Oregon Fly Fishing Report – Small Stream Outfitters & Guides

It’s been a typical December with periods of rain, snow, wind and bitter cold. We had to reschedule lots of days to to weather, but we’re used to it. We’ve got over 100 days to start 2010 dedicated to chasing these Winter Steelhead and we’re looking forward to getting everyone out on the water.

We finished off the 2009 with a wonderful day of nymphing for Winter Steelhead on December 30th. I had decided to hit the upper river in the pontoon raft hoping to avoid some dirty rising water that was supposed to rise overnight and through the morning hours. Instead, all the rain came as snow and the river rose gradually to a near perfect level. We had 4 feet of visibility and steelhead green color, with a hint of glacial haze. Perfect. The early morning trip through the coast range was dicy and slow going, but I made it without issue. My guest beat me to the meeting spot, which I never like, but he was understanding of “Winter Storm 2009″.

Apparently “Winter Storm 2009″ kept the anglers away and I had the river to myself. Could this day get any better? Sure, as soon we started hooking steelhead. It was the first time steelhead fishing for JP of North Carolina and he made the most of it! He hooked and lost his first fish just 15 minutes into the day. JP got a little taste of the goodies there and then promptly landed his first steelhead a couple hours later. A beautiful thick, heavy wild fish that tail walked away from us the second it was hooked. It just doesn’t get any better than that. Just to make sure we didn’t get bored JP kindly hooked 2 more throughout the day.

Thanks to all the anglers who fished with us this year, making it our best year of guiding ever, even during our tough economic times. Your business and kind friendship means a lot to us. We look forward to fishing with all of you in 2010.

Congratulations to JP for his first steelhead on a fly! That always makes a guides’ day.

We were on the water a lot last week and what a week it was! The last two weeks of October are usually grand slam time on the Oregon Coast and this year hasn’t been any different. We caught the coastal grand slam landing and releasing Chinook, Coho, Sea-run Cutthroats and Summer Steelhead in the span of two days with a single angler. We also landed a 40lb chinook, a chrome coho on the swing, a 21″ Sea-run Cutthroat (our biggest of the year to date) and an 18″ Cutthroat on a dry throughout the week.

Last week had it all; rainy, windy, sunny all in the same day. The rivers levels pushed up almost a foot in some locations and few inches in others, dropped back down and rose again. That unstable weather put the best push of fish this year on the move. We found our first chrome fish in the upper river sections, but the majority of up river fish are pretty dark. We made good use of our raft this week, taking advantage of some higher flows to access great water that hadn’t seen an angler since last spring. While it was hard work at times, dragging the raft across shallow tailouts and boulder fields, the results were well worth it! Happy fish, undisturbed by anglers, rising steadily to October caddis…

Great pictures from last week and earlier this Fall are now available in two brand new photo galleries
Fall Chinook and Coho
Fall Sea-Run Cutthroat

Tight lines,
Jesse

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.

Hi Anglers,

The Fall fishing season is nearly upon us. It’s that time of year when fishing opportunities abound around the state. As the days get shorter, the leaves begin to change color and the first rains arrive, rivers and streams in the area cool off and the fishing gets red hot!

We’ll begin targeting the first to arrive of the Fall fish, the Sea-run cutthroat (Blueback Trout) on the coast next week and then progress into Coastal Fall Chinook, Coastal Coho and Willamette Valley Coho in the coming weeks. We generally begin having good salmon fishing by September 15 that will often last until the 1st or 2nd week of December on various streams and rivers.

The buzz among anglers this year is of a record coho run. Based on the number of coho jacks present last year as well as adults that prediction may very well come true. Even if the run is half of what scientists are predicting we’re going to have a great run of coho on rivers like the N. Fork Nehalem, Nestucca, Siletz, some coastal creeks and especially the Sandy! Last year the Sandy fished the best of all Coho fisheries and we look forward to many more days of bent rods this fall.

We expect sea-run cutthroat fishing this year to remain consistently good as it has for the past several years. 20 fish days are very common for trout ranging from 10-18 inches. They readily take swung and skated flies and are spectacular sport on 4wt fly rods.

The Coastal Chinook run will probably be the weakest of the three fisheries as it has been for the last 2 seasons. However, we expect a slightly better run than last year, but still not up to historical averages. We keep a close eye on the strength of the run and keep our anglers posted on chances to land one of these massive fish.

It looks to be another great Fall and we’re all set for the action to come. To inquire about a Guided Salmon or Cutthroat Trout trip with Small Stream Outfitters please call us at 503.515.3533 or Email Us!

Tight lines,
The Small Stream Outfitters Guide Staff

We entered this Chinook season with great apprehension. As everyone knows last year’s coastal Fall chinook run was a bust. It could even be described as dreadful. The talk around the fly tying vise was for improved ocean conditions for the fish this year and increased numbers of Fall Chinook. But talk is just that… talk. Until we saw for our own eyes decent numbers of fish we were not about to sell a fishery that fell fall short of expectations last year. The talk is over!

We started see big pods of fish in tidewater on September 8 and numbers of fish appear to be increasing every day. We landed two stunningly chrome, small bucks yesterday and saw lots more big bodied chinook. We breathed a hugh sigh of relief this week and are now excited to chase King Salmon chrome for the rest of the season.

Blue back (harvest trout, sea-run cutthroat) fishing continues to be excellent. Fish are ranging from 10-17″ with lots of fish in the 14-15″ range. These are great trout on light fly rods and together with a chance at a chrome chinook you just can’t go wrong.

Give us a call at 503.515.3533 to get in on the action!