Late Winter Steelhead Season Recap
The 2009 steelhead season was marked with an unusually long period of low water during February and Early March that made for some tough fishing conditions. We moved a few trips around and waited for rain… The rains finally came in Early March and the fish came with it! The first couple weeks after the rain we saw quite a few darker fish that had been waiting in the lower river for some time. Then in Mid-March after another set of storms rolled through and the rivers caught fire. A big push of heavy-bodied, chrome native steelhead made their way into the coastal systems. Fly-fishing was simply fantastic. We had several great days on extremely chrome fish during the last couple weeks of March, right up to the close of the smaller coastal streams on March 31, 2009.
For us the 2009 Winter Steelhead Season, despite it’s ups and downs finished right on par or slightly better than the last couple seasons. We averaged over two fish per trip on flies, the mark we set for ourselves as the gold standard for fly fishing Winter steelhead. All in all it was a great season! Thanks to all the friendly anglers who came fishing with us. We enjoyed your company and hope to see you on the water in the future! Tight lines and best wishes from Jesse and the rest of the Small Stream Outfitters team.
We are now booking Clackamas Summer Steelhead/Trout, McKenzie River Trout and Summer Sea-Run Cutthroat. Call 503.515.3533 or email us to book a trip. We look forward to hearing from you!