Oregon Fly Fishing Report – Small Stream Outfitters & Guides

A customer just sent me this photo and it bears sharing. Steve caught this massive red sled buck coho in Mid-November, 2011 on a North Coast stream. He caught on a 6-10 lb. rod with 8lb tippet. The fished stayed deep and drug the boat around for 15 minutes before laying over. I didn’t weigh the fish as it was released immediately after the photo, but I’ve handled thousands of coho from Alaska, South to Oregon and never saw one quite this heavy. It wasn’t 25 pounds, but it was certainly well over 20. Awesome to see big coho like this in Oregon. I anxiously await their return next year.

After a long wet, and cold Winter steelhead season, we finally had a nice little break in the weather and I was able to get my oldest son Noah (2.5 yrs) out on the water for the first time. We took a nice little troll around Big Creek Reservoir outside of Newport, dangling woolly buggers out the back of the drift boat in pursuit of the elusive hatchery trout. Noah enjoyed potato chips, Andes mints and catching his first trout equally. Next time, he’s rowing.

We are currently fishing the Nestucca, Siletz, McKenzie, Sandy and Clackamas. Give us a call at 503.515.3533 or Email us to book a Summer Steelhead and/or trout fishing trip.

Every year we try to make the trip to Alaska in one form or another. Whether it’s fishing SE Alaska for Steelhead, stream hopping the Peninsula or roughing it on a float trip the fishing is always good. We’ve come to expect stupid good fishing and that’s one of the reasons we go, but mostly we like to get off the grid, live with a fly rod in our hands for a while and spend time with friends. Typically there are more bears than people and that’s the way we like it. This year was no exception as we set off on a seven night float trip from a remote lake to the Bering Sea. I’ve done this trip many times before and have always had excellent fishing and even better weather. Late July and August is usually warm and sunny with highs in the upper 60’s and 70’s. Occasionally it will shower, but then the sun comes out and dries us out in no time.

This year was different…. I should have known when everyone I talked to in Bristol Bay said, “It’s been pretty wet this Summer.”

I thought, “Ahhh, that was last week, it’s almost August, it can’t be that bad.” Put a big old check mark in the “WRONG” column on that one. On the day we were to fly to the lake we woke up to dense fog, drizzle and 50 degrees. After 8 hours in standby mode, some overpriced burgers and a few cigars the weather lifted, we climbed in a Beaver and were off to the lake. The lake was beautiful and I got that same warm fuzzy feeling I always get when the plane takes off and leaves you in a wilderness so immense, untouched and gorgeous.

We pushed on into the river and I immediately took note of the water level. It was at least 6″ higher than I had ever seen it, but running clear and the fish were cooperating. We caught some chrome sockeyes, huge grayling and a couple nice rainbows on our way to the first camp. As we set up camp, a bear wandered down the other side of the river eating berries and enjoying the day. I too was enjoying the day and soon forgot the 36 hours of travel it took to get there.

The next day was nice, fishing was a little slower than usual, but we still caught a bunch of fish including some 20-22″ bows, trophy grayling and the odd salmon. Still looking good. Then as we set up camp #2 it sprinkled, lightly at first, and then stopped. Soon the showers became more frequent and by noon the next day, the wind had increased, temperature had dropped into the mid-forties and it was raining. Ugh… but alas, this can’t last longer than a day… can it? Four and a half days later we were still wishing it would stop raining. For the rest of the week we had a 5 minute and 10 minute break in the rain, total. The river blew out by the fourth day, but luckily we were in salmon country and the slough fishing was fantastic.

Despite the weather, we did our best to keep spirits up. We ate well, fished hard and tried to keep at least our sleeping bags and pads dry. That mostly worked. I’ve never been in a situation that tested my gear that sternly, but I can say without question that Patagonia makes good rain gear, MSR makes one heck of a parawing shelter and beavers do a good job of collecting and curing firewood. I was disappointed in one North Face tent that leaked badly by the second day and a few of the dry bags were suspect, but all in all it was a good trip. The fishing was great as usual, one angler in the group completed the week with a super grand slam, all five species of Pacific Salmon, grayling, rainbow trout, dolly varden, lake trout and whitefish. I was lucky enough to land the five salmon grand slam in a single hole, with one fly, in less than a hour, without moving my feet. Needless to say, I retired that fly.

In the end, we came out unscathed and felt like real men, although I was still shaking the water out of my ears in Anchorage. I’m chalking this trip up in the “experiences I’ll never forget” column. Next time, I’ll make sure to bring more industrial garbage bags and more fuel for the fire.

This nice SW Alaska leopard rainbow found a big pink salmon bugger in dirty water

Doubles on Dolly Varden were a regular occurrence, we even had a quadruple hookup on salmon in the lower river.

An abandoned seagull nest with a lone unhatched egg frames a soggy gravel bar campsite.

Long before the invention of high modulus carbon fiber, titanium and other space age materials there was bamboo. The world’s fastest growing grass has been used as a durable construction material for centuries. Its round shape and long tough fibers add to bamboo’s strength and flexibility. These characteristics have attracted anglers to bamboo for use in the construction of fishing rods since before the time of Isaac Walton.

Most anglers choose to fish graphite these days for obvious reasons, it is lighter, stronger and considerably cheaper than bamboo for a quality fly rod. Still, like the desire for classic cars and aged wine, a small passionate marketplace still exists for high-end, handcrafted bamboo rods. The reasons are simple; bamboo rods are beautiful, unique, functional pieces of art.

Last week we had the opportunity to spend a day with bamboo rod maker J. Douglas Blair fishing native cutthroats on the Oregon Coast. It was a pleasure to watch Doug toss fluffy dries with a 6 foot, 3 weight cane rod and swing streamers with a 7 foot, 5/6 weight. The slower rhythm of cane suggests a leisurely pace to a fishing day. A chance to step back, breath deeply and take in the tall trees, sunny sky, gurgling stream, the slurping sound of brilliantly colored cutts and remember what fly fishing is really about.

To view J. Douglas Blair’s bamboo art or inquire about a custom made bamboo fly rod please visit his website Old Trout Rodworks

To book a guided fly fishing trip this Summer or Fall contact Small Stream Outfitters at 503.515.3533 or Email Us.

Doug with a beautiful coastal cutthroat he took on his custom 6′ 3wt. cane rod.

Cane rod, constantly bent by native cutthroats under warm sunny skies, not a bad way to spend a day!

Some of my favorite things about fly fishing are seeing new places, going on adventures and meeting new people. So when I started packing for our family vacation to Michigan, I threw a few fly rods in the bottom of the bag. Rarely do I travel without one, and the fact that our lodging for the next week was to be on the banks of a 450 acre lake, just a stones throw from Lake Michigan, I packed three. Why take just one when you can take three? I condensed 20 fly boxes to 6, you never know what you’re going to need… especially considering I have never fished for bass before, tossed in some reels, tippet and other goodies and away we went.

My son is not yet a year old and feels that a life jacket is just too constricting when you’re learning to walk, so I had to find another angling partner. I had hoped that the Mickey Mouse pole would be a hit, but not so much. Next time…. Lucky for me, my father in law is an avid angler from Indiana and an expert on capturing and frying bluegills. I hadn’t caught one of those either, why not try.

We fished for a couple hours each morning, sipping our cups of coffee and casting dry flies from a pontoon style party barge, coaxing sunfish of all varieties out from around grass beds to sip dries. There were a few Hexagenia limbata (Hex) around at random times and plenty of mosquitos, which seemed to be a favorite of the little guys. I fished hopper dropper style with a 3wt for the sunfish and had those little buggers dialed in no time. I fished a large mayfly imitation on top and a small red serendipity below, they loved it. The bluegill and other sunfish varieties would only come up to feed when the lake was dead still, early morning and late evening, so once a breeze rippled the water each day, I switched to bass.

I experimented with different streamers and poppers throughout the week and had the most success on deep water clousers. I caught a few bass each morning session, from really small up to a pound or so, but nothing big. It was fun and they pulled well on a 4wt, but still no big ones. I know they live there, I’ve seen the shows, Jimmy and Joe-Bob can do it, why can’t I? Not that I felt any pressure, I wasn’t guiding, I was on vacation, fishing a lake in shorts and tee-shirt, casting a fly rod. Still it would be nice to get a good one.

On the very last morning of fishing we drifted over a weed bed not fished by use before. It was about 8-10 feet deep and I could just make out the tops of the weed piles under the broken surface of the water. I fan casted a #4 chartreuse and white clouser as we drifted slowly with the wind. I stripped once and felt the weight. I lifted and the fish immediately jumped, ahhh, a good one! Now I see why millions of people fish for these buggers. They pull on a 4wt. Still not a steelhead or salmon, but great fun just the same. I took me a minute or so to get him boat side, as he attempted to bury himself in the weeds a few times and jumped once more before coming to hand.

That did it, my trip was made. A change of pace, change of scenery and change of species was the perfect break in my Summer guiding schedule. As I boarded the plane to come home, I kept thinking, only two weeks to sea-run cutthroats. I’m refreshed and ready!