Oregon Fly Fishing Report - Small Stream Outfitters & Guides » Alaska Fishing Reports

Softshell fishing jackets and micro-fleece shirts now in stock

Jesse — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 23:15:24 +0000

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.

Incredible Alaska Fishing without the Lodge pricetag

Jesse — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 16:59:29 +0000

When I first started guiding in 1997 and throughout the next four seasons, I worked on an incredible river, the Goodnews in Southwest Alaska. I had the pleasure of guiding along side some incredible guides, including my long time friend Jeff Jarret of Jarrett’s Guide Service on the Clearwater in Orofino, Idaho.

Jeff is now branching out his Idaho operation and starting a small all-inclusive lodge based out of the native Yupik village of Goodnews, Alaska. He has arranged great five day all inclusive fishing trips for Kings, Silvers, Chums, Rainbows, Dollies and Grayling and will working out of the village July and August 2009.

He has a few bookings left for his first season and takes a maximum of four anglers per week. This is an incredible opportunity to fish one of the greatest rivers in Alaska for half of what other similar operations are charging. To learn more about these trips, visit Jeff’s Goodnews River Webpage or call him at 208.476.3791

You can also call us at 503.515.3533 or Email us for more information

Additional photographs of the river, scenery and fish can be seen on a few of our archived image galleries.
Goodnews Gallery 1
Goodnews Gallery 2

The Headwater Chronicles

Jesse — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 20:20:39 +0000

This short film follows a group of friends from a extremely remote Alaskan lake SouthWest 55 miles to the Bering Sea. The stream in this film sees less than four float trips per year and until the late 1990’s was considered unavigable. The first two days of this trip consisted of dragging rafts over endless shallow gravel bars until the South Fork of the river connected with the North Fork some 15 miles from the lake. From there on, it was smooth sailing and constant action. At times, the term every cast was a reality and not an exaggeration. When a fly was cast over a chum or sockeye spawn bed, it was never more than a few seconds before a 16″-25″ rainbow grabbed the presentation. This is the story of the fishing trip of a lifetime.

This video may also be watched on our website at smallstreamoutfitters.com

For more info on this video email us!

New Small Stream Hats, Beanies and Caps available

Jesse — Fri, 29 May 2009 18:46:05 +0000

Small Stream Outfitters is proud to introduce new hat styles for 2009. In addition to our already popular Dark Khaki 6-panel low profile ball cap with the Small Stream Outfitters Puple Peril logo, we now have low-profile ball caps in black and knit beanies in black. The new black hats feature a logo with a gold hook and white lettering. Order yours today at Small Stream Outfitters!

Small Stream Outfitters is now on Twitter and Facebook!

Jesse — Sat, 16 May 2009 02:42:35 +0000

Hi Anglers,

Follow us on Twitter and FacebooK! We’ll be tweeting and posting away; fun stuff like fishing reports, articles and general fly fishing comments. Submit your comments and fishing stories, we would love to hear from you.

Tight Lines,
Small Stream Outfitters

Situk River – Headwater Chronicles Snapshots

Jesse — Mon, 11 May 2009 21:59:15 +0000

Jason is hooked up to a nice Hali”butt”

Russ Morris spills steelhead knowledge for the next edition of The Headwater Chronicles”

More fun steelhead pics and film to follow!

Situk River, Alaska – Spring Steelhead Report

Jesse — Thu, 07 May 2009 16:46:04 +0000

On April 25th, six intrepid anglers set off to fish the Situk River in Alaska for a week. As steelhead streams go, the Situk (located just outside of Yakutat, Alaska) has a reputation for having one of the greatest runs of steelhead in the United States, both in size and numbers. Before leaving, we did all the research, read all the articles and tied oogles of flies. All the reports we read claimed hookups per day numbering from 10-25 for experienced anglers. Numbers like that are simply hard to fathom in Oregon, where six hookups in a day on flies happens a handful of times each season at best. Needless to say, we were excited.

Upon stepping off the plane in Yakutat, I was greeted by sunny skies, a warm breeze and temperatures near 60. Not exactly typical April in SE Alaska… an omen for the week to come. Excited to hit the river, we quickly strung rods, jumped into waders and were walking upstream from tidewater by 3pm.

We were greeted by a few anglers along the trail, and then a few more and some more after that. We looked at each other… kinda like fishing at home isn’t it? We walked about a mile and a half and stopped at a pool that looked fishy and free of other anglers. I made a few casts, nothing. It was a deep pool and I wasn’t feeling the bottom. Removing the indicator from my fly rod, I started another pass. The line stopped, I lifted and was in to my first fish on the trip. A chrome bright fish of about 12 lbs. The trip was off to a good start! We crossed the river to the other side of the pool for a better drift and began working the pool. We hooked 4 more in the next 15 minutes and started to think our dreams of the steelhead trip of a lifetime was about to come true.

Ah wait, but these things don’t just happen. This is fishing and this is a fishing trip. When has everything gone perfectly? Never, and we like it that way. Those imperfections, in my humble opinion, add flavor, memories and laughs for years to come. This trip was to be no exception.

After that pool of brilliance, the next 3 days were a good/news bad news scenario. The good news was, we were all getting pretty tan, drifting the river in t-shirts in Alaskan April. The angling pressure lightened up some and we caught a few nice fish. The bad news was it wasn’t close to 10 hookups a day, in fact it was more like an average day in Oregon. Couple hookups here, a couple there. Nothing to write home about. We saw a couple boats doing really well and every other boat getting fish few and far between.

Slightly dejected, we chartered a boat for the bay, to reset moods and get in on the wiggle. We only caught one halibut, but boy was it a nice one and finished up the day with a bunch of black rock fish. Just like the fish I remember catching off the jetty in Newport when I was young, only these guys were substantially bigger. The bbq that night was spectacular and it prompted a plan and change of fishing styles for the next day of steelheading.

The general agreement was these fish were acting more like Summer steelhead than Winter Steelhead and why not fish them that way, when the sun was on the water. So when the orange fireball hit the water the following morning, we went small and dark… really small and dark. The first place we stopped we went 5 for 9 and the good fishing continued the until the end of the trip. We hooked and landed plenty of steelhead and finished the adventure on a high note.

The jury is still out on if I would go back. The only thing that would keep me from visiting the Situk and Yakutat again, would be angling pressure. Other than that the people are very friendly, as are the other anglers. The shuttle and river access is easy, there are nice places to stay, good food to eat and cold beer to drink. Aw, but I just answered my own question. If it’s that good, it’s been found…

Next trip I hope to need my map and compass!

-Jesse Sampson
Small Stream Outfitters

ps. During our trip we also shot some excellent film footage to be used in the next edition of The Headwater Chronicles. Stay tuned for pictures and a film preview in the upcoming months.

Small Stream Outfitters December 2008 Newsletter

Jesse — Fri, 21 Nov 2008 19:26:57 +0000

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

Small Stream Outfitters launches new website

Jesse — Mon, 30 Jun 2008 18:45:17 +0000

Small Stream Outfitters is proud to announce the launch of our newly redesigned website! We’re still at the same www.smallstreamoutfitters.com address but have an entire new site. New features include; updated descriptions of Oregon Rivers and the fish we chase, plus a new seasons page that makes it easier to plan your trip for the perfect time of year. Also, on the new site are updated photo galleries and new ordering systems for flies, rods and merchandise.

We welcome your feedback, please Email us with any comments!

Rainbows and Kings on a fly, Oh my!

Jesse — Tue, 31 Jul 2007 21:46:54 +0000

The Small Stream Outfitters crew and a bunch of their fly angling friends just returned from an Alaskan Adventure of epic proportions.

Every trip to Alaska gets us excited… really excited. Whether it’s a Kenai Salmon trip, West Coast Steelhead mission or remote SE float trip every Alaskan adventure is special and carries with it extraordinary angling opportunities. Our most recent trip was no exception. A float trip on one of the most remote streams we have ever fished.

From the giant upriver rainbows hiding in shallow crystal clear water to the monster lower river kings this SouthWest Alaska stream had it all. Nine of us floated 50 or so miles in 7 days and 7 nights finishing in the salt of the Bering Sea.

We chronicled our epic adventure with hundreds of still photographs and hours of digital video. Stay tuned over the next few months for video footage, photo galleries and stories from the trip.

In addition to the visual footage, Small Stream Outfitters cohort, rod builder and fly tier extraordinaire, Sean Tate will be blogging day by day stories of the trip. The articles will appear daily in the Statesman Journal.

http://www.statesmanjournal.com/

Stay tuned for links and start dates of these entertaining adventure chronicles!

Tight lines,
Small Stream Outfitters