Oregon Fly Fishing Report – Small Stream Outfitters & Guides

FALL SEASON RECAP
It’s been a busy time at Small Stream Headquarters, but that hasn’t included a lot of days on the water and for good reason. My wife, Sara gave birth to our first child in October. Noah Matthew was born on October 22 and weighed in at 8 lbs, 4 ounces. The past month has been amazing and I look forward to getting him out on the water soon.

As for the fishing… the Fall season was a mixed bag. Sea-Run Cutthroat fishing was very solid, although we didn’t see any massive 20″ fish like we did last year. The numbers of fish appeared to be very similar to 2007. Coho fishing on the Sandy was very good as usual and better than average at the coast. As for the Coastal Chinook… the season was a disappointment once again. Numbers appear to be very similar to last year’s poor return. We saw slightly better runs in some locations and slightly worse in others. Predictions are for above average returns in 2009 and 2010, but we aren’t holding our breath for that one.

NEW FLY FISHING FILM ON LINE
I took some time off from guiding in October to acquaint myself with Noah. While that kept me off the water, it gave me some much needed time in the office to finish up the editing on our second film. On November 4th, we released Chapter 1 of the Headwater Chronicles. N59 – A Journey to the Bering Sea is a short (5:45) film that tells the story of a wilderness fly fishing adventure. It chronicles the journey of nine anglers that float from a remote lake 55 miles to the Bering Sea. The film is available on our website The Headwater Chronicles and also on Hook.tv We are excited to produce more episodes and hope to shoot two in 2009 for release in late 2009 or early 2010. Stay tuned for more info on those!

WINTER STEELHEAD SEASON 2008-2009
With Chinook season tapering off, it’s now time to think Winter Steelhead. My personal favorite! Nothing is more exciting then seeing a 15lb chrome steelhead bursting out of the water tail walking across the river. We are now booking the 2009 season, so contact us early for the best dates. Any trip for 2009 booked before December 31 will honor 2008 rates. Beginning January 1, there will be a ‘09 rate change. We will be fishing coastal streams like the N. Fork Nehalem and Nestucca beginning in min-January and then we’ll begin to move over to the Sandy in March and will continue to fish that through May. Predictions are for an decent return this season, which translates to about 1-3 hookups per day.

From all of us at Small Stream Outfitters we hope you have a wonderful upcoming holiday season and are able to get out and wet a line!

Tight lines and best wishes,

–Jesse Sampson