Oregon Fly Fishing Report – Small Stream Outfitters & Guides

More fun steelhead pics and film to follow!

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.

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 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!

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