Oregon Steelhead Fly Fishing

Fires they are a ragin!

2011-08-31T09:17:00.000-07:00

Looks like it has been a while since a good blog post here - things have been very busy for us on the Deschutes which leaves little time for blogging. However, big events recently have prompted a post. Firstly, we have had wildfires raging all around us on the Deschutes as well as on the John Day River. River closures and highway closures have been changing from day to day - yesterday (August 30) the river was closed from Warm Springs to Harpham Flats (Maupin) which means that Trout Creek, South Junction and other points were all closed due to fire. The Highway between Maupin and Bend is open now but can close at any moment due to major fire activity up on the top of the hill where the microwave towers are (Critereon). The fire was caused by a huge lightning storm we had one week ago. For the second year in a row, the small riverside community of Dant was nearly torched but the fire was held at bay and it soon jumped the river. The most dramatic thing that happened was that the old railroad tunnel on the road through the Deschutes Club (near Dant) caught fire - the timbers inside that made up the support for the tunnel were engulfed in flames and the tunnel exploded then collapsed. News from the road is that nobody was stranded above the tunnel, but the Deschutes Club and North Junction guys are going to have to make plan B for getting to their houses. Above you can see some photos of the tunnel burning - courtesy of Rod Woodside who owns Richmond's Service station here in Maupin.

The steelhead fishing has been good this year - fish counts are right at the ten year average, so there are enough steelhead cruising up the Deschutes to keep anglers on their toes. Our camp trips down to the mouth have been doing really well, and our day trips around Maupin have been great one day and tough the next. The steelhead are concentrated from Shearer's Falls downstream but there are a few making it over the falls and up into the downtown corridor of Maupin. The White River has become quite milky in recent days, butt he volume of the White is low, so it is NOT negatively impacting the Deschutes below it's confluence.

As always, with steelhead fishing reports.....it is better to be on the river making the news rather than waiting around to hear a good report. The good report comes out only after the fact and that means that you missed the epic steelhead day....just sayin'

Breaking Out of the Winter Doldrums

2011-03-21T16:19:00.000-07:00

This blog has been dormant for over 3 months and the reason is quite simple: I have not gone fishing in the last 3 months because my tyrant boss is punishing me for a much overdue month long vacation to Thailand. What does punishment for vacation entail? Office work!!!! I have been chained to a computer like most working stiffs slowly soaking in the blinding radiation emitted from the computer screen while working on a good case of carpal tunnel from the countless hours of typing. Who wants to read a fishing blog about a dude who doesn't fish and whose only updates consist of the day to day drudgery that most people who frequent blogs are trying escape. Nobody I know which is why it is better to let it sit quietly somewhere out in cyber world collecting radioactive dust.

Fortunately I was given two days off, if you want to call a work trip two days off, to go float the Deschutes from Trout Creek to Maupin with everyone on staff including the boss man. Of course a two day float on this stretch of river during this time of year means you row your ass off to fish a few hours on the first day and then row your ass off the second day to fish about as little. That being said, it was awesome to be back out on the water, soaking in some vitamin D and chasing trout around during a spectacular BWO hatch with not a soul around.

The fishing was fantastic considering the fish are as rusty as I am, rising freely to just about any dry that kind of resembled a blue wing. We had a fantastic camp with venison burgers, a bottle of bushmills and a case of PBR to numb the brain to the point where you don't notice or care about the sideways freezing rain pelting you in the face from every direction. Now that trout season is coming in to full glory fishing is again going to be a priority and with the help of some new staff members I should theoretically be able to keep this blog more up to date with great fish photos, tips and techniques and all other things related to the sport we love.

A Great Season

2010-12-21T10:26:00.001-08:00

An update has been long overdue since having skipped two months but I finally have time to play a little catch up. The season on the Deschutes was fantastic and I want to thank everybody that joined us this year. The fishing was certainly not like last year but the quality of fish was far superior. I know I saw more big fish and backing this year then all other years combined and I hope next year can provide more of these magnificient specimens. We are now back to office work with little time to venture out. Although I will be making my annual pilgrimage down to Northern California over the holidays in the hopes of one winter steelhead on my favorite winter fishery. I am keeping my fingers crossed.

We had an amazing season on the South Fork of the Columbia with lots of nice fish and fantastic camp stories that, I am sure, will be shared for years to come. I wish I had the time to recount some of the wild nights we had over some fine scotch, boxes of wine and beer. Good times were had by all even those who went a little too far (We know it was you Johnny). Here are some photos from our November fishing. Happy Holidays to everyone and we will see you on the river.

Precision Steelhead Fishing

2010-09-30T10:59:00.000-07:00

It is all to easy to get stuck fishing in auto mode where you cast, mend, swing, step with little regard to how your fly is actually fishing particluarly when the fishing gets tough. But auto-mode is the worst predicament to find yourself in when you are hunting for one fish a day. Tough fishing demands a higher level of concentration to ensure the fly is fished with precision and consistency from one cast to the next. Close attention to detail is what seperates the angler who finds a fish or two from the one that doesn't. So what does it mean to fish with precision and consistencty?

1.) Make sure you are making consistent casts where the leader turns over in a straight line everytime. If your leader lands in a pile don't think you can just mend and make everything come straight. When you are able to watch an anglers fly and swing from the bank you will quickly notice that a bad cast results in a lowsy swing where the fly only covers a fraction of the water it was intended to. When you make a bad cast, simply strip in, roll cast back downstream and make the cast again.

2.) When using a floating line make sure the cast is quartered downstream at 35 to 45 degree angle which will allow the fly to start fishing sooner and will minimize mending. Typically the fly doesn't start cutting through the water at the right speed until 35 degrees. If you have a hard time casting at steeper angles and typically cast more across it is important to not mend the line right away. Let the line drift until the fly is about at a 45 degree angle from you and then mend.

3.) Mending the line is a crucial part of setting the swing up and it needs to be done with control to maintain tension on the line. Ideally you want to make no more then one mend after the cast lifting only the part of the line that needs to be mended and moving it upstream. After you make the cast DON'T just automatically throw a huge mend. Let the line settle on the water take a good look at how the line is layed out and mend only the portion of line that needs to be mended. Sometimes you don't have to mend at all and other times you will have to mend all the way to the fly. To mend and maintain tension, lift the portion of line that needs mending and slowly move the rod tip upstream then slowly lower the rod to back down to the water. It is important to think of your leader as part of the fly line so if the fly and leader make a u-turn upstream during the cast be sure to mend all the way to the fly. If you mend only to the line-leader junction the fly will be racing across the current to catch up with the line at least through the first half of your swing.

4.)The rod tips position in relation to the fly dictactes the speed and consistency the fly will swing with, so it is important to pay attention to your rod tip during the swing. After you make your mend leave the rod tip pointing across the river perpendicular to the line until the line and fly are fairly straight then slowly begin bringing the rod tip across the current. For the most part you want the rod to stay with the fly rather then leading or lagging behind the fly. Of course different river currents will dictate where you want the tip throughout the swing. If it looks like a current is going to cause the fly the stop its swing, try to anticipate the current and start leading the fly before it reaches that particular current. If a current looks like it is going to cause the fly to accelerate, again try to anticipate the current and lag behind the fly before it enters that particular current. Once the fly has passed through one of these currents return to staying with the fly through the rest of the swing.

5.) The last critical point is to let the fly swing all the way in until it is straight downstream of you. It is so easy to overlook this part of the swing and yet it can make a huge difference between having a fishless day or a multiple fish day. Most people are fishing 15 to 20 ft. leaders on there floating line set ups and it is important to think of that leader as an exstension of the fly line. In order to let the fly swing all the way in you have to give the leader time to come around. So when you see the end of your fly line come straight down stream of you wait an additional 5 to 10 seconds to allow the leader and fly catch up. I can't tell you how many fish I see missed because the angler thinks he or she as finished his or her swing and begins making another cast while a steelhead is following the fly.

If you put all of these points together and stay focused on fishing while avoiding auto-mode you will ultimately be hooking more fish on a more regular basis. It is hard to maintain this level of concentration all day so when find yourself drifting into auto-mode just take a break and pick it up after a good snooze (maybe the best part of summer steelhead fishing).

Two Salts on the Deschutes

2010-09-01T08:55:00.000-07:00

The fishing on the Deschutes has been run of the mill steelheading with a few magic days thrown in the mix. That being said the quality of fish this year has been superb. We have been seeing a lot of fish in the 10-12 lb. range and several larger. These fish are mean, taking most anglers into their backing and cartwheeling from one end of the river to other without hesitation. Some battles have gone up to 15 minutes with multiple runs into the backing after having brought the fish all the way to your feet. Hopefully this trend continues for the remainder of the season. Here are a few photos to fuel the fire. I wish there were more but these babies are hard to land.

Deschutes Steelhead

2010-07-21T13:41:00.000-07:00

Well the steelhead fishing has picked up a little but still continues to be tougher then usual for this time of year. We have been finding about 1 fish a day with a few of our guide trips running into a couple a day. The quality of fish has been superb with a lot of two salt fish moving into the system. The photo shows the fish Harley got this morning which was screaming hot. Travis' girlfriend picked up a 12 pounder today and a customer of ours got one around that size a couple nights ago stating "it was the best fish he has ever caught out here." Hopefully the water temperature begins to change soon so more fish will move up into the system. I know that ODFW has received a lot of complaints about the water temperatures and they are currently working with PGE and Oregon DEQ to try to resolve the problem. This does not mean a dramatic change but anything would help at this point.

Lower Deschutes Camp Trip

2010-07-14T09:28:00.001-07:00

We have been doing some personal camp trips down to mouth the last couple weeks and the fishing has been super tough. B.J., Rich and I headed down this last weekend in the hopes of bumping into a few fresh fish and like my June trip we fished are asses off combing every good piece of water we got without so much as a sniff for the first two days. We tried floating lines, sink-tips, big flies, small flies and everything in between and we couldn't even buy a light grab. It didn't help that the wind during most of the trip was sustained 25 mph with gusts to 40 mph making good casts near impossible. With the dam counts the way they have been you would think we would at least see fish moving through the river but we saw no signs of life. Rich managed to pick one fish up on the last day right before the wind shut us down thus saving the trip. The fish was a beautiful thick shouldered wild hen that went staight into the backing and then proceeded to cartwheel from one end of the river to other. A spectacular fish for Rich's first Deschutes experience and he was impressed. It was as hot if not hotter than many of the fish Rich guides his clients into on the North Umpqua. You can tell by his shit eating grin in the photo below. The row out was hellacious with the wind never letting up. My shoulders are aching.

Amy and Harley launched on Sunday and experienced about the same thing with each them hooking one fish on the last day of the trip without a sign of life anywhere else. The wind was also a challenge for them.

My guess to why the fishing has been so slow is that the water temps in the Deschutes river are really warm. We were getting morning temps between 63 and 67 with evening temps between 67 and 70. The water certainly got warmer towards the mouth. The Columbia is still running at about 64 degrees, thus there is no incentive for fish to move into the Deschutes when they can stay nice and cool in the Columbia. All we can hope for is the Columbia warms up and the Deschutes cools down so the fish start seeking refuge in the Deschutes. Here are a few pics from my camp trip.

Fishing Update

2010-06-28T11:41:00.000-07:00

Trout season has been fantastic because of the cool wet weather we have had producing phenomenal mayfly hatches including Green Drakes, arguably the best hatch on the Deschutes. Now with the warm weather coming in the caddis hatches have gained strength and the fish feed wildly in the evening.

For the most part Travis, Harley and I have been on the water almost everyday guiding and fishing and we all agree it has been one of the best trout seasons in years. On top of the great hatches, the crowds have been minimal because of the strange weather pattern we had throughout May and June.

Of course the big news is all the steelhead piling over Bonneville and The Dalles dam ahead of schedule. We have been getting a lot of phone calls in regards to the counts as well as a lot of inquiries about recent fishing reports. The numbers do look great and for that reason my brother and I embarked on a lower river trip for 3 days to see if we could find some super early fish. We fished are asses off from 4:15 am until dark combing every good piece of steelhead water in the lower river. I know from past early season trips if you want to find fish you fish everything all day long. My report is about the same as the last several years I have done a June camp trip: SLOW. In those three days my brother and I bumped into three fish which is always awesome but we worked hard for those fish. My assessment is if you are a die hard you should hike or ride up from the mouth because all three fish were hooked in the last 6 miles of the float. With the current increase in numbers I am sure we will have a stellar season and fishing will pick up by the middle of July. Here are some recent trout photos and as soon as I get a photo of a landed steelhead I will put it up.

Salmon Fly Fishing on the Deschutes

2010-05-13T14:49:00.001-07:00

The salmon fly hatch appears to have come off about a week earlier than it normally does and the fishing right now is off the hook. If you can't find fish feeding on the big bugs right now you are definitely doing something wrong. My brother B.J., his buddy Will and I went out yesterday for about six hours to get a little trout fishing in. We started off nymphing but realized quickly, when fish ate our nymphs upon touching the water that they were were interested in adults. I pulled my dry fly rod out to just test the water and proceeded to hook 6 fish without moving upstream. From that point on we fished stone dries with tremendous success. At one spot toward the end of the day we pulled into a favorite spot of mine decided trade off the rod after each hooked fish. My brother was up first and pitched his dry six inches off a nice grass line and a fish exploded on the fly within seconds. He handed to rod off to Will and he pitched the fly into the exact same spot and a fish literally came all the way out of the water to eat it. My turn came up and I pitched it further up along the grass line right off the back end of an over hanging tree and a fish damn near ripped the rod out of my hands and tore off to center river and an epic battle ensued and I managed to pull in a beautiful 17 inch redside. We continued trading the rod off, fishing in the same spot without moving for another dozen trout. It is a rare moment when you get hook a bunch of nice trout on dries without moving. We called it a day at that point and settled into a few cold beers reveling in an amazing day of fishing.

A Belated Sandy Report

2010-04-23T10:24:00.000-07:00

I apologize for not staying up on the post but we have been busy getting ready for the up coming trout season and time is hard to come by.

The fishing on the Sandy has been strong for Travis with his clients getting into some pretty nice chrome fish with little to no river traffic. On one trip last week Travis made a new friend which is now part of his family. While parked at the first stop of the morning a young goose came floating up to the boat and decided to jump aboard. Travis let the goose hang out while he and his client had a cup of coffee. After his client finished the run, Travis put the goose back in the water and headed down river to his next spot. They pulled in and started fishing when this little goose navigated the rapids and pulled in alongside the boat and hopped back in. Travis grabbed the goose and stuck him in his wader and brought him home. His name is Pego and he now travels everywhere with Travis.

Travis had a great time at the Spey-O-Rama competition and finished tenth out of 42 competitors. He will be heading to Scotland in July to compete in the international distance competition and to chase some Atlantic salmon with the Carron boys. He is definitely jacking some big casts.

The rest of us here have had little oppurtunity to fish but our trout season will be in full swing in the couple of weeks and we will be posting more regularly with tips, techniques and reports geared toward trout fishing. Here are some pics from the last few weeks.

The Last Winter Trip for 2010

2010-03-28T13:23:00.000-07:00

We are starting to get busy over on the Deschutes and Andrew and I knew that we better get out on one last trip before we are back to the grind. We decided to head down to the North Umpqua and meet up with my buddy Rich Zellman and see if we could locate a couple of winter fish. We knew it was going to be tough because the river has been low and clear for months and was going to continue to be low and clear. The river conditions were not ideal but the weather forecast was for 70 plus degree days which sounded nice regardless of the fishing.

The fishing turned out to be tough like we had predicted. Andrew managed to find a hot fish which when on some outrageous runs but managed to come unbutton toward the end of the fight. We pounded the water for the next three days without even a sniff. With the water as low and clear as it was we expected to at least see a fish or two in their usual lies but it didn't happen. Fortunately the weather was fantastic making up for the slow fishing. It definitely didn't feel like winter fishing when the water is running at its usual summer flow and you are fishing in a T-shirt. Regardless of the fishing it was a great way to finish a winter season and now we are back out chasing trout for the next 3 months before the summer run begins poking around the mouth.

Sandy Report

2010-03-06T16:07:00.000-08:00

Travis has had some good days on the Sandy recently with one truly standout day where his clients hooked three fish. The water is still low, cold and clear but for whatever reason the fish decided it was time to start eating some flies. Of course the day after his three fish day, Travis took, John Hazel and one of his buddies out and they couldn't buy a fish. Such is winter steelheading. We are beginning to think John is jinxed on that river because he hasn't picked up a fish in his las 6 outings with Travis. Travis will be out all next week so hopefully there will be some more pics. Here are a couple to wet your appetite.

North Umpqua Weekend

2010-03-03T15:11:00.001-08:00

I decided to get out of town and go fish some of my old stomping grounds where I developed a lot of my skills in the sport. The river was not in the most ideal conditions for winter steelheading but I was tired of waiting for the rain which may never come, so I loaded the car threw the dog in the back and hit the road. I couldn't believe how nice the weather was when I rolled into the lush canyon of the North Umpqua. It had to have been around 70 degrees and I fished my first three runs in a T-shirt. In the first run I fished a huge march brown hatch came off and two steelhead, hanging out in front of a piece of bedrock, began feeding on every natural that came by. I swang my large winter fly to them several times without even a sniff. I decided to tie on skater just to see what would happen and fished over them several more times. The fish of course, ignored my offering and continued feeding on the naturals drifting by. I wish I had my trout box with me because it could have been one of those rare moments when dead drifted dries are the preferred method. I have learned my lesson.

I spent three days in all fishing my ass off hitting every run I could from the upper river to below the fly water proper. The first two days were typical winter steelhead fishing where you fish like a wild man, covering as much water as possible without the slightest sign of life. (This river is definitely the prettiest place to get skunked.) The last day the river rewarded me with two nice hook ups in some of my favorite water. The first came in the first run of the morning which I had felt drawn to the night before. I quickly slid down the trail and carefully waded out to the one rock you are able to fish this run from. Typically I expect to get my fish in this run on a long lined cast deep in the bottom end but this day the the hook up came in the first five cast, catching me by suprise. One short run a couple of head shakes and the fish threw the hook before I even I got a look at it. It felt good to get that tug even though it was short lived. I spent the rest of the day fishing water I had thought about fishing but hadn't fished in the winter time. The last run of the day presented one more oppurtunity one of those ones you wonder how the hell the fish didn't get hooked. The grab was super hard and line started racing off the reel waking my dog from his mid-day nap. I lifted the rod after 20 feet of line had taken off and there was nothing there. You gotta wonder how this happens, I suppose it is one of the many mysteries of steelhead fishing. Now I am back in fishing jail for a few days before I can sneak off again.

Flies for Cold Clear Conditions

2010-02-22T15:05:00.000-08:00

The last few weeks have been challenging on both the Sandy and Clackamas rivers because the water, even when it comes up, is remaining gin clear. This of course is due to the lack of snow on Mt. Hood which typically cloudys the water up adding a glacial tint. As a result the fishing has slowed down dramatically despite there being plenty of fish around. Fish are visible in almost every run when floating through but they are hugging the bottom and refuse to move. Tough conditions like these, although frustrating, are a great time to experiment with different flies and prestentation techniques. Everyone will have different opinion but keep in mind like so many other aspects of steelhead fishing most of it comes down to confidence.

Under these conditions I prefer to fish small drab flies in black, brown, burnt orange and olive. I want my flies to be subtle offerings that are not intrusive. Typically my low clear water flies are standard wet flies I would use for summer steelhead tied on standard 4 and 6 steelhead hooks. My favorite flies are the steelhead coachman and silver hilton because both have a buggy quality about them making them appear natural in the freshwater environment.

Andrew on the other hand takes a different approach in his fly selection. He prefers to brighten his flies up, fishing primarily pink, orange and red in smaller sizes. Some of his flies are tied on standard hooks and some are tied stinger style depending on how small he wants his fly to be. Typically the flies are weighted and he lengthens the leader on his sink-tip to allow the fly to drop in the water column quickly because fish in low conditions tend to hug the bottom.

Travis prefers two types of flies in low conditions. He has one fly that is straight black with just a touch of flash, tied on a small weighted tube. Black is one of those colors that is hard to beat in just about every situation because it presents a strong silhouette yet still looks buggy in the water. His other go to fly is a small silver and blue tube fly that just works because it does according to Travis.

As is apparent there is certainly strong variation between three of us and what we have confidence in in low clear water. The only strong conclusion that can be drawn is that you need to believe in the fly you tie on a fish it as if you will hook a fish on every cast.

Switch Rods

2010-02-19T15:40:00.000-08:00

I have recently been having a lot of conversations about switch rods and more specifically about switch rods being a good transition between a single handed rod and a double handed rod. A great deal of adverstising and marketing has gone into touting switch rods as a great way to get into spey casting. I have to disagree with these claims having put switch rods into a lot of new casters hands on guide days. This is not to say switch rods don't have an application but they certainly are not the easiest way to get into two-handed casting.

The most common issue I have seen with switch rods and new double handed casters is, new casters have a hard time feeling the rod load and thus struggle with the timing of the cast. Switch rods tend to be fairly stout sticks primarily because they are shorter, making it difficult to feel the pull of the D-Loop. In addition, because the rods are shorter the line will settle more quickly on the water if the forward stroke is not executed with fairly precise timing. The added stick on the water, particularly with floating lines, dampens the line speed which typically results in a pretty hideous cast. And as any spey caster knows, when you are learning to cast, it takes time to figure out the timing.

My suggestion for new casters is to invest in a spey rod in the 6 to 7 weight range with a length between 12 and 13.5 ft. Also make sure the rod bends deep into the cork so that you can feel the load of the line in the rod. The additional length will give you more room for error because the line will not settle as quickly on the water. There are some great inexpensive rods in this range that are perfect for the begining spey caster and quite frankly some of these rods could easily compete with many of the higher end rods. My favorite rods that won't cost you an arm and a leg are the Echo TR two-handers. They load deep into the cork and cast beautifully with both scandinavian shooting heads as well as skagit lines and will more than likely be a rod you keep in your arsenal for a long time.

Hardy Marksman Drifter - A Rebirth of the Single Handed Rod

2010-02-08T15:18:00.000-08:00

Yesterday I got a chance to try the new 11 ft. 6 weight Hardy Marksman Drifter Rod set up with a Wulff Ambush line and I am seriously considering giving up my two-handed rod for summer steelhead fishing. This rod is lighter then most standard 6 weight rods and casts beautifully from the leader cast to a clean 80 ft. Now this rod is not a switch rod despite its length, it is a true single handed 6 weight and I cast it as such. I used spey casts with a double haul to generate the line speed needed to cast 80 ft. but the rod required little to no effort to accomplish this distance. I had one of our clients cast the rod to see how it would perform in the hands of someone who doesn't spend every free moment fishing and he was jacking further then most steelhead lies on the Deschutes River. If anyone is interested in trying this rod and line combo out we will be at the Portland Sportsmen show this Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday and we will have this set up with us. I have no doubt that anyone who gets a chance to try this bad boy out will see the potential.

Beulah 6126-4 Platinum Series

2010-02-02T15:49:00.000-08:00

The Beulah Platinum series 6wt spey rod is hands down my favorite rod for summer fishing with a floating line and winter fishing for smaller winter steelhead. I have tried a lot of 6 weights and have always found them enjoyable with a floating line but lacking when I put on the skagit line, sink-tip and larger flies. The Beulah rod handles sink-tips and larger flies suprisingly well. This last trip on the John Day, I put on my large lead-eyed intruder just to see if the rod could handle a large weighted fly. I did not feel limited at all by a fly I typically consider too much for most 6 weight rods. The ability of this rod to be a versatile fishing tool can be attributed to the fast recovering tip section that doesn't buckle when you put more power into the cast to turn over larger flies. Another nice feature of this rod is the overall weight of the rod which is not too much heavier than your typical six weight single handed rod. I never feel tired after fishing this rod all day like I can with other rods on the market. The only challenge is finding reel that balances well with the rod. I personally use a Hardy Bougle Lightweight 3 3/4 which seems to match well but I know there are other options. If you haven't had a chance to cast one of these rods I would suggest you try one out and see for yourself how sweet this rod is.

January on the John Day

2010-02-01T16:15:00.000-08:00

Andrew, Travis and I decided to forgo the Sandy this weekend and go check out some areas of the John Day river we had not fished. We decided to leave the boats at home and just go road fishing for a change to save on shuttle fees. After a long drive through snow covered passes we arrived at the stretch we had in mind. As is usual on a new stretch of water, we spent a large part of the first day driving around to get a lay of the land periodically stopping to fish runs that could not be passed up. Travis hooked up three times in one of the first runs of the day giving Andrew and I hope. Unfortunately, Andrew and I did not even get a sniff. Travis rounded to the day off with one more fish in the last hour of light. Andrew and I faired better the next day with each of us finding one fish while Travis, in usual fashion, found two. The quality of fish was quite good considering the amount of time these fish have already spent in fresh water. It definitely feels strange to fish for a "summer run" fish in January although these fish don't show up in numbers until November and continue trickling in through January. Here a few pics to wet your appetite.

John Day and Sandy Update

2010-01-27T16:15:00.000-08:00

Fishing has been pretty strong this week on both the John Day and Sandy rivers. Andrew snuck over to the John Day for an afternoon to look at water clarity and level. The water clarity was not perfect but there was about 3 feet which is plenty to hook a fish. He wandered down to one of his favorite runs and quickly stuck a nice 8 lb. buck that put up a hell of fight. The fish was still in great shape for this late in the season. I am sure he would have found more fish but he called it good and came back to Maupin after fishing only one run.

Travis has been out on the Sandy a few times this week and has had some great fishing by winter standards. The fish are definitely coming up in waves and you either hit a wave or don't. Yesterday, Travis and his brother went out and hooked 3 fish right out of the gate in the first run they fished. They spent the rest of the day pounding every piece of water with not even a sniff. They happened to be in the right place at the right time. Hopefully the rivers stay in shape this weekend.

Sink-Tips and Presentation for Winter Steelhead

2010-01-25T16:06:00.000-08:00

I have been answering a lot questions about what sink-tips you need and under what conditions to use a particular tip? Both are valid questions and the array of different sink-tips available is a bit overwhelming. If I had to simplify things I would have a Type 3, Type 6, 10' of T-14 and 12' of T-14. Most of the other tips available are, for the most part, designed for specific uses. But keep in mind that tip selection is often a subjective decision based on ones personal preferences. Out of the gate, on 99 percent of winter rivers I have fished, I inevitably start with a Type 6 sink-tip. A type 6 tip will get the fly down, in most cases, without being on the bottom, thus avoiding hanging up which drives me crazy. In addition, a type 6 can be easily adapted to different runs by simply changing the size and weight of the fly you are fishing. If the water is faster I will put on a heavier fly and so on.

For the most part the depth of the fly is not as important as the speed at which the fly swings. I noticed that Marty Shepard recently posted a similar statement on his blog and he is absolutely right. In cold water, fish seem less likely to move as far laterally as they will vertically in the water column. Watch gear guys fish pink worms on the Sandy river and you will get clear picture of what I am talking about. I have been out several times swinging a run to no avail when a gear boat will pull in, usually across the river. The anglers get out pitch there pink worm, suspended 3 to 4 feet under a bobber, 10 ft. from the bank and hook 6 or 7 fish in the time it takes me to fish the run. Those fish are moving to the pink worm vertically rather then laterally. To achieve a slow swing, you need to make slow controlled mends holding the rod out over the river to get the fly to creep across the current encouraging the fish to move vertically to the fly. You do not want to have slack in the line because it will quickly belly out. Keep in mind that the surface currents are moving quicker then deeper currents. It takes a little practice but with a little work in controlling the speed of the fly you will start see results fairly quickly.

Sandy Report

2010-01-21T16:32:00.001-08:00

I finally got a chance to talk to Travis about his guide day earlier this week and the fishing was outstanding. The river flow and clarity were perfect and they managed to hook 3 fish. One fish, in particular, put up a hell of a show. The fish grabbed hard and was immediately into the backing threatening to leave the pool which is long pool. It began cartwheeling in the deep recesses of the tailout. Travis' client managed to get the fish under control and had the fish up pretty close when it decided it had enough and quickly took off back toward the tail were it broke 12lb maxima. Travis, having had a good look at the fish, estimated it to be about 15 lbs. and just nickle bright.

The river is still in great shape and I will probably have to sneak over there this weekend to see if I can connect with one of these chromers. The picture above is a nice 5 lb. Sandy steelhead that Travis picked up on Monday and he said that, despite its size, it fought as hard as the that huge fish he got last week. Below is his client Dan Mask tied into the big one.

Big Flies that are Easy to Cast

2010-01-20T13:45:00.000-08:00

I love fishing bigger flies in the winter, not because they are necessarily more effective, but because they allow me to create flies with lots of movement that I know the fish cannot miss. The difficulty with big flies has been finding the right materials to make them come to life, hold a large profile and still be fairly easy to cast. There are so many flies on the market right now with lots of good characteristics but feel like wet towels when you try to cast them. Finding the balance between materials, weight, bulk, size and castability is a difficult proposition.

This is why the majority of the guide staff here have been tying flies modeled after European Atlantic Salmon tube flies that utitlize materials like arctic fox, temple dog and finn racoon that puff up in the water without adding unnecessary bulk to fly. This style of fly is also easy to tie in a reasonable amount of time compared to a more traditional intruder pattern which can take over 30 minutes to tie. Check out the link below to see one how Travis ties one of these flies he calls "Shades of Winter".

2010-01-18T14:55:00.000-08:00

The Deschutes River has finally muddied up due to some excessive rain fall last night that caused the tributaries along the entire length of the river to swell and puke. Fortunately the Sandy river has crested and begun dropping and fish are moving in. Travis was out yesterday for a few hours and picked up a nice chrome fish and his brother had another one on for few seconds. He is out today with a client and we have not heard how his day is going but the river seems to be in great shape. I will give a more thorough update on the Sandy tomorrow after I talk to Travis.
The steelhead on the Deschutes have begun to push their way up the major spawning tributaries. The ODFW wiers have had fish in them everyday and with the high water we are experiencing now I am sure the wiers are filling up. Stay tuned for a more thorough update and hopefully some photos for tomorrow.

John Day Update

2010-01-16T12:25:00.000-08:00

Travis, Charles, Andrew and I have been keeping our eye on the John Day river in hopes that it would come into shape. Well to the best of our knowledge using USGS streamflow we thought the river would be in shape so we packed up the rig and the boats and headed off on a four day float. When we got to the river we had about one foot of visibility but we thought that in the next four days it ought to clear up a little so we shoved off. The first two days we fished pretty hard despite the terrible water clarity, applying all our off-color water tactics in the hopes of a sign of life. That sign of life never came and we just accepted the fact that we were now on a floating /camping trip. We did some pictograph hunting, a few side hikes and just enjoyed the pleasantly warm weather for the remaining two days. Travis did take a lot of great scenic photos that really captured the awe inspiring beauty of the John Day canyon. If the weather ever stabilizes the river should at some point clear up and hopefully a new wave of fish will be there.

New Years on the Northern California Coast

2010-01-06T13:14:00.001-08:00

The Southern Oregon and Northern California coast had a perfect weather window over the holidays and my brother, Rich and I took advantage of the situation. We drove down at a blistering speed to maximize the little time we had before the rivers were scheduled to blowout. The first two days we had great weather with the sun even making a brief appearance coupled with perfect water conditions. The first day we stopped at one of Rich's favorite tailouts and stood around chain smoking waiting for the fish to show. Rich claimed that we had arrived at the perfect time when the fish begin to settle into the tailout. Within minutes of this bold claim, the fish started visibly moving in to the various pieces of structure and we counted at least a dozen fish. We began casting hoping that at least one was a player. Rich sent his fly over to a long bedrock shelf jutting out from the far side of the river with three chromers visibly holding in its deepest recesses. The fly began its journey along the shelf and one of the fish moved up and latched onto the fly. Rich jerked up on the rod only to feel a momentary handshake. "What the fuck" he exclaimed. He quickly brought the fly up and realized that his hook had fouled on the leader. He and I made several more casts before it was dark without another sniff.

The next day proved to be the best day of the trip. We found ourselves back at the same tailout as the night before and sure enough there were fish holding on the far bank. Rich quickly began casting to them hoping that one would express some interest. I patiently watched for over a half hour and decided to head down to the next run. I wandered down to a beautiful run situated between to solid class 5 rapids. I took a look around from the top of a small cliff and didn't see anything milling around. I decided to make some casts just in case some fish decided to move in. After about fifty casts covering every piece of structure in the run I felt a subtle bump and then another. Then the reel started screaming toward the edge of the tailout. Thinking the fish was going to leave the pool, I cranked the drag down all the way figuring I would either keep him in the pool or break him off. Fortunately he stayed put and began cartwheeling from one side of the pool to the other. After a 5 minute tug-of-war session I finally beached a beautiful 14 to 15lb buck. This fish was a gladiator and lived up to the reputation these fish have on this particular river. Unfortunately I was by myself with no camera so you have to take my word for it.

Rich, on the other hand, was not so lucky. He finally managed to hook one in the tailout up above and the fish threatened time and again to go barreling over the rapid. And after having the damn fish at our feet (check out the picture down below), he took off right into the rapid and quickly broke off. These fish are awesome and have no problem using the river to their advantage. In fact most of the steelhead on this river are built more like chinook with deep sides then a streamlined torpedo steelhead.

That was it for hooked steelhead but my brother managed to hook a nice bright chinook 3 miles from the salt that took forever to bring to hand. Fortunately he was fishing a 9wt spey rod with 250 yds. of backing on the reel. This fish rounded our trip out beautifully with everyone hooking up, which on this river is pure luck. Rich fishes this river 40 days a year in the hopes of hooking 10 to 15 fish and landing half of them. So our trip was as good as it gets. The river then blewout from a torrential down pour rising from 3,500 cfs to 60,000 cfs overnight. I can't wait to get back there when it comes back into shape. Here are a few photos.

Sandy River 2010

2010-01-05T16:11:00.000-08:00

The Sandy river was in shape yesterday and by all accounts the fishing was good. Travis floated and picked up a fish close to, if not, 20lbs. You can tell from the glowing smile that this is definitely a fish of a life time. Travis had one other grab throughout the day and pulled off early to get out of the torrential down pour. My brother B.J. was also out yesterday and picked up two fish in one run and had a few more grabs throughout the day. Unfortunately the Sandy blew out today but as soon as it is back in shape we will be out there. Travis will be guiding the Sandy throughout the winter so give the shop a call if you are interested in a trip. It is certainly nice to have a beautiful winter steelhead river with grabby wild fish in the backyard. Here are Travis' photos.

Happy New Year from the Deschutes

2010-01-04T15:13:00.000-08:00

Happy new year. We hope everyone had safe and fun holiday season with a few fishing days shoved in between family events. Our apologies for not posting any updates over the holidays but nobody was around.

Travis spent sometime fishing around the Olympic Peninsula fishing anything that had more than six inches of visibility. He said that it was tough going given the muddy conditions but despite the conditions he managed to find two nice fish in Sol Duc. He also put a couple days in on the Sandy under poor conditions and came up empty handed. He did fish the Sandy today and found a nice fish that was pushing 20 pounds which bodes well for the weeks to come.

Charles and Harley arrived back in town safely from a 25 day float trip down the Grand Canyon. The trip sounded like a blast and for the most part they encountered zero glitches along the way. They only flipped one raft the entire time which is good considering nobody in the group had been down the Canyon before.

Andrew spent the holidays on the east coast catching up with family and friends. It sounded fun but fairly uneventful. All I know is he is dying to go fishing as soon as he catches up on all his office work.

I (Evan) spent the holidays on the Southern Oregon coast with my brother and friend Rich Zellman, chasing the early run of winter steelhead sneaking into the river mouths. I managed to time my trip perfectly with the water dropping and fresh fish moving in. Everyone hooked and landed fish including several chrome bright steelhead and a chrome chinook. I will have pictures by the end of week. Stay tuned for more trip updates which I will be posting throughout the week.

Skagit Lines

2009-12-19T10:29:00.000-08:00

We have been getting a lot of phone calls from people looking to get a Skagit line for their rod or rods and the same questions keep popping up. Most of the questions revolve around why Skagit heads are typically heavier than the floating shooting heads commonly used and why there is so many different recommendations for the same rod. The idea behind the Skagit line is to have short heavy line that makes casting sink-tips and big flies easier. Most manufacturers are now making lines in 25 to 30 grain increments with varying lengths depending on the weight of the line. The idea behind varying the length with the grain weight is to maintain a certain mass in the line. That way light Skagit lines in the 350 to 450 grain range will still have enough grains per foot to turnover T-14 and lead eyed flies. In addition, typically these lighter Skagit lines are matched with shorter rods and the shorter the head the easier it is to move the line around.

Skagit lines are typically much heavier then floating shooting heads because you want to utilize the whole flex of the rod to maximize the overall load. The more loaded the rod is, the more energy you release on the forward stroke. If you plan on using heavy sink-tips and weighted flies you need this energy to generate high line speed to turn both the tip and the fly over. If you are usually using lighter tips and unweighted flies, you don't need as much load to generate enough line speed to turn the tip and fly over.

The discrepancy in Skagit line recommendations for the same rod is due in large part to the fact that most rods have a fairly large grain window. For example, a Winston 7133-4 will cast anything from 480 gn Skagit line to 650 gn skagit line. The amount of energy put into the casting stroke changes depending on the weight of the line. If I put a 480 gn Skagit line on the Winston I will have to have a more agressive casting stroke to make up for the lighter load on the rod. Whereas a 650gn skagit line will require a slow and gentle casting stroke so the rod does not overload and collapse. I personally use 570gn Compact Skagit on this rod because for my casting stroke I feel I get the perfect load with the pace that I prefer to cast at. Travis on the other hand, prefers a 500 to 510 grain Skagit line because he has an aggressive casting stroke. So depending on one's personal casting stroke, he or she may need a heavier or lighter line.

All said and done there really is not the perfect Skagit line for a particular rod so when you are shopping for your next Skagit line try different lines with the tips and flies you prefer to fish to dial in the line that is perfect for you.

Backlogged John Day Trip

2009-12-18T13:03:00.000-08:00

I have been tryting to get this backlogged John Day trip I took over Thanksgiving weekend up but my buddies who took the majority of the pictures have not followed through getting the photos to me. I have thus decided to post our trip with the limited photos I have.

Thanksgiving weekend was a perfect oppurtunity for me (Evan) and my buddies Ryan Peterson from the Redding Fly Shop and Rich Zellman who guides the North Umpqua and Rogue in Southern Oregon, to get together and do a little fishing. So I organized a four day float on the John Day. We took off Thanksgiving morning at the crack of dawn and made a two hour drive with three dudes, two dogs and two boats in my Toyota Tacoma which was a tight squeeze. We managed to get to the boat ramp in a reasonable amount of time and without any flats which was a miracle. We lazily loaded the boats and took off by 10 a.m. We quickly came to a piece water within a 1/4 mile of the launch. I made a quick pass through with no sucess and Rich followed close behind to pick my pocket with his new top secret fly known only as the Prom dress.

The fish was nice five pound chromer that put a show on, taking line and bombing out of the water only to wear itself out. You couldn't start a trip off any better. We began heading down the river and quickly came across another great piece of water. Ryan quickly stuck two fish back to back off the one obvious boulder in the middle of the river. Two runs down and three fish to the beach we were into them. We continued down leap frogging one another and hooked a fish, if not multiple fish, in every run.

We couldn't ask for better fishing. The only hang up was we had only traveled 6 of 44 miles by dark. Oh well we figured we would just make up some of those miles the next day. Well we didn't make those mile up because the fishing continued to be outstanding on the second day and we again only floated a small portion of what we needed to. Why leave fish to find fish right. Unfortunately this led to two miserably long days of rowing with only a run or two fished amongst the group, so needless to say the fishing slowed down. We passed so many great looking pieces of water and spooked fish in over a dozen runs. But we managed to get to the take out in four days with sore shoulders and beat backs. If only the John Day was higher gradient. Well that about sums the trip up. Ryan took video on the trip and hopefully at some point in the future there will be a short film so stay tuned. Here are a few other photos I managed to squeeze out of my guide buddies.

Simm Muck Boot Waders are a MUST

2009-12-17T16:19:00.000-08:00

I have to plug a product that has been one of my favorite pieces of fishing equipment over the last few months. Over the last few months I have spent more days fishing and camping in cold conditions bearing the elements than I have in my climate controlled dwelling. And for the most part I would say that I have been more than comfortable despite the weather. Out of all the gear I own for cold weather fishing nothing has proven itself as more fundamental than a pair of Simms Muck Boot waders. Having warm feet throughout the day of fishing makes the whole experience more enjoyable. I can fish longer and harder without being distracted by cold numb feet resulting in better fishing and a higher rate of success. I was initially reluctant because other boot foot waders kept my feet warm but were hard as hell to wade in because my feet would slip around inside the boot. The Simms Muck Boot waders on the other hand have a neoprene cuff between the boot and the wader that compresses when submerged locking the boot to your foot making wading a breeze. If you plan on fishing in cold conditions the Muck Boot wader is worth every penny.

Deschutes still has some bright ones!

2009-12-16T12:18:00.000-08:00

Andrew, Travis and I spent the last couple days fishing the Deschutes (the only river not frozen over out here) and it fished suprisingly well. We hooked multiple fish everyday with a handful of grabs in between. The weather warmed up considerably which, in turn, warmed the water up and put the fish back on the bite. The quality of the fish was a clean 50/50 split between old dark fish and hot bright fish. All of the dark fish were of hatchery origin while all of the bright fish were wild. Of course we were the only anglers on the river and had our first choice of water. The majority of the activity happened between noon and dark which is my kind of steelhead hours. We found them in the slowest parts of whatever run we were in. The fish were not in their usual summer haunts so look for the slow water. As far as fly selection is concerned they seemed to grab just about anything you threw at them. Travis fished a traditional Akroyd in a blue and yellow combination tied on 1.5 Alec Jackson standard wire. Andrew fished his personal fly he calls "Andy's Candy" in a black and blue variation. I fished a 5 inch long bunny leech I call the "Kaliedscope" a blend of chartreuse, blue, purple and black with plenty of flash and we all had about the same action. If you are suffering cabin fever get your ass out here because the fishing continues to be good and it is one of the only fisheries with adequate flow, clarity and water temps. Sure these are not the chrome winter brutes we are all dreaming about but these fish are a great substitute for sitting around and watching T.V. all day. Here are the missing pictures from this post.

Deschutes Fishing is Picking Up

2009-12-12T15:30:00.000-08:00

The Deschutes has been fishing well today according to a few fellow anglers that braved the icy conditions to chase some steelhead. The temperature has warmed up considerably which certainly raised the water temps a degree or two. Because of the Pelton Round Butte dam the Deschutes does not have ice flows like many other rivers right now. In fact the water coming out of the dam is warmer than the Deschutes here in Maupin. This bodes well for the coming week were temps are supposed to be above freezing during the day and teetering at the freezing level at night. Travis and I (Evan) will be heading out tomorrow to see if there are any grabbers in some of our favorite water.

The key to fishing the Deschutes this time of year is to target slower moving water. Many of those great summer runs are just too fast given current conditions. For example, the heads of riffles and the tailouts are probably going to be too swift this time of year but the gut of the run when the water is at its slowest is a likely winter holding lie. Think current speed before structure when looking for holding water this time of year. There are still some bright fish in the system (October Brights) even this late in the game. Three years ago, the best fishing of the season was December because many of our late wild fish showed up later than usual for whatever reason. If you don't have anything else going on and need to fish zip on out to the Deschutes. Below is a photo of a fish I caught on December 14th two years ago. If I remember correctly, Andrew and I hooked 5 or 6 fish that day and everyone was bright. If I get a chance I will post a report tomorrow. Evan

Walking Class IV Rapids on the John Day

2009-12-11T11:22:00.000-08:00

John, Andrew, Bob and I set off for a three day camp trip on the John Day River the first week of December hoping to bump into the wave of fish I had encountered over Thanksgiving weekend. Knowing the water was low, we took a minimalist approach to keep the boats nice and light. An ample amount of whiskey coupled with just enough meat to sustain us, we loaded the truck planning on some cold camping. We left at 5:30am and drove 1.5 hours on ice covered roads to the put in. The river looked great and we quickly pulled the boats off the trailer and loaded them up and took off. We spent the first 1.5 hours rowing through the "John Day Lakes" hoping the next bend would yield a good piece of water. John and Bob found the first good piece of water and quickly jacked two nice fish, but unfortunately no one had a camera. We figured we would be hooking fish the whole time so we would get photos later (our plan failed). We fished a few other spots and found fish in every piece of water. The adventure really begins at this juncture when we entered the top of the infamous Clarno rapids. Being cocky professional oarsmen we figured it would require a little picking and we would be done with it. What we quickly realized about this 3/4 mile long rapid is that there was not enough water to even row. From the scouting point we tried to decipher the best line to shove the boats through. No problem...right? The first boulder garden was a pain in the ass yet manageable but the second proved to be a worthy advesary. John and Bob were able to shove their boat through in just under an hour. Andrew and I (in the big boat) were fucked. I don't think our boat moved one inch without the two of us exerting every ounce of energy. The bottom end of the rapid is a wall of house-sized boulders with just enough space to potentially shove the big boat through. Of course our boat got stuck in a very precarious part of the rapid that was deep and fast making it difficult to push on the boat. We almost lost Bob at this point when the boat quickly spun around and pinned him briefly to a rock (sorry Bob). Fortunately we were able to retrieve him before any serious damage was done. That last 15 feet of the rapid took all four bodies about a half an hour to line the boat through.

Soaked in sweat and exhausted we decided that it was time for camp and several tall whiskeys to ease the pain. Andrew, our Choctaw companion, wanted to keep fishing so he headed for the tailout in front of camp with only 20 minutes of light left. Midway through our second whiskey John hears the famous Choctaw woop and low and behold Andrew is hooked up and proceeds to land a beautiful fish.

The camping was damn cold and a good fire with lots of booze was the only way to survive. Evening lows were definitely closing in on single digits and highs were just breaking freezing. The river continued to drop making the float a physically demanding expedition. We managed to find a few more fish but not as many as the first day. Andrew hooked the last fish of the trip in 35 degree water which goes to show wild fish will eat in all conditions. Here are few other photos from the trip minus fish porn (we learned our lesson).

The Arctic Blast of 09'

2009-12-10T15:09:00.000-08:00

We are still in the midst of a cold spell here in Maupin which leaves little room for a glowing fishing story. There are still a few people running around trying to conjurer a steelhead to the fly in this "arctic blast" but we have not heard of any success stories. Andrew, John and I are holding down the fort in fishing prison although it is a hell of a lot nicer than outside. It sounds like the weather is going to let up next week and Andrew and I will certainly find somewhere to fish for a few days. I am working on the back logged John Day reports and will have at least one of the three trip reports up by tomorrow. You can check out a few of the photos on the shops fishing report. Below is a photo of a wild John Day steelhead which is certainly unique to the drainage. Notice the large spots and light green back. If you look closely at the pectoral fins you will see spots running along the front edge of each fin which is certainly a defining characteristic of this specific drainage. These fish are awesome and the majority are chrome bright. If the weather will just warm-up mixed with a little moisture we will be back out there. Until tommorow. Evan

B.C. or Bust 2009

2009-12-09T12:23:00.000-08:00

I know that many of our clients and friends have inquired into Andrew and I's (Evan) recent trip to Smithers, B.C. that we took at the beginning of November. Fortunately for us, we managed to avoid the bitter cold that northern B.C. is famous for and found multiple bright fish everyday of our trip despite high, off-colored water. Apparently the Bulkley river was at an all-time low during the majority of the prime fishing season leaving most fish quietly waiting in the Skeena for higher water. Three days before our arrival to the Bulkley, rain and warm weather brought the river up several feet and the fish came racing in offering us prime fishing conditions.

Andrew and I left for Smithers prompltly after my last guide trip on November 2nd and hit the road for a grueling 26 hour drive that we planned on doing in one push. We quickly realized that we were not capable of that many hours in a car and got a hotel in the small town of 100 Mile House, BC after only 18 hours of driving. A couple of nips off the old whiskey bottle and we were out cold.
We woke early and continued our journey and arrived in Smither's around 5 p.m. We stocked the cooler at the local Safeway and headed west to find a camp spot which was eventually accomplished once we found the right random dirt road to take. We set up camp in the dark right in the middle of the boat launch which we realized a few days later when a truck pulling a jet boat drove right through the middle of camp.

The water on the first day was a turbid brown color with less than a foot of visibility. Great, I thought, we have journeyed 26 hours to steelhead paradise and the river is blown out. Fortunately for me, I had success on the Dean river in July in similar conditions so I was still confident things were going to happen. Andrew on the other hand was shaken and wanted nothing more than clear water. The first day, as we expected was more driving around and getting lost in the impenetrable forests than fishing, and needless to say we found great water but saw zero action.

On day 2 we ventured upriver from our camp on a nasty logging road that required some serious mudding followed by a long hike upriver that landed us on our most productive piece of water throughout the course of the week. Andrew started us off with a Choctaw woop as a nice fish took off down river. I quickly reeled up and began running up to Andrew and before I had made it half-way I heard the echoing sound of "Fuck!!!!!!!!" The fish was gone and Andrew was bleeding from where his running line had cut his finger in an attempt to free the crossed line from his reel. Somehow his running line crossed over itself and froze the reel and the fish broke off. I offered some words of encouragement and went back to the bottom of the run and began fishing again. It couldn't have been more than 20 casts and my fly was annihalated by a bright Bulkley fish which went screaming into the middle of the river. I quickly pulled the rod toward the bank and put pressure on the fish and here is the result.

I stepped back into the water and made another dozen casts and boom I had another fish on that was much heavier than the first. It went on one long run than came in close for a little mexican standoff. Unfortunately the fish threw the fly as I got him into the shallows.

The next day we decided to fish the Skeena and set off to find a run that had been suggested to us by several knowledgeable anglers. It took awhile but we managed to locate it and the sheer size of this run was daunting. This run could easily be a mile long and the idea of covering the whole thing was painful. I opted for the top and Andrew wandered down the empty flood plain until he was a mere speck on the horizon. Of course, Andrew steps into the longest run either of us has ever fished and makes 12 casts and hooks a fish. And of course it is the only fish hooked all day. Only Andrew can pull something like this off, it must be that Choctaw blood that allows him to sniff out the steelhead.

The remainder of the trip continued at about the same pace with Andrew and I hooking multiple fish each day with Andrew managing to find all the big ones. He landed the two largest fish of the trip one that was 18.5 pounds and another around 16 pounds. I hooked a few here and there but only landed a few more. Here are a few more pics of the fish we manage to get to the bank.

All and all we got lucky with both the weather and the fishing given what November in Smithers can be like. We managed to remain camped out the whole time surviving on Mac n' Cheese, Hamburger Helper and a couple bottles of whiskey. It was tough to wrap the trip up and head back home but we had no choice if we wanted to keep our jobs. So we packed and hit the road only to drive along the Thompson river where we actually considered trying to fish by telling John and Amy we hit a moose and the car wouldn't be ready for a week. Unfortunately neither one of us had the balls to call and deliver this message so we continued back to Maupin where we were promptly punished with several days in fishing prison (i.e. the fly shop). Until next year.

Breaking New Ground

2009-12-08T16:34:00.000-08:00

We will be in the process of getting this new blog going over the next couple of weeks. The first few installments will chronicle several fishing adventures we had during the month of November including a recent B.C. trip that Evan and Andrew took and a couple of wild John Day trips that included as much rowing and portaging as they do fishing. Stay tuned . . . . .