Oregon Fly Fishing Report – Small Stream Outfitters & Guides

Guide Report from Friday, June 5.

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

A mighty Spring run off from a Winter of heavy snow kept Cascade streams on the high side most of June. However, rivers are now running at close to normal levels and the McKenzie is no exception. The river is in beautiful shape with 6-7′ of visibility and a cfs of 2,870 (near vida as of July 21).

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

It’s been a couple months since I last blogged a fishing report. My apologies, Small Stream Outfitters has been busy with Video Production, Alaska exploratory prep and guiding like crazy!

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

While August can often times be a tough month for anglers with warm water conditions, bright sunny weather, and limited bug activity, it is also a time when crowds have diminished, lots of fish are staging in the rivers and the magnificent Fall runs are just around the corner.

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.