Oregon Fly Fishing Report – Small Stream Outfitters & Guides

It’s impossible to script great days, but if you spend enough time on the water, you’re bound to come across them on with fair regularity, and that is what keeps us all fishing.

Yesterday’s weather was cool and blustery with a late day shower here and there. Not enough to get soaked, but enough to let you know Fall is here. Angling pressure was non-existent and the fish could feel the approaching unsettled weather. A recipe for success in any guides book.

We started out the morning fishing sea-run cutthroat and by the time it was light enough to see the opposite bank we were into fish. Lots of fish… and big ones. A couple doubles and lots of fish to the boat in the 15-18″ class by 10:00 and everyone was a happy camper. We could go home now and call it good… but no. It’s a fishing day, let’s catch fish.

Throughout the rest of the day we landed a couple chinook, a chrome bright native coho and many more fat blueback trout. Officially the first coastal triple of the year! A chinook, coho and sea-run cutthroat landed by the same angler, in the same day. Last year we had a couple triples and one grand slam (add in steelhead for 4 species). We can’t wait for anglers to have more of those this season.

The fall fishery is officially here and it’s time to go fishing. Give us a call at 503.515.3533 to book a trip or Email Us.

Typical Oregon Coast sea-run cutthroat trout.

We’ve been tinkering with this brine and smoking process for a few years now and this mixture of ingredients produces consistently excellent smoked salmon that appeals to nearly everyone’s tastebuds!

Small Stream Outfitters Smoked Salmon

3-5 cloves of garlic, finely chopped
1/2 cup soy sauce

1/3 cup of Worcestershire sauce

1 ¼ cup brown sugar
2 tbls chopped fresh herbs, thyme, sage, rosemary
1 tsp red pepper flakes
1/2 cup course kosher salt

2 cups warm water
10-15 pounds ½”-1.5” thick salmon filets

Mix water and salt in large mixing bowl and stir until dissolved, add remaining ingredients and fish. Cover and refrigerate at least 4 hours but up to overnight.

Remove filets from brine and rinse well in cold water. Pat filets dry with cloth kitchen towels. Place on smoking racks and elevate so that air can circulate. Top with course ground pepper and a few red pepper flakes if you like a spicy smoked salmon. I like to air cure the filets for a couple hours to remove any excess moisture and to let the sugars set up a bit. Once they are firm and tacky to the touch, place in smoker.

Smoke 6 to 12 hours. Time will vary due to thickness of filets, humidity and air temperature. Allow lots of extra time if it’s below 55 degrees outside. I like about 2 pans of smoked alder chips added in the beginning and middle of the smoking process, but you can use a little less or a little more depending on your taste.

Let us know how this recipe worked for you! Post a comment on this story.

A batch of Jack Coho filets air cure before heading to the smoker.

…either way it equals great fun!

As predicted Coho or Silver Salmon runs on the Oregon Coast and in Columbia River tributaries are better than average and getting better by the day. River levels remain low and look like they will stay that way for at least another week, but it’s not stopping a heavy trickle of fish up every system. It’s enough fish for great angling and it’s spreading out the fishing pressure from top to bottom. Rivers like the Sandy have good numbers of fish from the hatchery all the way down to the mouth. We’ve had several double-digit days in the last week and have heard a few similar reports from other systems like the Yaquina, Nehalem and Clackamas. It looks like it’s shaping up to be a fabulous coho year. Many anglers are switching their focus from Chinook to Coho and it’s probably a very good call at this point in the season. Reports from of Coastal Chinook remain dim and we don’t expect them to catch fire anytime soon.

We’ll continue to fish, coho, chinook and sea-run cutthroat throughout the Fall and are still accepting bookings for late-October and November. To get in on this great action give us a call at 503.515.3533 or email us.

A Sandy River buck Silver just beginning to show steelhead like colors

Typical Sandy river male silver salmon.

Small Stream Outfitters is proud to introduce our newest custom clothing and outdoor gear. We now offer great softshell fishing jackets and micro-fleece shirts at a tremendous value.

The Softshell fishing jacket is a custom embroidered windproof, water-resistant jacket, made of storm-bloc material and is the perfect jacket for a windy drizzly Fall fishing day. Available in sage or black.

The Mirco-fleece is a quarter-zip custom embroidered, soft, fast drying, durable shirt. It makes a great mid-weight layer for Fall or Winter fishing and is embroidered with our custom purple peril logo. Available in black or driftwood.

For more details on this great new clothing and to see available sizes and colors, please see the fishing jackets and shirts page on our website.

It’s been another great week on the coast! We’ve had some incredible weather this past week that was extremely pleasant for anglers, but makes guides wish there were a few more clouds around. Still, the early morning bite was great and there were some fantastic fish taken in shady spots throughout the warm, sunny afternoons. This is typical Indian Summer weather on the Oregon Coast and we’ll take advantage of the few remaining opportunities to guide in shorts and tee shirts.

The Chinook bite slowed this week and emergency ODFW sportfish regulations on the South Coast make us worry the Chinook run will be another bust this year. However, there are still fish to be caught and the patient, dedicated anglers will get their fish. The one bonus to the buzz of less Chinook this Fall has driven other anglers away and we’ve had the river mostly to ourselves. It’s a great feeling to have a day’s float to yourself, quiet and peaceful, casting flies to eager cutthroat.

The sea-run fishing continues to be great and there are more fish in the river everyday. The average size of the fish is also increasing as it usually does this time of year. We’ve seen some huge fish in tidewater of 3+ pounds, but thus far the monsters on fly have eluded us. Anglers this week saw consistent 20 fish days and fish ranging from 9-17 inches. We can’t wait to get back on the water and continue to enjoy the great action. To book a guided fishing trip give us a call at 503.515.3533 or Email Us. We are currently fishing the Siletz, Nestucca and Sandy. Below are just a few snapshots from trips this week.

A beautiful cutthroat from the Siletz, colored up from hanging out in tidewater

Alan took this and many other great sea-run cutts on a crystal blue sky day

Sunrise over tidewater, it never ceases to amaze us.