Amherst Center Tail Orange
Front Marabou: Fish Hunter Marabou Spey Blood Quill Dark Olive
Flash: Krystal Flash Red
Ostrich: Intruder Feather Prop Hackle Olive
Head: Hareline Schlappen Black
Resin: Deer Creek UV Resin
This Black Friday The Caddis Fly Angling Shop is offering 20% off all flies this Friday only. Stock up on your favorite patterns, create a selection for a gift, get the patterns you need for your next trip. Again all flies are 20% off for one day only. If you order online, use coupon code 20flies at checkout and the discount will be applied, if you come in the shop we will do the calculations for you.
Here are my top 10 Christmas gifts for the angler for 2019.
#1. The New Scott Sector – Hands down the best rod I have cast in a long time.
#2. Ross San Miguel – Some may remember this rediculously smooth and beautifully machined high gloss Ross Reel. If reels were fine jewelry the San Miguel is the Rolex. The San Miguel is back and available now.
#3. Dyna King Barracuda Deluxe Vise – You will have a hard time finding a better fly tying vise, hook holding, rotary, rock solid.
#4. New Tacky Fly Boxes – We have a new range of Tacky Boxes that are a no brainer gift, they are new, effective and everybody needs more than one!
#5. Fishpond Thunderhead Submersible Packs in Riverbed Camo – Fishpond has nailed it with this new camo pattern. Available in backpack, lumbar, and sling.
#6. Caddis Fly Gift Certificate = available to redeem online or in store.
#7. Echo Shadow X Euro Nymphing Rod or Outfit – No question the best Euro rod for the money on the market, if you or your angler gift recipient is interested in Euro/Tight Line Nymphing the Shadow X is killer.
#8. Hareline Fly Tying Kits – A great way to get someone started in fly tying.
#9. Sage Foundation Rod Reel Line Combo – Regularly priced at $550 this great outfit is on sale for $440 until December 6th, 2019.
#10. Loon Bench Rings – Cool new fly tying organizer that makes cleaning up the bench as easy as pie.
This is the first of three blog posts that will feature the Echo fly rods I fish through the seasons here in Pacific City.
Any fly angler located in Pacific City, Oregon who might be so-inclined can find some species of Pacific salmon to test during most months of the year, along with a solid bench of Echo fly rods and Airflo lines to effectively align angler skills, budget, and water conditions.
Winter / Spring in Pacific City is principally a winter steelhead season, but if the ocean permits, anyone who owns a dory boat, or who has friends with a dory, can venture nearshore in the ocean to catch black rockfish and lingcod. The little noticed species in winter spring is the coastal cutthroat that are full time estuary residents and may be sought out in the tidal flats any month of the year. The estuary sea-run cutthroat are sketchy fish to locate, but these challenging fish are wonderful quarry on small wet flies and buggers.
Echo Boost Salt 6 wt 9 ft rod
and the Airflo Nymph/Indicator line.” width=”640″ height=”480″ /> Prime hatchery winter steelhead from the 2019 season. This fish was taken swinging an unweighted Intruder on the Echo Boost Salt 6 wt 9 ft rod and the Airflo Nymph/Indicator line.The winter steelhead fishery can be extremely challenging to the fly angler, The Nestucca attracts fleets of anglers from Portland, Salem, and Eugene to drift and hike the banks in search of hatchery and wild winter steelhead.
Rivers within 90 minutes north and south of the Nestucca provide alternate angling destinations between November and March, but nearly all are bank-full with boats whenever the waters are that beautiful steelhead green we all hope to fish.
Nestucca Estuary Cutthroat
My greatest hope for winter season steelhead involve times when the rivers are too high or too low for anything like optimum fishing conditions. These are the times when I tend to prowl about in search of the few fish that have not seen a jig, worm, bead, bait, or hotshot in the last 254 hours.
Over crowding of our public angling waters seems a fact of life these days, and I find the estuary and the ocean a pleasant respite whenever I’m able to fish less populated waters.
My favorite Echo fly rods for winter season steelhead include the following:
Base 8 wt: In a time when two hand rods he most basic 9 ft single hand fly rod for steelhead
Full Spey 7 wt: This 13 ft rod is Echo’s top of the line spey rod that lives in the world of high performance blank materials and finish components. If you are looking for the best stuff on the market, this is the Echo spey rod for you. Think lighter, faster, powerful, and similar descriptive terms designed to promote the top-tier fly fishing gear, and apply here, because it fits.
Compact Spey 7 wt: These rods at 12 ft instead of 13 ft are a top-notch version of the Full Spey that are designed for anglers who are more comfortable with the slightly shorter fly delivery platform. I actually prefer the Compact Spey when I’m fishing Oregon Coastal Rivers precisely because there are so many places where I fish that are backed with trees.
Echo TR 6 wt: There isn’t much I can add to what thousands of fly anglers have learned over many years, The Tim Rajeff spey rod is tough, casts like a champion, and will run down most right sized target species from large trout to salmon all around the world. I’ve chosen a 6 rather than a 7 wt in the TR series because, well, because……
SR 7 wt: My favorite Echo Switch rod at 10 ft 6 in
Swing 8 wt : At 11 ft 8 in – the very modestly priced Swing fits between the switch and full spey two hand fly rod classes. The Swing series includes line classes 6 – 8 in mid 11 ft and mid 12 ft lengths, making this a very affordable option for entering or diversifying your two hand fly rod options.
OHS One Hand Spey 7 wt: A much under-rated and under appreciated rod at 10 ft 4 in is possibly more versatile than the SR, with the OHS rod handle and overall length slightly shorter and thusly suitable to fish under the trees that are so common in the upper reaches of coastal rivers. This rod also excels fishing from boats.
My 2019 winter steelhead season was pretty skinny, with two hatchery steelhead to hand for perhaps 8-10 days on the river. I’m grateful for those fish and looking forward with optimism for the season unfolding in November 2019.
Jay Nicholas
This glass bead Bugger is one of my favorite estuary cutthroat flies.
In this video, Greg ties the Frenchie Nymph fly pattern. A simple, effective fly for trout in rivers & streams everywhere.
Tie them in different color patterns using different shades of wire, pheasant tail, and beads. You could use larger beads if fishing faster moving water or deeper pools too.
Use the Frenchie as a terminal fly on European nymphing setups, under an indicator or dry fly.
Materials List:
Hook: Daiichi 1560/1710 Size 14
Bead: Tungsten 1/8″ Gold
Lead Free Wire .015 optional
Thread: Uni 6/0 Light Pink
Tail: CDL Brown
Wire: Ultra Wire Cooper/Brown Small
Body: Pheasant Tail Natural
Collar: Ice Dub Light Pink
Hard as Hull
Just in time for the holiday season some of the fly fishing industries best companies have some sweet deals and new products for the angler and shopper.
New Fly Boxes from Fishpond. Fishpond purchased Tacky Fly Boxes this summer and have introduced some new boxes with more capacity and a fresh look. Check out all the boxes here: Tacky Fly Boxes
Hatch Reel Rebate. Hatch Outdoors manufacturer of one of the finest fly reels on the market today are offering free backing and leaders with a purchase of a fly reel through 2/28/20. Check out the details here: Hatch Rebate.
Farbank, owners of SAGE Rods, RIO Lines and Redington have officially changed their policy on “bundling”. The change allows qualified dealers to offer free lines with the purchase of virtually all SAGE rods. You can check out all the SAGE rods we sell here: SAGE RODS. Of course The Caddis Fly continues to offer free backing and loading of line on reels to customer specifications.
Redington, manufacturers of rods, reels, waders and more are offering some sweet deals on selected products through Dec 6th. Hydrogen Single hand Rods, Hydrogen Trout Spey Rods, Chromer Two Handers and Behemoth Fly Reels are all on sale at 20-30% off.
Winston Fly Rods is offering a free Holiday inscription special this year up to December 15th, 2019. Purchase a Pure, Air, Air Salt, Air TH, Alpha+, Boron 3 Super 10 or Microspey and receive custom inscription for free. Talk about a superb gift for the angler!
Watermaster Rafts. Through December 1st 2019 Watermaster Rafts are 20% off. This is a super rare bargain on these awesome water crafts. Check out the listings here: Watermaster
We are stoked for the 2019 holiday season and have stock of the best gear in the world. More ideas can be found in our holiday gift guide video here: Holiday Gift Guide
CD
In this video, fly fisher Jay Nicholas ties a Big Bad Yak Muddler for steelhead and salmon using yak hair.
This fly can be tied in different colors and sizes with a dense wing or sparse wing. You could skate these on the big rivers of Alaska and BC or tie them in smaller sizes to fish some of your local water at home.
Materials:
Hook: Gamakatsu B10-S #2
Thread: Danville 210d or Veevus GSP 150
Body: Lagartun Flat Braid or Other-Chartreuse
Wing/Belly: Yak Hair or Bucktail-Olive/Brown
Krystal Flash
Head: Premo Deer Hair
Loctite or Hard as Hull
Tools Used:
Smhaen Half-Hitch Tool w/ Cutter
Curved Scissors
Stonfo Hair Packer
On Friday, December 6, 2019, the Oregon Fish and Wildlife Commission will consider a proposal for the release of all wild steelhead in southwest Oregon during the 2020 season, and we need your support!
Implementing catch and release regulations for wild steelhead in Oregon’s Southwest Zone would be the most cost-effective, equitable, and easy to implement management action to protect these important world-class populations from over harvest.
Here’s what you can do to ensure that wild steelhead populations flourish, not just survive, in southwest Oregon:
Across their native range, there are twelve rivers in the lower 48 states and Canada where sport anglers can still legally harvest wild steelhead. All twelve of these rivers are in Oregon, and ten of those rivers are in the Southwest Zone.
Sport fishing is the lifeblood of southwest Oregon during the winter months. Unfortunately, history has demonstrated that agencies often permit harvest of wild populations to the point of critical conservation concern, and then close fishing all together to try and rebuild a struggling run. Given the dramatic decline of wild steelhead across the Northwest, we argue it is in the best interest to take a precautionary approach to protect these iconic wild fish before populations collapse while still providing fishing opportunity.
Please join us in advocating for these iconic fish by signing the petition today!
For abundant wild fish,
Jennifer Fairbrother
Conservation Director
Our mailing address is:
Native Fish Society
813 7th St.
Suite 200A
Oregon City, OR 97045
We had a great trip this October at Pluma Lodge. We booked our trip with Fly Water Travel and Untamed Angling. The jungle experience aspect of this trip is absolutely mind blowing. Spending time with the Tsimane and excellent guides at Pluma was a highlight of the trip for sure. We met Tsimane peoples that literally did not know their age! The fishing program and staff at Pluma is first class and any need that could be met was.
We got to try out some new tackle on the trip as well. Notes below.
Scott Sector Rod: Scott has absolutely hit it out of the park with their latest saltwater and big game Sector Series of rods. The Sector is the easiest loading fast action powerful rod you will cast. Golden Dorado flies are not small. We were casting huge 3/0 and 4/0 streamers all day on this trip, and the Sector excelled. Scott’s Meridian rods were superb, but the Sector is lighter and stronger. Carbon web technology adds strength and sacrifices nothing in terms of performance. If you need a new saltwater style rod this coming season, you will not do any better than the Sector.
Sage Payload: The Payload was designed to cast the big flies we were heaving for Golden Dorado, and it got the job done with ease. Not only did the Payload cast our mega streamers it was a beast when it came to fighting the predators we were after. The Sage Payload was the work horse for the sinking Jungle Tapers we used when making long casts, and swings. At $550 the Payload is a sweet big fish, big fly rod, for salt and other predators.
Lamson Speedster S Fly Reel: The Speedster S from Lamson Waterworks had plenty of drag and was incredibly light. I was a bit hesitant to get away from my Nautilus N/V reels but the Speedster S had plenty of guts without the weight.
Ahrex Hooks: The Ahrex PR320 and PR370 60 Degree hooks were fantastic hooks for the bulky streamers the group used on this trip. I had numerous streamers patterns get absolutely destroyed but the Ahrex hooks remained solid.
CD
Finally got out and fished the Willamette below Crossroads and found the day to be very rewarding.
Blue Winged Olives were rising from 10:30 to 2:00. With the lower river level and overcast it was fun to get some fish on top. Parachute Adams, Purple Adams, and some Lou brew soft hackles (brown, grey, and olive) trailing behind proved some great results. Also, just swinging soft hackles brought fish to chase. We found most of the fish in very shallow water in the riffles and rising mid river. The weather shows showers this weekend, but the river level is projected to remain the same. On the way out we Euro Nymphed and landed a nice fatty on a pink Lucent jig fly.
The weather man is saying “heavy rains possible first week of December”? Time to get out there!
New Premium Hungarian Partridge Feather Packs from Hareline are quality, hand selected, premium feathers from the neck and back which make great wings, legs, tails, and wing-cases for your nymphs and wet-flies.
These packs are loaded with a healthy quantity of feathers and come if four colors: Black, Brown, Olive, and Natural.
From the Discovery Channel: Jeremy Wade “Dark Waters” Series.
The Deschutes River Basin Habitat Conservation Plan (HCP) is currently being reviewed by the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, and without input from community members like you, this HCP won’t adequately increase streamflows to levels that will restore and protect the river’s natural beauty and the health of its fish and wildlife. Comment here.
In this video, Jay Nicholas ties a simple leech fly using new Bling Rabbit Strips and Just Add H2O’s Sculpting Flash Brush.
Used for anything that swims this fly could be tied in a variation of colors, sizes, weights, etc. Drift them, swing them, cast them!
Lots of new materials for 2020 at Caddisflyshop.com
Materials Linked Below.
Materials:
Hook: Ahrex PR320
Bead: Flexi Bead Pro Sport
Thread: Veevus GSP 150d
Tail: Bling Rabbit Strip Black/Pink
Body: Just Add H2O Sculpting Flash Brush 1″
Zap A Gap
