Adams Caddis and Catching Trout.

As most of you know, I recently (back in January) took up the art of tying flies.  Personally, I had no idea that it would become such an involved hobby.  Even more recently, (mid April) I began to finally take up tying dry flies.    Some of you who know me, know that I am not one to start terribly easy,  I have been known to over-challenge myself from time to time.  Instead of starting with something relatively easy, such as an elk hair caddis, I started off with Bloom’s Parachute Caddis.  Not exactly an elk hair caddis, and not exactly a Parachute Adams, but somewhere in between.   It is a wonderful pattern created by Dave Bloom, on which I have caught many trout.

Caddis Flies

Once I began tying the Bloom’s Parachute Caddis, the natural progression was to tie the standard caddis, as a change of pace.  I have mastered neither, but I have gotten fairly proficient at both.   I have also dabbled a little in tying a Parachute Adams.  Which, by far, seems to me, the most difficult fly I’ve tied to date.    I refuse to tie midge patterns, as I nearly refuse to fish with a fly so small I need a magnifying glass to tie the tippet onto the fly, and use a tippet that makes spider silk look thick.  8’s 10’s 12’s 14’s 16’s<–(smallest I’ll tie) 18’s  are plenty small for me!

Flies and Vise

This time of year, I tend to want to be outside much more than inside.  The weather is warming, the trees and flowers are blooming, and the bigger bugs are coming out.  The past couple of days, I’ve headed out to the river after work to get a couple hours in on the water.  Recently ODFW released about 20 zillion steelhead smolts into the Middle Fork of the Willamette.   Which makes fishing trips more like catching trips.   On most of my excursions, I have managed to catch a native amongst the myriad of smolts.  It does make for interesting times being out with my newly tied dries catching fish and the occasional native, which just reinforces that my flies are working as prescribed!

The flies pictured here, are my variant of Bloom’s Parachute Caddis (the ones with the orange post) and Deer Hair Caddis.   They are tied on #10 TMC 100  a custom dubbing blend for a McKenzie Caddis green.  Mostly deer hair and a couple I tied with elk hair.  These are the big spring bug  size ranges from 12-8.

Get out and enjoy the day!

This weekend marks opening day of trout for most of the Willamette Zone fisheries.   I’ll be searching for solitude!

Have a great weekend

Dave

Fly Fishing, Conservation and Respect

I had every intention of this post being about my quest for big fish, however, something else came to mind and I quickly changed topics.  You can be assured that the aforementioned topic will show up at a later date.

Being a recent convert to fly fishing, my thinking and perspectives have undergone several drastic changes.   Learning a bit of entomology and how important those creepy crawlers and flying demon spawn are to the rivers, lakes and streams, I’ve come to a realization.   That realization is, it’s not only the fish we need to protect, but it’s everything down to those microscopic organisms that most people will never see.  The thing is, and we as people need to remember, a food chain/pyramid is build from the bottom up.  On the bottom are all of those things that most of us never see nor even know is there.   The algae, diatoms, and other single celled organisms that provide the creepy crawlers and flying demon spawn food and allow them to thrive.   Most of those creepy crawling and flying demonoids provide many fish and other animals with forage.   The other animals and fish provide larger animals and larger fish with forage, so on and so forth until the entire food chain is built and here we, humans, sit pretty much on top of the food chain.

What we fail to realize is, that without the little guy, we’re pretty well screwed, and so is everything else.   I never really thought much about it until recently.  We, people, get all worked up when a whale beaches itself, or some jackass goes and poaches a panda.  Thing is, we as a whole, don’t care about the algae, diatoms, and other out of this world tiny critters that dwell in the water.   I’m merely saying we should, because without those little critters, we’ve pretty much got nothing.   If all the algae and plankton were wiped out of the oceans, all of the oceans would become a barren wasteland.  Same thing for rivers, lakes and streams.  This means no fish, no fishing, no nothing.  Many land based animals depend on those little critters just as much as the fish do.

As I have progressed as a fly-angler, not only do I see the value of these creepy critters and flying demon-spawn as fish food, but as a healthy body of water full of nutrients to sustain a population of those things we, as fly anglers imitate and try to fool a wary fish with.

Another blog post from Rebecca http://www.outdooress.com/ got me thinking and really doing a little soul searching.   While on the topic of conservation, I think I’ll throw in a little personal ethics here.    Our fish be it a rainbow, brook, bull, brown, cutt, or any other trout, char, salmonid or any other fish that we seek for sport angling should be treated with respect.  Whether you plan on keeping your catch or releasing it from where you caught it.   I don’t mean to sound preachy, but show a little respect.   Be it a steelhead or salmon that just made a few thousand mile journey, or a resident rainbow, or a predatory largemouth or an elusive striper, give the fish some respect.  After all, you’re out there trying to catch them, if you don’t respect them, they may not be there in the future for you to enjoy them.

I believe everybody is responsible for conservation efforts.  Conservation should be practiced by all regardless.  In a perfect world, I wouldn’t be talking about this, but this ain’t a perfect world.   We, as a whole, look to our government and agencies to be the voice of conservation.  While really it is up to us.  Conservation begins with each person.   Each person makes a decision whether to squander the resources or conserve them.   Personally, I am not a meat hunter, rarely I will bring a fish home for me and the kids,  (Mrs. Monster doesn’t eat fish) but only a fish of hatchery origin.  Each native fish I encounter, deserves my utmost respect.  That fish has been grown from a tiny egg in the wild waters of the river.  That fish has scrapped for each meal, and survived other predatory fish, birds of prey, and in some instances even its own parents.   These fish are true survivors and are worthy of every ounce of respect.   It saddens me to see someone mis-treat these fish whether they “inadvertently” gullet hook it because they’re using “bait” or whether it’s blatant mis-treatment.   Each of us makes a choice, my choice is to fly fish, and while I covet the tug of the fish on the other end, I make the choice to respect whatever may end up on the other end.  Hatchery, native, hybrid, whitefish, squawfish,  undesirable species, or otherwise,  receives my respect.

I know I’ve rambled on but these are issues that plague me and are the topic for much heated debate in many circles.  So, this is where I stand, be mindful of  the creepy crawlers and flying demon-spawn, treat each fish with respect,  respect the water, and make sure conservation begins within one’s self.

Until next time,

Dave

Fly Tying, Fly Fishing, and Flying.

First fish on 3/13/10

Second redside caught 3/13/10

It’s been a while since my last post, as I have been “busy” at the tying bench.  Lately, the obsession of tying has more than overcome my obsession of writing (really isn’t an obsession but it is enjoyable).   Too many flies and too little time, I say.  For the moment, I’m taking a break from the tying bench to recant a few happenings and goings on as of late.

3/13/10 was a homecoming of sorts.   I returned to one of my favorite places on the McKenzie River.  On a cold Saturday morning, early (around 7:30am)I coaxed 2 fish onto my nymph within 5 minutes of each other.   Here, I was sure that this day was going to be spectacular, boy was I wrong.  Those were the only 2 fish that I touched all day.  Both fish are wild/native McKenzie River Redside Rainbows.

3/14/10 I returned to Lake Creek, as there had been some major rain the previous week, and the river was blown out on 3/13 but dropping into shape quickly.  Not much to speak of early in the day.  After 1:00pm  things began to turn on.  I landed 6 or 7 cuts, and by 5:00pm  I had put 2 steelhead on the bank, long line released a third and fourth, broke a 5th off and missed one or two.   Not too bad, considering the other guys out there didn’t touch a fish.

Moving ahead a week

3/20/10  I started out heading to the North Fork Alsea River, I fished around the available waters until around noon.   Having not touched so much as a trout, I licked my wounds and headed back south to Lake Creek.  Arriving some hour and a half later, I found the fishing hole fairly vacant.  I managed to land 2 steelhead, 1 jack steelhead, and had a 3rd straighten out my hook, along with several cuts.

3/21/10 Back to Lake Creek, against my better judgement.  It was rainy and windy.  Perfect winter steelhead weather.  I fished most of the day, with limited success,  I had one steelhead on for just a few seconds, then gone.  I also managed to land several cuts as well.

3/23/10  Last night, I slipped out after work to hit the Willamette to check the water, and see what was the happenings around.  With near 500 summer steelhead over Willamette Falls,  it’s definitely time to think about summers now.    I took out my 6wt to fish for some cuts.  I caught 1 cut but saw a caddis hatch of epic proportions  yesterday evening.

Fly tying, fly fishing, and flies have all been discussed.  Now it’s time for some flying.  I have a very unique opportunity coming up this July.  My wife (Mrs. Monster) and I, along with 14 other people are heading to Kodiak Island, Alaska for a 4 count them,(one, two, three, four) day fishing excursion!  Oh man, am I ever excited!  We’re fishing for  Chinook   Halibut, Ling Cod, and Rainbow.   As I understand it, we have 2 days of guided fishing.  One day is saltwater for Chinook, Halibut, and Cod/bottom fish.  One day is freshwater for kings, bows, and sockeye.   The remaining days are fish as you want.   Who are you kidding, I’m already tying flies for this trip!   Oh and Mrs. Monster doesn’t fish.  So, she’ll be whale watching and bear watching, and probably doing lots of reading.

Good luck out there.

Be good to wild fish, remove hatchery fish from native waters!

Dave

Wild vs. Hatchery: Why? Part 2

This same behavior is being duplicated many times over day in and day out all over.   Man is trying to mitigate what we’ve mis-managed and nearly driven to extinction due to poor management, over fishing, pollution, and other careless behavior.   The problem is, the damage has been done, but if left alone, nature will find a way to repair most of our damage.   Be it a flood to sweep away silt from the river bed, or any other force of nature to “wash away” our damage.   Unfortunately, nature doesn’t “cleanse” herself often enough, and we (humans) feel compelled to intervene.  This is our mistake.   So, why must we insist on placing all of these fish in waters where a wild population of fish can thrive instead of allowing nature time to propagate the area in her own time?  It goes to the bottom line.  The almighty dollar.

Most hatchery programs are funded by federal grants, state funds (tax dollars), license sales, and some private and corporate contributions.   The 33 hatcheries in Oregon annual operational costs was $22.9 million  in 2003.   By now, I’m sure that number has grown.   ODFW’s website breaks that $22.9 million down to $16.2 million was provided by Federal agencies, $3.1 million came from State general funds, and $3.6 million came from other sources, including license fees, power produces and water users  (http://www.dfw.state.or.us/fish/hatchery/)   Washington State, operates 91 fish hatcheries, at an estimated $28.13 million dollar annual operating cost.  Numbers and figures like these repeat themselves over and over again.   Imagine if each state could nearly eliminate the hatchery programs, hire more wildlife officers to patrol the rivers, and use some of the funding for habitat restoration.  We could all have pristine rivers with wild/native fish right outside in our back yards within a few years.  All it would take is correct management, and giving up a few years of taking fish home to make it possible.

Hatchery fish do have a place in the world.  No, that’s not blasphemy.  It’s truth.  There are places where stocking fish is a good thing.  Places that are  unable to support a native fish population.  A new lake that has little to no fish, kicking off the population with hatchery fingerlings/fry is a good thing as long as the body of water is allowed time for nature to take over and the fish are allowed to propagate naturally from there on.  Or a river or stream that is not able to maintain a wild/native population of fish, and the hatchery fish are not allowed to co-mingle with any other native/wild fish.  Or any other stream, lake or waterway where there is plenty of access and adult fish can be released as a put and take and again the hatchery fish are totally segregated from any wild/native fish population.

Here in Oregon, we have a few parks that are perfect for hatchery fish.  Alton Baker park is one such place.   There is a canoe channel that runs the entire park.  There is major access to the canoe channel, as well as a  large pond and a few sloughs scattered in the park along the canoe channel.   All fish that are stocked into these waters are totally segregated from entering the Willamette River, and the catch rate in places such as these is about 80-85%.  Where as fish stocked in river systems such as the McKenzie the catch rate is about 30%.   I’ll spare the numbers and let you do your own math to figure out that 70% of fish stocked in a river system are not caught, and will remain in that river system.  True some will be preyed upon by other fish, birds of prey, land based predators, and disease, but they’re left in the rivers to abuse the nutrients and resources in that river system.

We as sport anglers, need to come together and tell our local, state, and federal government that it’s way past time for a change.  And if we don’t change it now, there will be no more wild steelhead runs,  there will be no wild salmon runs,  there will be no more wild trout, because we’re destroying and mis-managing the few resources that we have left.   Over-harvest, commercial fishing, gill-netting, and poor drainage have killed our salmon runs.   When are we (sport anglers) going to wake up, and quit complaining about our diminishing anadromous runs of fish, and quit complaining about hatchery fish, and just quit complaining and do something about it?   Something needs to change, and it needs to change in a hurry.  If things don’t change, my kids will barely know what a wild fish is,  and my grand-children won’t have a clue.    This time that we have now is very important to our dwindling resources.  It’s up to us to finally start  fixing what we’ve spent the last 100 years destroying and what it took nature billions to create.

I can only hope that each of us will do our part to rally around our wild/native fish populations and defend them from the hatchery fish that are being constantly thrown in on top of them.   Stand up for our/your wild/native fish.

Dave

Wild vs. Hatchery: Why? Part 1

Wild fish Vs. Hatchery fish.   Age old debate?  Well, ask any angler on the bank which they’d rather catch.  My guess is at least 90% say wild fish.  If  you asked them why, I’m sure you’d get an array of answers, but the 2 most popular would be (and I’d bet my 7wt Echo Ion on it):  they taste better and they fight harder.   So, if most people prefer catching a wild fish, then why are we still dumping millions and millions, maybe even billions of hatchery produced fish in our rivers, lakes, and streams?  Simple answer.  Tradition.   It was the way my father did it, and his father did the same thing, and so did his father.  Tradition.  Nobody likes to break away from tradition.   Well, not many do at least.  I for one am all about breaking away from this tradition and going a new direction.

Hatchery fish.  How many of you have ever been to a fish hatchery and marveled at what mankind can accomplish?  I have and did, up until recently.   Saturday, on my way home from fishing, I stopped in at the McKenzie Hatchery near Leaburg, OR.   This hatchery produces hundreds of thousands of rainbow and summer steelhead every year.   I walked by the holding pens and saw literally thousands of these fish that are soon to be released into my now home waters.   My initial feeling was one of disdain.  Then I thought back to the recaps of the meetings, and the numbers began to ring in my head.  Over 130,000 fish will be released in a 42 mile stretch of pristine river over the next 6 months.    The questions that came to my mind are how? why? and when?  Well, most of those questions are pretty straightforward.  The how and the when are answered by ODFW.

How? by truck (that’s fairly obvious), and by boat.  Huh,  by boat?  Yes by boat.  Some of the McKenzie River Guides Association (MRGA) members are allowed boat plants.  They get to plant the river via boat.   This practice has been going on for years.  If I had lived in Oregon for any length of time, I would be outraged by this behavior (I’ve been here almost 2 years and it disgusts me).   In the past, the guides have planted the bulk of the fish, which keeps the fish out of reach of most bank/walk/wade in anglers.   This allows the guides to bring their clients to their own personal trout pools and catch fish.   If I were a client of any of these guides, I’d be outraged and demand a refund.   That isn’t a guided trip, it’s a trip to the pay pond and the clients just paid $250-$300 a day to catch hatchery fish.

When? Again, easily answered by a quick trip to ODFW’s website http://www.dfw.state.or.us/ and click on stocking schedule for Upper Willamette zone.  Starting in April through August, over 130,000 hatchery pukes will be introduced into a stretch of the McKenzie.

Why?  Now THAT is the million dollar question.   Why?  and the answer is…  Because it’s always been done that way, and there aren’t enough native/wild fish in that stretch of the river.   Hmmmm.  Jeff Ziller, ODFW’s biologist for this area calls the particular stretch of the McKenzie where all of these fish will be planted a “sacrifice zone”.   Why would Jeff, a fish biologist call this section of river a sacrifice zone?  Simple, because this stretch of river has been planted each year with more and more trout, to the tune of  roughly 2400 fish per river mile from April through August.  Are any of you slightly confused?

The last time you were at the fish hatchery, did you drop a quarter in the machine and get some dog food to feed the over abundant wannabe trout?  If you didn’t, next time make it a point to do so, and observe.   Those fish that are in those holding pens are super aggressive.   When I say super aggressive, I mean they’re not in the least bit afraid of people.  They act more like piranha when a pellet of food hits the water than they do trout.  This type of aggressive feeding behavior continues once they’re introduced into the rivers.  They eat everything in sight and very aggressively.   These fish have to be so aggressive in the holding pens to survive, it has conditioned them to swarm at everything that falls into the water, and aggressively eat everything that they can.   This reduces the population of insects, and the hatchery fish will most definitely out-compete any native fish that are present in the river.  All of the extra hatchery fish then put a strain on the nutrients and resources in the rivers and streams.  They out compete native fish for food which stunts the natural growth and reproduction of native fish.  If the river were left alone and Mother Nature was allowed to run her course, there would be a thriving population of wild fish within 7-10 years.

So, why not stop the old ways and adopt the new?   That’s the way it’s always been done, and the MRGA officially stands behind the  ODFW and the current stocking schedule, so they can make money off of catching hatchery fish.  This means that the guides never have to teach their clients how to cast to a wild fish or have a skunk on the river.   Makes perfect sense to me.  Ruin the river and continue to decimate the redside population for menial capital gains.  If the current behavior was changed, they could be making double per day and taking their clients on a blue ribbon fishery full of wild fish in a few short years.  Alas, they don’t wish to give up a little now to make the ultimate gains.   Who can blame them for not wanting to fish a different river for a few years and teaching their clients how to fish?  Well, I can, from the way it sounds to me, the guides are cheating their clients…

Part 2 to come

3/6-3/7 Fishing Report

This past weekend was the perfect time to be outside.  Daytime temps were near 60 on Saturday, and mid 50’s on Sunday.   Saturday, I decided to stick close to home, which means fishing the McKenzie.  I started out after a good breakfast with the family at Ye Olde Pancake House, then off to the lower McKenzie I headed.   The Caddis Fly’s blog  http://oregonflyfishingblog.com/ had been giving great reports of fish being caught in the lower river.  So, I started out around Armitage Park.  I began my day nymphing.  Then around noon, as the March Brown hatch began to materialize, I started swinging the March Brown wet flies I had tied up the day before.    I fished nearly all of the accessible water I could for a good stretch of the river.   I covered a lot of water from about 9:30 until 2:30.  Constantly keeping a vigilant eye open for rising fish,  I was hugely disappointed, as I saw no fish rising.   Still I pounded away fishing all the “fishy” spots as well as I could.  Not a single grab.  I switched back and forth from wet fly to nymph, and still had no success.   Felling a little discouraged, I headed up river to some more familiar water.   Finally I decided on my next area to victimize, I decided that I would nymph until I spied rising fish.   Much to my dismay, I did not see a rising fish all day.   First full day on the McKenzie of 2010 — Skunk.

Sunday was a whole brand new day, and after a short debate with myself, it seemed that winter steelhead sounded better.  At least I could feel better about getting my backside handed to me from big fish.   Back to Lake Creek I go.  Some 50 minute ride later, I arrived at the fishing hole.  Popular as it is, there was no one there, and there were steelhead jumping.   With a little excitement with fish jumping I just knew I’d hang into one this day.   I’ll spare all the details, just because they are few and far between. Landing coastal cut-throat trout on an 8wt isn’t exactly my idea of great fun, nor challenge.   I managed to land 6 cut-throat ranging in size from 6″-14″.  I did have one take from a steelhead, but couldn’t get a good hook set in it.   We saw several fish in the river, but none would take anything any of us were offering.   I did happen to miss quite a few trout.  I found that swinging nymphs to those trout was like giving crack to an addict.  They couldn’t resist a swung nymph.   Too bad trout fishing on the coastal creeks is closed, otherwise, I’d have restrung my 6 wt. and swung march browns and had a ball catching fish after fish.

So goes the weekend fishing.   Luckily, it’s staying lighter later, and soon, there will be near daily afternoon trips to write about!

Please practice catch and release.  Also, clean up the rivers and streams.   Release all hatchery fish anywhere other than the water you caught them from.

On a more serious note.   Please voice your opinions to your fish and wildlife agencies.  Get on board with groups that want your local rivers and streams to be managed as wild/native fisheries.   It’s up to you and me to break the agencies away from the tradition that is killing off our wild/native fish due to mismanagement and hatchery programs.    Speak up and speak out, or loose those precious resources to hatchery produced abominations  forever.   Montana did it.  Why can’t everyone else?

Dave

Winter Chrome Go Trouty

As discussed in the previous post “Is You Is or Is You Ain’t?” https://flyfishingnut.wordpress.com/2010/02/02/is-you-is-or-is-you-aint/, we discovered that steelhead are nothing more than anadromous (ocean going) rainbow trout.  Also, in another post, it was discussed that steelhead, like their potamodromous counterparts, prefer much the same waters, flows, and redds.  So, wouldn’t it stand that these elusive fish, really aren’t THAT elusive, and once in a river system, they may revert back to their “trouty” ways?  Personally, I think they do, and here’s why.

February 14, 2010.  As we all know this is Cupid’s day.  Along with it being Valentine’s Day, it also marks the high point, or so I’m told, of the winter steelhead season.  This particular day also happened to coincide with a new moon.   Which just  happened to turn out to be the best day of steelhead fishing, or just about any fishing I’ve ever encountered.  Coincidence?  Maybe, but I tend to lean more towards the perfect storm.

The day was not a typical Valentine’s day,  the weather was mild, cloudy, and the river was on a slow fall.   There hadn’t been a ton of rain, so the river was already lower than normal and pretty clear.   I had gotten a late start on this particular morning, because Mrs. Monster and I had decided to get a Valentine’s breakfast at the Ye Olde Pancake House here in Eugene.   We took the kids out with us and made it a family outing.  After getting back home, I hopped in the fishmobile and off to the river I went.    After an hour drive, I arrived at my fishing hole for the day.  I jumped out of the car, suited up, strung up the Scott 8wt (that was given to me as a Christmas present by Chuckster).  Tied on a #6  possie bugger that I had tied the night before, and off  down to my spot on the bank.  It was around 11:00am when I started fishing.

To my surprise, there weren’t many people out fishing the bank that day.  Several of the regulars and one or two new faces were passing in and out of the popular fishing hole.   Maybe 20 or 30 minutes of fishing, and I called out “fish on!”   To the bank, came a nice and fairly bright hatchery hen that was about 7 lbs.   I gave the hen away to an aspiring fisherwoman, we’ll call her Wilma (not her real name).  Wilma was super excited about the fish, and I had kept one the day before, so no need for another fish at least not this day.

Back to my fishing hole, and it wasn’t too much longer, before the cry of “fish on” was heard down the bank again.   This time, a solid tug followed by a huge head-shake was felt through the graphite in my fly rod.   I knew there was a fairly large fish at the other end.   After a good solid hook-set and getting the fish on the reel, it wasn’t long before a rather large and very brightly chromed fish jumped about 4′ out of the water.  Upon which my 3x (9.2lb) Seaguar Flourocarbon tippet snapped like a twig from a dead tree.    Fish off!  Wow what a show.  A big chrome steelhead jumping like that.  It was an impressive display.

There were 3 other times that I could have given the “fish on” war cry, but would have been cut very short because the fish pulled loose, or the hook didn’t get a good set.   And at least 2 times I just failed to set the hook and just watched dumbfounded as my thingamabobber took the “Nestea Plunge”.

Moving forward to later that afternoon, one of the regulars, we’ll call him Elkman (not his real name) showed back up.  Elkman landed a monster hatchery buck the following day,  that was @ 15 lbs or better that measured out at 35″, but was really dark.  Elkman released him.   Anyway, Elkman showed up and came over to talk.   I informed him that I was having just a stellar day and recanted all of the fish I’d had on, or missed.  He looked at me and said, “Well, it’s about damn time!”   I laughed and agreed with him, said something to the effect of,”Now, there’s an understatement.”  Being my ninth trip this year without a fish, the discouragement had just about started to set in.

While Elkman and I were talking, I hooked and lost  my 8th of the day.  Slightly disappointed, but also excited, Elkman and I begin a conversation about setting the hook.   It wasn’t long, maybe 2 casts later and “fish on!”   And again, just like the one before, a  BIG bright chrome steelhead comes lurching out of the water the the height of about 4′.   Feeling pretty confident, I had set the hook in this one very soundly,  but upon it landing back in the water, my line comes flying back at me.   Broken off again!…  ARGH!

I re-tie my entire leader.  Using a non-conventional leader, makes it quicker and a bit easier to replace.  One perfection loop and then a palomar to my fly.  Easy enough.   I get re-rigged, and Elkman says.  I bet there’s one more in there.   To which I agreed and the very next cast…

A rather large hatchery buck @ 10lbs grabs my fly and it was game on.    I finally landed him and released him.  Yes, I know I should remove all hatchery fish, and it is a good way to clean up the rivers.  But, by this time, most everybody was gone for the day, and nobody wanted him, least of all me.   He was pretty gnarly, he was colored up like a rainbow, and had several white patches on his nose and other places.   Back in the river he went.

As I counted 10 possible fish.  4 of which I actually had on the hook for at least a few seconds and was sure they were steelhead, because I either saw them or they put a huge bend in my 8wt.   2 of which I just straight up missed and didn’t even bother setting the hook because I was too shocked to see my indicator plunge underwater.    2 steelhead landed, and another 2 that broke off after a great aerial display.   All fish were caught on a #6 (slightly sized up) possie bugger.  Which just further proves my theory that steelhead can and will act very trout-like.

So went the best day of fly fishing for chrome I’ve had to date.   And quite possibly one of the best days of fishing that I’ve ever had.   A  day like this fishing for Winter Steelhead isn’t very common.   This sort of thing  just happens to the most accomplished of anglers.   I’m no accomplished angler.  I was just terribly lucky.   I was in the right place, at the right time, and the perfect storm was in full swing.

Good luck

Practice catch and release, and clean  up the rivers.  Catch all the hatchery fish you can and release them somewhere other than back in the river they came from!

Until next time!

Dave

Happenings, Goings On and Other Ramblings and Misadventures

As stated in last week’s post, I’ve been absent from my blog for a few days.  In my absence, I have traveled many miles, fished new water, and tasted more skunkings.  Here is the rest of the story.

Last week/weekend was the annual weekend getaway.  Each year several couples (7 total) get together and rent a large dwelling in or around Lincoln City, Oregon.   This year we were invited.  Typically the weekend consists of casino, shopping, wonderfully fresh seafood, eating out, and this year included fly fishing.  Of course, I brought the latter to the platter.

Upon leaving the Eugene area on  Thursday afternoon, I had fully intended on stopping by the Alsea River to see if I could drum up a chrome-dome or two.  Due to several unfortunate turns and turns of events, my play time was cut very short.   I dropped the kids off at their weekend destinations, and proceeded to Hwy 99  en route to Corvallis, OR where I pick up Rt 34 W towards Waldport, OR.   There is a short-cut road that cuts off @ 15 miles and about 45 minutes due to city traffic.   Learning of said short-cut back earlier this year I had made the turn onto Rt. 34 without knowing it due to poor/inadequate signage which failed to mention that it was Rt. 34 W heading towards Waldport.   Quickly I managed to talk myself out of continuing this course and turned around.  If only I had talked myself out of it then, I would have saved an hour.

As I normally do, when I’m driving by myself, I tend to converse with myself audibly.   During this conversation, I kept telling myself, I should come across this road soon.   Soon, became 30 minutes later, where the road I was on took me directly back to 99 in North Corvallis.    At this point, I proceeded on to 99 going back towards the south.  Then found 34 W and proceeded towards Waldport.   I then came upon the place where I had turned around.   Cursing myself, I continued on towards Waldport.  I stopped by the Alsea for a quick wetting of my line.  I checked out the “Meat Hole”.

Allow me to illustrate a picture for you.  The North Fork of the Alsea river is where I had stopped.  In this area of the river, the average depth is 12″-16″.  The river itself is a short roll cast across, so maybe 25-30′.  The Meat Hole is a deepish hole, roughly 4′ deep and 2 slots that are easy to reach and fish.  Many fish are caught out of the Meat Hole, due to it is some of the best holding water on the North Fork, plus it is just below the hatchery ladder about 200-300 yards.   On an normal day, there might be 6 or 7 guys fishing the Meat Hole at any given time, standing near shoulder to shoulder on both sides of the river chucking in bait, flies, corkys, jigs, spinners, and whatever else anyone could imagine to fish for steelhead.  But this day was different.  There was only one other guy there, and he was leaving, which left me with the Meat Hole all to myself.  A couple dozen casts with flies returned nothing.  Time was waning, so back in the car and on to Lincoln City.   Skunk # 1

With every intention of waking before the dawn and heading out to some new water, I awoke at 7:30 am and took the wife out to breakfast.  After breakfast we decided to go shopping and exploring.  I did score a nice wading jacket.   Back to the dwelling about 2:30 pm  and I decided to go do some more exploring.  Off I go.  I found this wonderful river, called Drift Creek, which is home to a wonderful run of native steelhead where some near record fish have been caught.    I did some exploring on foot and in the car, but I had to be back early for dinner, so no fishing was done this day.  Skunk #2 (it still qualifies as a skunk)

Saturday, we decided to sleep in.  We got up @ 8:00 am back out for breakfast.   Once we got back, it was off to the river!   I had the perfect day!  The weather was nice enough, a little rain early, but clearing in the afternoon.  Access to the river was spectacular, and lots of good water to fish, and nobody much to compete with.   I  dead drifted egg patterns, nymphs of various sizes and types,  swung flies, and  nada, zip, zilch, zero, not so much as a false hope.   I left early with my tail tucked firmly between my legs like a scolded puppy.  But tomorrow, is a brand new day!  Skunk # 3

Sunday, was supposed to be a get up early and go fishing kind of day, but again, I failed miserably.  I got up and cooked everybody breakfast (as was requested by my friend BT).  After the skunkings I had taken in recent bouts with the rivers, I had almost blown off fishing.  The urge struck again, and this time I decided to check out the Siletz River.   The Siletz is known for a very healthy run of winter chrome and some summers as well.   I’ll make this short and sweet.   Skunk #4

Monday, time to return to home and work, but not until noon!   I was up early, 5:10 am, to be exact.  And heading off towards home.  I decided to take 101 south to Florence and swing by Lake Creek to get a morning session of fishing in before work.   Finally making it to Lake Creek, I was informed that there were fish around, but nobody has been catching them.  With the recent rains, the river and creeks finally came up and the chrome-domes shot straight up the river and into the creeks.   I watched about 40 steelhead sitting and spawning in Green Creek below the fish trap.  It was pretty cool to see.   I did manage to catch a nice 15″ coastal cutty.  But that was it.   No chrome dome for me this week.   I hope each of you had as good of a week and weekend as I did.

Remember, clean up the rivers, practice catch and release on all hatchery fish.  Catch ’em from the river, release ’em anywhere but back in the river.

Dave

Lack of posting.

I would like to apologize to my readers for not having fresh material over the last week and this week.  Things have been hectic around the office to say the least.   I will be MIA until next Tuesday.  The first week of March should see a bit more activity.  Trust me on this, I have some good stories to come, fishing reports, skunking reports, and more adventures.   I’ve not forgotten, I’ve just not had the vast amounts of time I’m normally granted.

Take care,

See you all in a couple weeks

Dave

The Monster’s Weekend Fishing Report.

I’ll sum this past weekend’s fishing up in one word.   STELLAR!  Saturday 1 fish to the bank, 2 others lost.  Sunday 2 fish to the bank, 2 others broke off, 4 pulled loose 2 missed just watching my indicator take the “Nestea Plunge”.  If I had landed everything on my fly, it would have been a 10 fish day.    Monday was just as good.   1 landed, 2 pulled loose, and 1 missed fish.   These were all winter steelhead.   I must say, that it was a great weekend.   Every fish I landed was of hatchery origin, and 2 of the fish were eliminated from ever entering the river system again.  What a weekend!   The stories to come in future episodes.