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.

The holiday season is nearly upon us! What could be a better gift to your favorite angler than a gift certificate for a day of guided fly fishing, complete with rods/reels, flies, lunch/beverages, 9 hour fishing day and a FREE Small Stream Outfitters embroidered logo ball cap! Offer good, November 26 – December 21, 2010. Certificates are good for 1 year from date of purchase and are good anywhere we fish including the Sandy, Clackamas, McKenzie, Siletz, Nestucca and Nehalem.

EMAIL US to order your gift certificate. Just type “Holiday Gift Certificate” in the subject line.

Per Boat Rates:
Single Angler: $350.00
2 anglers: $395.00

Happy holidays and tight lines,
Small Stream Outfitters

While the high water has made for some less than typical fishing conditions and some frustrating days of cancelled trips, the rain does have a few upsides. Sections of water that usually too low for drift boats this time of year are flowing nicely, allowing access to fishing grounds usually reserved for Winter. Fish of all species including Spring Chinook and Summer Steelhead have had free passage up river under moderate to heavy flows and dirty water. That has kept the fish far less spooky than normal and allowed us to fish bigger presentations and heavier leaders.

But perhaps the biggest upside is still to come… All this rain late in the season means increased river flows in July, August and September when rivers typically get low, warm and have decreased dissolved oxygen content. That’s good news for fish and fishermen who should enjoy good mid-summer/early-fall conditions for Summer steelhead, sea-run cutthroat, Coho and Fall Chinook. Fish should be less spooky, more aggressive and spread themselves out through river systems instead of stacking up in big dark pools with bad cases of lock-jaw. Only time will tell, but with the rivers now on the slow drop and approaching the magic 50 degree mark we are looking forward to a great Summer and Fall of fishing.

We are currently fishing Summer Steelhead/Spring Chinook on the Clackamas as well as the Nestucca. We are also guiding cutthroat and rainbow trout on the Clackamas, McKenzie and Coastal Rivers. To inquire about a guided fishing adventure email Info@SmallStreamOutfitters.com or call 503.515.3533

Tight Lines,
The Small Stream Outfitters Guide Staff

I spent the day on the McKenzie with David from Kansas having a glorious time catching Rainbows and Cutthroats. Even with the sunny skies the hatchery rainbows were particularly aggressive and David’s rod was bent often. About halfway through our float, there’s a great riffle that always holds fish and is a favorite hang out spot for a pair of Osprey. Rich Youngers of Creekside Fly Shop has had client’s fish stolen on multiple occasions at this spot, but for whatever reason, it hadn’t happened to me. I had heard all the stories and saw all the pictures, so of course David and I were chatting about the birds as we approached and set anchor.

David made a cast with his streamer and instantly hooked up. I watched him as he fought the fish and just as I was about to reach over and grab the line to land it, a large splash startled us. An osprey was in the water, just feet in front of the boat. He took off with our fish in tow and now Dave had a 12″ rainbow and very large bird attached to his 5 weight! Awesome! “Break him off”, I yelled while laughing. He pulled back and away the bird went, back across the river. Now one less hatchery rainbow in the river… That alone was enough to make the day and certainly lightning couldn’t strike twice. As I tied on a new tippet and fly, Dave got out his camera to snap some photos of the other half of the Osprey pair, sitting in a tree across the river.

I finished the knot, stripped off some line and flicked a cast out the side of the boat, waiting while he finished snapping shots. As the fly swung in front of the boat (did I mention fishing was hot yesterday) the rod surged and now I had one on. “Get that camera ready” I said. And with that, she took off from the tree, flew across the river and started a dive on the fish. Not wanting to lose another fly, I shook the fish off right before she hit the water. Success!! She got the fish, I saved my fly and Dave snapped away. Count two for the Osprey. As she flew away, presumably to feed their babies, Dave and I chuckled as he made a cast and hooked another fish.

Now with the Ospreys fed, we can get on to catching more fish!

Fished more of a run and gun style with a single angler today and covered about 9 miles of river looking for active fish on top. We found a few pockets of actively feeding fish, but couldn’t get very many to go when blind casting to the banks. Any place we found trout sipping dries we were able to get them to take on a variety of patterns including, size 8 salmon flies, yellow sallies, low-water caddis and adams.

We fished dries hard until about noon and then switched over to streamers until 4:30 and then switched back. Streamers worked well, but we had to down size and go darker once the sun came out.

We caught mostly natives today and a majority of those were cutthroat. A few hatchery fish here and there, but not huge numbers. That’s fine by me. The wild fish bite far better when there are fewer hatchery fish in the way.

All in all it was a great day with lots of variety.
River Clarity: 6 feet
Water temp: low fifties
Weather: 55-70, mostly to partly cloudy. Variable winds
Fishing Pressure: light

To book a trout fly fishing trip on the McKenzie River this Summer, call 503.515.3533 or email us

Small Stream Outfitters was on the middle McKenzie today and had some great action. Sporadic hatches of #12-14 brown caddis, golden stones, salmon flies, and large cahills provided some good dry fly action in the morning and evening. During the day we covered lots of water by swinging streamers. The streamers worked like magic and kept us busy during the middle of the day . The majority of rainbows were of the hatchery variety, but we did land a couple small native cutthroats and one trophy native rainbow. This big redside measured 19″ and is our biggest McKenzie Rainbow of the season to date. We’ve caught these big bows up to 22″ in past years and know these big trophies are still out there.

We’ll be on the water again Sunday and are hoping to run in to a few more of these big boys.

Weather: 60-70 degrees, mostly cloudy, variable winds and a few sprinkles
Time: 9am-6pm

Stocked rainbow trout are prevalent and provide great action all day long. Native Rainbow and Cutthroat are also present with the best opportunities for these fish coming during hatches and low light periods.

Predominate hatches are Yellow Sallies (size 10-14) and Tan/Brown Caddis (size 12-16). A few PMDs are also flying around.

Try hopper/dropper setups during hatches and rely on nymphing tactics when the sun is bright and on the water.

To book a McKenzie river guided fly fishing trip, please call Small Stream Outfitters at 503.515.3533 or email us at info@smallstreamoutfitters.com

Tight Lines,
Small Stream Outfitters Guide Staff

The Summer is off to a smashing start. We’ve been running lots of trips along the Central Oregon Coast for native coastal cutts and summer steelhead, as well as working the famous McKenzie for trout.

COASTAL CUTTHROAT
The Summer coastal cutts, while not quite as large as their anadromous brethren the Sea-run Cutts have been providing great dry-fly action during the afternoon and evening. Large fluffy dries are the ticket with hot June patterns like Stimulators, Royal Wulffs and deer hair caddis. Some smaller yellow and green stones have also been working well.

SUMMER STEELHEAD

COASTAL STREAMS
Coastal Summer Steelheading continues to improve as more fish enter the systems each day. High daytime sun can be problematic for these fish as we’ve been having our best success early in the morning and late in the evening. The Siletz has been our favorite haunt as of late, concentrating on working upper sections out of the raft. Small Steelhead nymphs have been the way to go, fished with light lead and light leaders.

SANDY RIVER
The Sandy has also been fishing well for Summer fish at times. Times of rising and falling water after brief Spring and Summer rains have produced the most fish, including several larger Summers in the 10 plus pound range.

MCKENZIE RIVER TROUT
The McKenzie has been a consistent producer of trout as always and still is our signature trip for beginning anglers. It’s a joy to fish, the scenery is spectacular and the trout are most often hungry. Hatches in the past few weeks have been limited, although there are some Yellow Sallys, a few smaller caddis, and a handful of Salmon Fly and Golden Stones flying about. Our best success has been fishing hopper-dropper style or nymphing with an indicator. Good nymphs to try are golden stones, pheasant tials (flashback and bead-head), zug bugs and green rockworms.

We’ll be fishing trout and steelhead through Mid-July and then it’s off to Alaska for a couple weeks to explore some remote western streams. Stay tuned for reports and video from that trip. Also, we’ll be releasing the trailer to our Winter Steelhead video in a couple weeks so stay tuned for that!

Until then tight lines and warm sunny skies,
Small Stream Outfitters

We at Small Stream Oufitters have been having a great time this Summer chasing Spring Chinook, Summer Steehead and lots of trout. The first reports of good numbers of coastal tidewater sea-run cutthroats are beginning to stream in and we have already seen our first Fall Chinook!

NOW BOOKING! – Fall Chinook, Summer Steelhead and Sea-Run Trips. Peak-Season is fillng quickly so make your reservations now!

Individual River Reports

Nestucca River – Fair to Slow for Summer Steelhead – Water is low and clear and continues to warm up. The best fishing has been in the first couple hours of the day. Try small dark, trout type patterns to trick these wary fish. Small searuns are beginning to show downstream of 3 rivers and into tidewater.

Siletz River – Fair to Good for Summer Steelhead – Water is low and clear. The best fishing has been in the first couple hours of the day. We spent two days over the last weekend chasing Sea Run Cutts and Steelhead just above Tidewater. There are LOTS of Summer Steelhead still entering the river. Groups of anywhere from four up to twenty-fish are making their way up the river. Fish were moving up until 10am. They are in very shallow water and extremely spooky. Take great care in approaching these fish. Floating lines, long leaders, little flies and delicate presentations are your only chance until the first rains cool off and discolor the water.

SEARUNS – Fair to Good numbers of fish are present downsteam of Jack Morgan. Best patterns have been spruces and royal coachmans fished just beneath the surface in shaded areas, around woody debris, and in deep back edddies. These early fish range from 8″-14″, but there are a few pigs already above tidewater. There are scattered fish between Ojalla bridge and Jack Morgan Park.

CHINOOK – We didn’t expect to see any Chinook this early in the year, but they are coming. We saw several solo chromers in the 15-20 lb range travelling upriver just above tidewater. There are not yet fishable numbers, but expect an decent early push with the first good shift in weather.

McKenzie River – Fair to Good for Trout – Water is low, but still fishing well. Fish are concentrated in medium speed riffles and keyed into to nymphs. Try small stone flies, pheasant tails, sparkle pupae, sparkle princes and other small attractor nymphs. Deerhorn to Hendricks has been a productive drift the last couple weeks. Dry fly fishing has slowed as the water has dropped and warmed up.