Quick Video Clip - Trophy Winter Steelhead

This is a quick clip from the other day when I had my client Bob rope into a nice native winter steelhead on a north coast river. The cool thing to think about was that Charlie (Bob's friend) got a chrome bright hen that was blatantly larger than this fish, but the tippet popped when the fish was in the landing mode before I had a chance to put the hoop of the rubber "catch and release" net under that big beauty. We saw it so close and personal though, and it was a dandy specimen of native Oregon wild winter steelhead to see. Watching Charlie battle with it through 500+ yards of treacherous water (stair-step waterfall included) was one of the most awesome angling feats I have ever witnessed! Too bad we did not have that one on film!

Enjoy the video clip, and sorry we have no close up pics of the fish. It was released right after what you see in this clip after a few quick shots and measurements taken with the fish in the water. It never spent more than a few seconds out of the water, and you see it in slow motion on here. Please take care of our wild native fish!!!! They are treasures we need in our future!

February and March Can Yeild that Trophy Winter Steelhead You Dream About

Unhooking a large native Oregon winter steelhead

For the last 3 days, I was guiding two really great guys from Oklahoma. They had fly fished around, buy steelheading was not in their resume. At first, getting the guys used to switch rods was the first line of order. Luckily switch rods are so user friendly; so they were banging out casts into likely holding lies in hopes of chrome. Now it was just a matter of having a fish intercept their offerings.

Winter Steelhead Admiration - fish caught by client on trip

It turns out that their timing was very good; since the water was very low for a long period of time, and a new freshet was here bringing some new smells into the water to pull in a new fresh batch of steelhead to ascend to their natal spawning grounds. On top of that, the chances of a very large native fish are always present this time of the year. It turns out that the "big fish" gods answered our call, and both of the anglers got to experience a fish of a lifetime. One day Charlie hooked into a chrome bright hen that took him literally about 500+ yards downstream over a double stair step water fall, and down through boulder strewn set of rapids, and into a long pool to have the fish take the whole fly line 3 more times (with the drag cranked down). When we were standing there getting ready to net (rubber net) the seemingly over 40" chromer with the leader cranked into the rod, the fish gave one last pull, and snap! She was back off to continue her run.....Luckily, we saw this awesome beast, and she was the largest fish I have seen in person (steelhead-wise), and she was in close and personal several times. The only thing we did not get to do was to scoop it, take pics, and maybe measure it under water. Otherwise, she gave us the entertainment of a lifetime! Charlie was super stoked on that amazing fish and crazy battle he endured with the fish.

Large Native Oregon Winter Steelhead Caught February 21, 2012

Yesterday, right when we were taking our lunch break, Bob was still fishing a few last casts before opening up his thermos of hot chilli in the misty rain. Right then, he yelled fish on, and I noticed that the rod was bent in a sturdy fashion that appeared to be something significant. When the fish materialized on the surface, it was again another trophy winter steelhead. Luckily this fish was in a pool, and there was not too much that could mess this battle up, except a long set of boulder strewn rapids downstream, but this hefty buck was staying in the pool and cooperating perfectly. After a few small runs and lots of sturdy headshakes and some thrashing around, Bob steered this hog to the hoop of my rubber net where I scooped around the fish's kyped beak to then end the battle. It was a trophy steelhead landed! We snapped a few quick pics, measured the length and girth to get a 37" and 20" girth for the fish. That keyed into a steelhead calculator I found online called  piscatorial pursuits and the fish came to 19.09 pounds. Whatever it really came to did not matter; since it was huge and awesome looking. A steelhead of a lifetime! After some quick admiration, we sent the large fish back off into the mysterious steelhead green to swim on upstream.....

One of hatchery hens caught

 We ended up having several other fish, but those two were the standouts on the trip for Charlie and Bob. It was pretty crazy to think and be able to confirm how large Charlie's fish was. It was a good bit larger that Bob's landed male steelhead. The huge fish Charlie had on was chrome bright, wild, and so angry that it took us through the craziest battle I have seen so far for steelhead, or any fish for that matter! It just shows that when you though you have seen everything, you haven't seen it all!

Coast Winter Steelhead Rivers Are Getting Low.......

With not much precipitation, the coast rivers have been dropping and getting low and clear. With that, you can start putting your focus on the larger systems that take a long time to finally get into fishing shape. Smaller systems will become low and clear and the fish start to really feel the angling pressure much more easily. Recently, on my last guided trip, we faced these tough low water conditions where it was hard to not spook fish while walking down to the pools, and harder to land them once they got in the rapids and rock gardens. Between the two anglers, they battled with 5 fish, but all of them with the exception of 1 freed themselves on rocks, with headshakes, or areal acrobatics.

Fishing to several steelhead holding in a pool.......

  One fish was a large bright wild male that blasted a huge air right after the hookup, tore right between Dale and I, where I got a great glimpse of this specimen. Then it catapulted a huge air right on the leader where the impact broke the tippet, and it was back off to his early premature freedom. Right after that, Jenn struck to a Thingamabobber dunk with a bright chomer on, that released itself after a few big headshakes levered the hook from its jaws. With redemption from the steelhead gods, Jenn cast back out into the mysterious green flowing slot near the bushes with confidence from the brief chrome encounter, and the very next cast went tight! Fish on again! Yeah!!!

Fish On Tight - Winter Steelhead Fly Fishing In Oregon

It was a crazy battle with the fish, which luckily never ended as the fish "winning", by breaking the line off under the tree that was halfway across the pool. Eventually after many reel zipping runs, the fish yielded and Jenn pulled it in towards the rubber net. I scooped under it and lifted the hoop of the net around this wild beauty, but kept her in the water like an aquarium so we could check her out. 

First steelhead successfully landed! - Oregon North Coast River

We admired this acrobatic female wild winter fish, snapped a couple of pictures of Jenn's first steelhead that she has landed, and let her swim off to continue upstream. I was super stoked that her first steelhead was a wild winter steelhead. That makes it even better! We all gave each other high five's and were stoked! What a day to be out in the warm winter sunshine (oxymoron-but it was nice out for winter), and hooking up with winter steelhead!

Getting the hook out so this wild Oregon winter steelhead can swim on her way

An innocent bystander of the winter steelhead fishing

Dale on tight to a fish!

Strange Steelhead YouTube Video I Found - Steelhead Stomach Contents.....

While web surfing on YouTube, I came across this video, and it made me think about steelhead feeding behavior. This is a video that is totally off topic from what this blog is all about, but nonetheless it is very interesting in my opinion. Makes you think about what to use for colors, and whether or not steelhead eat, don't eat, etc....

Enjoy thinking about steelhead after this video!

This Winter Steelhead Season is Rocking!! Things Just Keep on Getting Better!

Nice wild native male steelhead caught on a Oregon north coast stream

This fish was caught on Friday February 3rd, and it only testifies to what kind of fishing is on our dinner plate now. I walked up to a nice choppy run, and probed my fly into the heavy chop, and the take was like I was hooked on the bottom. I felt three huge swooshing head shakes, and I knew that I was not attached to a rock or flapping branch. My line peeled off, and the battle was on. I fought the fish for all I had, but I was not going to budge, or screw this one up. I finessed the fish in, but with brute assertive force. Every time I had him in, he turned his head towards the depths and pulled line out with a sturdy abrupt fashion. Eventually I figured out how to wear him out, and how to get his head turned into the bank. After several feeble attempts, I finally got this hefty buck to yield, and I tailed him securely. We snapped some pics, and he forcefully freed himself scurrying away back into the "steelhead green" deeper water from my sturdy grip on his deep bodied tail. He swam off so hard into the depths and was gone, like the whole episode never even happened.........

Admiring this awesome native steelhead - Oregon

Fishing has been very good for winter steelhead lately, and the fish runs are tremendous this season (so far). A big dry spell is supposed to happen; so we'll see what comes out of it, but typically the farther from a rainfall the more you should focus on the larger mainstem rivers; while the closer to the big rains, the more you should focus on smaller systems that drop fast and clear up quickly. Below are some pics from the last few times out......

Chromer long distance releasing itself with an acrobatic areal.....

On tight to a very large chrome bright fish.....

Nice chrome bright wild buck - Oregon's North Coast

Don't Let The High Water Get You Down - Steelhead Still Take Care of Business

Swinging Through Swollen Flows

With all of the recent precipitation, I had come down with a terrible case of cabin fever, and the rains have kept the rivers full. Thoughts of how many steelhead that are just swimming by my favorite waters have been haunting me, and I had a friend visit  for a couple of days who is a fishing freakazoid. I was not going to let the swollen flows keep us on the couch thinking about chrome anymore. There is always a spot that looks like it would hold steelhead no matter how high the flows are, and we were going to put it to the test to find some of these potential spots, and hopefully hook into some winter steelhead.

Winter steelhead boiling on surface during a screaming run

We fished for two days, and the first day the river was 20" above the standard flows that everyone who fishes this river seems to prefer. The water color was a tad bit off of steelhead green, but not brown and blown out by any means. We searched for "steelhead water" and that was the hard thing to find with the bloated flows, but we knew somewhere would have water that was about "walking speed" and somewhere from 18" - 6' deep. It turns out that everywhere that fit into that water classification resulted in having a fish on, or at least a grab. In a funny way it was not to hard to figure out; since most of the water was a torrent of jet wash with heavy whitewater or boiling hydraulic pools that looked intimidating. Steelhead are not going to hold in water that would be too much work to hold in, and the slow water that we found was generally above and below rapids; so you can assume that steelhead should be holding there. Fishing with that equation resulted in 6 hookups, and only 2 fish were landed, but the high water was the reason for all of the long distance releases. All of the fish were hooked on dead drifted presentations under strike indicators, and we did not hook any fish swinging flies on this day.

Angler on tight to a large powerful winter steelhead

The second day of fishing was a totally different story. The water was still about 10" above what would be considered to be the optimal river stage, but after the day before it looked perfect. As for the fishing, it was pretty darn good out there. I hooked up with a beautiful chromer on my second cast in my second spot I fished, and the fish took the fly super aggressively. It was a beautiful wild steelhead on her way to her natal waters before I intercepted her for a brief moment of admiration.

Beautiful coastal Oregon native winter steelhead

The water was producing hookups in just about every spot we probed our flies in, but the swollen flows caused many long distance releases again. We had super amazing fishing for the last 1 1/2 hours of the day, as we both hooked up with a 9 fish, and landed only 3 of them again (one wrapped on wood and straightened the hook). All of the fish again were hooked on dead drift presentations, and none were hooked on a tight line swing presentation. We fished both methods, and the dead drifts were getting all of the attention. The high flows seems to aid in the fish ripping the hooks out during the battles; since the line pressure would be so intense. The best part is hooking up and playing these steelhead, but it is always frustrating wondering exactly what the fish may have looked like that escaped before you got to land them. Luckily, Eliot ended up successfully landing this coastal beauty to admire.....

Angler admiring this gorgeous Oregon coastal winter steelhead - January 27, 2012

The thing that this fish made us wonder about was how many more looked like this that got off.....? That is what keeps us angling for more.....

I Wish Tight Lines for All!!!

Today may have that mini gap of chrome opportunity.......

Small Creek Winter Steelhead Taken From Stormy Time in 2011

Storm is predicted for Tuesday, and it is supposed to be another whammy for precipitation. Water levels today on the tiny little creeks would be most likely perfect. Most do not have gauges; so you have to speculate on the levels, but when looking at the existing gauges on neighboring rivers, you can guess and be right a lot of the time. With these smaller systems, you have to get out there on the day you know it is going to be right, or the water levels will be too low the next day after. In this case, it seems like the only possible window to catch a chromer on the west side of the cascades near Portland; since Tuesday may bring an inch or two of rain again. Let's hope this predicted storm fizzles out.....

Small Creek Steelheading From A Stormy Time in 2011

Oregon's North Coast Was Sort of Lucky.....

With all of the battering we have taken with the recent storms, the north coast streams were spared of any heavy flooding events. Surprisingly, water levels only spiked up to where they would be for any typical storm. The central coast took a big hit with flooding, but rivers like the Trask and Wilson rose up, and are now on the drop. Many trees have been blown down, and lots of issues have come as a result of the past few day's weather, but at least the north coast did not meet that potential flooding that was predicted.

Trask River Gauge Reading 1/20/12

Any of the smaller systems should be fishing well by the weekend if the precipitation doesn't fall as anything significant. There have been many downed trees, and trees can be unstable due to the supersaturated soil. Be careful out there, and watch out if you float a stream for fallen timber across channels and be aware of underwater obstructions. Otherwise enjoy the water when you get back out there!

Timber strewn across small coastal winter steelhead creek from heavy winds

Oregon North Coast Winter Steelhead Video

Once in a while the planets actually line up, and fishing situations all come together. Recently Nicole and I had a day off, there happened to be poor snow conditions (because she loves her cross country skiing over anything), and the potential for good winter steelheading was lining up. The water level on a river she and I like to fish at was going to be perfect on the day we had off together, and the weather prediction was rather nice for the wintertime in western Oregon. What a deal!

On tight to a large winter steelhead - Oregon Coastal River

Nikki also thinks winter steelhead are sort of mythological too, because everyday that she has tried for them, the fishing was a total dud. She has seen me lose one fish after a little fight, and also saw me lose one to a frayed tipped on a swing last winter, and that is all in regards to her winter steelheading. Granted she only went 3 times last winter, and we got rained out on one of them, and the other two days I had one hookup each time with no landing as I just mentioned. She has thrown well over the 1000 casts and swings it supposedly takes to hook up with one of those fairy tail chromers. She has also dead drifted her share of glo bugs, clowneggs, Fox's Fertilizers, and other egg patterns under Thingamabobbers with better dead drift precision than most avid angler can do. She has caught summer run steelhead, but no winter fish yet, and this was going to be the day. I knew she would at least get to see one on the end of a line whether it was her rod or my rod. Luckily, we had good fishing, and we shot some footage from the day. I hope you enjoy it, and set aside some time since it is about 18 minutes long.

Well it turns out that Nikki ended up filming me a lot, and watched me fish more than she fished. I also got to fish the best spots, and that is because she is so awesome to me, and wanted me to get my fill of winter steelhead action out there. She pulled in a total pig sized male steelhead, and it was the largest fish successfully landed of the day. At least now winter steelhead are not mythological anymore when we are both able to go fishing together.

Landing mode on a winter steelhead.......

Pineapple Express Brings Some Flooding and High Water!!!

Be careful out there when driving near those "little creeks"! Stories of tragic automobile incidents have plagued our news stations; so be aware of how powerful the flows of water can be while flowing across streets and parking lots. This flooding can be very localized with effects in one area being severe with culverts overflowing onto streets; while the next drainage over may be flowing a little swollen above normal. Rivers are high on the north coast, but the heaviest flooding effects seems to be on the central coast.

The north coast rivers are running high, and they may reach a potential dangerous flood stages, but as of now they are running as high as any typical winter weather system. The potential is there for a whammy of flooding events though; so be aware! If the heavy rains persist, water levels may spike up to serious flood levels; so lets hope that this weather system halts itself soon!

Trask River Gauge Reading 1/19/2012

Nehalem Gauge Reading 1/19/2012

The central coast has already gotten hammered with flooding water levels very badly! Flood stage for the Siulslaw River is 18 feet, and bankfull is 15 feet; so there is some significant flooded water levels already there. 18 feet is the flood stage for the Alsea River gauge, and the river has spiked well above that, but hopefully seemed to peak out. Let's hope that this weather tones itself down right away, but only time will tell.....

Siuslaw River Gauge Reading 1/19/2012

Alsea River Gauge Reading 1/19/2012

 Anytime you have low snow levels for a few days, and then a warm "Pacific Pineapple" weather system, there is a recipe for disaster. Take these weather events seriously, and respect the power of water. A little overflowed culvert can cause fatalities; so don't drive through any water that is flowing over roads and parking lots. Storms will cease eventually; so wait it out before you decide to go driving and recreating in potential flood waters.

NOAA FLOOD WARNING FOR 1/19/2012

Oregon Coast Daily News - Flooding in Alsea & Siletz Basins
Mohawk River flooding prompts evacuation notice Flooding Closes Highway 22 & 229 

New Video - Winter Steelhead North Coast 1/9/2012

I have been a blog slacker lately (not posting as much as I should be), and I will be getting on board again. I have lots of footage and pics to display for you, and here is a video to start with. This is a video of last Monday the 9th of January 2012, and it is on a North Coast River on a day where the conditions were more or less "spot on" for good steelheading. Fishing was solid at the start, and as the light angles brightened, and the water level dropped that extra inch or two; conditions seemed to get tougher. We saw plenty of fish, but they were not cooperating for the numbers we fished to, but you have to be happy to hook one these wary fish in a day of fishing anyhow. Having several of them on, and landing a few fish is always a good day in my book! Enjoy watching the "big one on" battle!

If you are interested in trips that focus on swinging skagit heads on two handed / spey rods, using switch rods, nymphing / dead drifting to steelhead, or if you want to experience all of the above contact me for a trip. Many rivers close on March 31st for winter run steelhead, and January is already halfway over. This winter steelhead season has been providing wonderful fly fishing opportunities thus far; so get yourself out there!If you are interested in booking a winter steelhead fly fishing trip contact me at (541)232-6360 (phone) or fish@mckenzieangler.com(email). I can run trips for "Walk in and Wade" or on rivers that require either a drift boat or cataraft; so get a hold of me if you want to enjoy a wonderful day of adventure on the water!