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.

At Small Stream Outfitters we love to mix it up this time of year, go new places and try new techniques. As one of our new endeavors this Spring we’re going to try and find BIG schooling Sea-run cutthroat in their estuary Summer home. These fish are often targeted in these tidal areas on Washington’s Puget Sound but rarely on the Oregon Coast. We think we can find them and that it will provide another great opportunity for fly anglers during the Summer months. Who knows, maybe we’ll find a tidewater springer while we are at it.

In addition to experimenting a bit, prospects for our traditional Spring and Summer fisheries are good, if not excellent. Swinging flies on the Clackamas for Summer Steelhead has been very good and McKenzie trout fishing is always good this time of year.

To book a Spring/Summer Trout, Steelhead or Spring Chinook trip give us a call at 503.515.3533 or Email Us

Tributary Spring Chinook Salmon caught Mid-April, 2010 while Summer Steelheading. Sometimes it’s better to be lucky than good!

Jeff is now branching out his Idaho operation and starting a small all-inclusive lodge based out of the native Yupik village of Goodnews, Alaska. He has arranged great five day all inclusive fishing trips for Kings, Silvers, Chums, Rainbows, Dollies and Grayling and will working out of the village July and August 2009.

He has a few bookings left for his first season and takes a maximum of four anglers per week. This is an incredible opportunity to fish one of the greatest rivers in Alaska for half of what other similar operations are charging. To learn more about these trips, visit Jeff’s Goodnews River Webpage or call him at 208.476.3791

You can also call us at 503.515.3533 or Email us for more information

Additional photographs of the river, scenery and fish can be seen on a few of our archived image galleries.
Goodnews Gallery 1
Goodnews Gallery 2

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!

We switched over to an assortment of size 14 brown and black caddis dry flies around 10:00 and had a blast catching rainbows on 4 weights. The trout were extremely aggressive yesterday and we literally caught dozens of trout between 10″ and 13″. We even caught a 15″ whitefish on a dry. Now that’s looking up!

It was another great day on the water! To book a Summer Steelhead or Summer Steelhead/Rainbow Trout trip on the Clackamas River call 503.515.3533 or email info@smallstreamoutfitters.com

The bite has varied day to day with the changes in weather and fishing pressure. Yesterday, we were able to find some unpressured fish under cloudy skies and had a fantastic morning, hooking five and landing three. We weren’t able to get any to go on a dry line waking fly, but we’ll keep trying, remembering those moments of top water brilliance last Summer.

We were done steelheading around 10am, just in time to catch an incredible caddis (size 14 brown) and green drake hatch (size 8). The soft current edges came alive with rising trout. We broke out the 4wts and had non-stop dry fly action for the next hour. It was a blast and a great way to close out the morning!

To book a Clackamas River Summer Steelhead/Trout combo trip call 503.515.3533 or email us

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

The McKenzie is finally below 3.0 feet and fishing well. As usual it is heavily stocked and will fly fish well for hatchery and native trout all Summer. This is a great trip for beginning anglers, kids and families. Fish can be caught on a variety of methods and fly patterns. We love to fish hopper/dropper style or strip streamers for these fiesty trout.

To book a Summer Steelhead or Trout trip, please call 503.515.3533

Tight Lines,
Small Stream Outfitters Guide Staff

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