Willamette Steelhead Looking Up!

I recently took a trip to Skeena country and while I am still floating on a cloud from having a grand time there with two great friends, I managed not to get too spoiled from my dreamy week in BC (blog post on that trip still in the works).

Since returning from BC, I haven't missed a beat on my beloved homewater, the Middle Fork of the Willamette.  As noted in my prior post, I just started tying my skater in the purple/black color scheme and also since returning, I bought my third - yes third, Cabela's TLR switch, the 11' 7wt.  Why would I want yet another of these switch rods when I already had the 11' 6wt and 11'6" 7wt?  I'm not sure myself except to say these rods have totally got me buying into the utility of switch rods.  The 11' 7wt is obviously 6" shorter than the 11'6", but it has a markedly different feel to it - in my subjective descriptive terms, "lighter in hand, livelier".  Nonetheless, I love all three of these inexpensive jewels and am having a blast in the switch rod realm.

Of course, wanting to play with my new toy, I've been taking it and my new purple/black and black/blue skaters out on my homewater.  Thankfully, my homewater has been doing a great job of helping me come down from my high from my recent trip to Skeena country.  As noted on my prior post I got a 28" buck before work last thursday on the TLR switch and black/purple skater combo in my favorite bank fishing run a short drive from my home.  Some other surface steelhead successes have continued to follow and I have been enjoying the ride while it lasts!

I went on a short local float with Tony Torrence this past friday and in the first run, Tony and I split things up with me being dropped off at the top and Tony fishing mid to low.  As I got into the "armpit" or top inside corner at the head of the run, a little hen came up and gulped my black/blue skater in the chop made by the basketball sized rocks in the shallow water.  I brought this little gal to hand and she made her way to my cooler.

We fished a few more runs with no action, then we came to a nice run that comes around a bend.  Again, the dry fly guy gets the top and Tony probed the lower section with a skagit/tip.  I was tight to some bankside brush so I was working on crisp, cack handed single speys with a shallow D-loop to avoid snagging the obstructions behind me.  I got a bit frustrated when, despite carefully watching my D-loops, one of my short casts got tangled in some shoreline vegetation.  After uprooting some brush to get my fly loose, I went back to work.  After a few more casts, I had my Rage head and a couple strips of running line out.

It was midday by this time and the sun was high in the sky under bright, clear conditions.  I persisted with my new black/purple skater anyway, but I had to deal with the glare on the water and the sun in my face, making it literally impossible to see my fly on the water, no matter what color foam I would have tied to the top of my fly. 

I told myself that I'd "listen" for a rise, if indeed one were to come.  A few casts later, I got my wish.  I heard a quick splash at my fly and thought I was able to see a disturbance on the surface.  Before I could contemplate what had happened, my Hardy was screaming and a chrome form was seen leaping out of the water - a large chrome form!  I got the rod switched over to my left hand so I could start reeling against the fish with my right hand.  I made some headway after two more jumps and a few more blistering runs.  I worked my way to shore and eyed a little gravel bar that would make a convenient area to beach what was probably a mid teens hatchery buck.  As I got the beast close to shore, the hook pulled out............. 

My heart was pumping over the thrill of battling a creature possessing such power.  I think that as I get older, losing a grand fish at the bank is still never easy, but I find myself feeling more gratitude than disappointment in these instances.  After all, that steelhead gave me the thrill I was after, what more could I ask for?  Steelhead have truly blessed me beyond measure.  I cannot even begin to give back a fraction of what steelheading has given me.  Even though I would have loved to have gotten my hands on that fish, I don't need to subdue every hatchery steelhead I encounter.  The experience is much more precious than fillets in the freezer.

With what appears to be the making of some decent fall surface steelheading on my local ditch, I have become even more flakey and irresponsible than I normally am - neglecting things like housework, yard work, car repairs, cleaning the garage, etc., in frantic efforts to get on the water at any given opportunity.

This past sunday, I had a small window of time to fish before going to church to rehearse with the praise team.  I hit my favorite run at first light.  I started off with my purple/black skater, but I couldn't see it in the glare so I changed to a black/blue skater with orange and white visibility posts.  As I got to the bottom of the run, my skater came into the hang down and a steelhead gulped it down.  I came tight to the fish and after a minor tussle, I worked my way away from the bank to gain leverage on the fish.  I ended up with an average size hatchery hen that I managed to get pulled up on shore and as I went over to retrieve my prize, the steelhead gave a flop and got back into the river and took off.  No fish cleaning duty this time.

As I continue to shirk adult responsibilties, I squeezed in an evening session after work today.  I hurried to my reliable spot and again, down low in the run, my purple/black skater was approaching the bottom of the swing and I noticed a bulge behind my fly.  Just as my heightened senses deciphered the subtle sign, a quick, aggressive attack came to the fly and my Hardy Marquis was growling at that instant.  Apparently, the steelhead took the fly on the turn and the noisy reel even got the attention of Brad, who lives in the house on the banks of this run.  The steelhead took about 10-15' of line and just as I was figuring on how to transfer the rod to my left hand, the hook pulled out.

So as of now, I've hooked into 5 steelhead in the past 4 trips out to my local water.  Not bad for a guy who persistently skates flies over these hatchery steelhead.  I am a wild steelhead advocate, but gotta admit that these local hatchery summer runs provide at least a distant semblance of being on a BC river (adding some poetic imagination doesn't hurt).

I encourage anybody who fishes for these hatchery summer runs to give surface fishing a try.  The cooling conditions of fall make for the best surface steelheading of the whole year and the remainder of the fall season could be good.  Winter steelheading is right around the corner and I'll be fishing wet for most of that time so why fish wet now when my local steelhead are looking up!

 

New Skaters

I've recently been tying my Purely Functional Skater design (dubbed "Little Wang" by my fishing buds) in blue/black and purple/black recently.  I just started tying the blue/black right before heading to BC last week and a few BC steelhead seemed to like it (a future post is in the making on that wonderful trip). 

Since coming home from BC, I've also tried tying my skater in Black/Purple and a 28" hatchery buck gave his nod of approval during a short morning session before work today. 

Summer Days

As summer has progressed slowly into fall, I've been reflecting on some great times on the water.

In early August, I had a wonderful few days on the water with my good friend Keith Tymchuck.  Keith and his wife Jennifer and daughters Blair and Bailey spent several days camping along the North Umpqua.  Keith kindly saved a campspot for me and Wendi joined for a couple days as well.  I met up with Keith for the evening session on the day of my arrival and we fished each morning and evening for the next three days.

Keith reported that our friend Craig Coover went over and joined him the day before I arrived for an overnight stay.  Apparently Craig raised a steelhead at dark at one of our favorite runs.

Keith and I fished pools between the lower fly water on up to the Camp Water each day and got blanked for the first couple days.  On day three, we hit some new water that I was able to show Keith.  On one of these runs, sun was on the water so I put one of Mike Papais's wets on, the sunny rat.  About mid way down the run, I had a good pull, could not get it to come back.  Keith fished over the spot, still nothing.

On our last evening session, we started at a run new to us.  Keith showed me this spot and we really like it.  A good stretch with two nice runs.  I started at the shorter top run, fished through then got into the second run and fished short casts on the near side of the chop.  As I started getting into the heart of the run,  a steelhead came up with a quick gulp and fish on.  This is a tough spot for landing fish with no gravel bar or sloping bank.  I got a good  scrap from this little hen, probably in the 4-5lb range.  I had her up to shore and was about to grab her tail and she was off, a perfect release.  We fished a few more spots to close out the eve with no further action.

The following day, we debated on whether to start at either of two favorite runs.  We gambled on going for one of them first then doubling back to the other, hoping to get both before they were occupied by other fisherman.  We did get the one run at first light and Keith went through first and I hit the pocket water above before going in behind Keith.  When I got to the first exposed rock, I put my cast right in front of it and the current pulled my skater downstream along the wake along the side of the rock.  A steel form appeared and casually gulped the skater.  The line came tight as the current pulled the belly against the fish.  I kept my rod still, waiting for the fish to turn after feeling the pointy thing it it's mouth......instead, I then felt the tension on the line being released as the fly somehow slid out of the fish's mouth - dang!!

I went back with a smaller skater and a small wet, nada.  Keith came up and fished over the spot, still nothing.  Oh well, it was a great thrill seeing that steelhead come up for the fly, it looked to be in the 9-10lb range.  Funny thing is, I just happened to be at an angle where I was able to see that fish come to to fly, but the actual rise was very subtle.  I wonder how often this happens on fish we don't see??

Keith and I then took off for the other run we were hoping to get - funny story here- we approach the pull off and see another SUV coming from the opposite direction.  Keith puts his left blinker on and pulls in.  Just then the SUV puts it's blinker on and pulls in as well.  Come to find out it's a couple guys I know who are friends of friends.  We ended up just telling them to take the run, but we were a bit disappointed at missing the opportunity to fish the run.  Oh well, no point in competing for water.

Keith and I then ended up closing out the morning's session at another run that is new to us.  Glad we did.  I had fished this water in full sunlight in the past, but it's a whole different deal with shadows on the water.  What a beautiful dry fly run!!  Starts off as a gentle riffle, then comes into nice bedrock structure in the lower end.  The flow is gentle enough that it is pretty much a self mender and my skater was easily visible most of the time.  I could see a shark attack coming at any moment.  Alas, no such thing happened, but Keith and I were thrilled that we discovered this beautiful piece of water that will be more fully explored on future trips.  This run reminds me of some runs on BC rivers.

All in all, a wonderful trip and Keith was kind enough to chauffer me around the whole time, plus he kindly held my campsite for me.  Wendi come over friday night so we got to visit with Keith and his wife Jennifer and daughters Bailey and Blair.  Our friend Mark Stangeland and his family came over to visit one of the days as well.  Mark said he's had a good season so far, hooked/landed a good number of  steelhead so far, lost a few more, and getting his clients into fish regularly as well.

 (An evening on the Willamette with Tony Torrence)

The surface bite on the Willamette had slowed down in August for some reason, hope that changes soon.  However, I took my son in law Shaun on a float on a sunday in late August and he hooked two steelhead on wets on a dryline.  One was on a #2 Yogi (Keith's fly) and the other was on a #2 peacock bodied green butt skunk given to me by a guy Stephan from Germany that I met in BC in 1999.  The one steelhead was brought to hand, then it slipped out of Shaun's hands, swam between his legs and broke off.

The other one got off due to Shaun's new Echo Ion reel jamming.  Shaun had also just bought one of the Cabela's TLR switches for $80, the 11'6" 7wt and broke it in nicely.  I also bought the same rod the week prior, so now I have two 80 dollar Cabela's rods.

In the latter part of August into September, I continued with trips to the North Umpqua, often on solo ventures.  During one of these trips,  I ended up going over on a  thursday evening.  I fished a favorite run until dark.  Right in the sweet spot, a steelie explodes at my skater and misses.  Same cast, nothing.  Changed to a smaller GB skater, shortened up a few strips and when I worked back out to the same cast  length, the fish explodes at the mini skater and misses again.  Same cast, no comeback.  I changed to one of Mike Papais's flies, the undertaker.  Shortened up and again, at an "8 strip" cast, I feel a good yank at the fly but no hookup.  I was bummed figuring that the fish either felt the hook on the grab or felt the resistance on the other end.  Ah well, I cast again and as the fly came out of the chop, yank,..... fish on.......  At first the fish kind of did some short runs and came right in and when it got in close, it started to get serious about putting up more resistance.  Just as I was starting to think about things like how I was going to beach the fish and imagining a photo of a steelhead with Mike's fly in it's mouth, the hook pulled out.  Turns out the steelhead actually bent the hook on Mike's fly!  I think Mike's fly was so juicy that the steelhead really chomped down hard on it. A bad word may have came out of my mouth, not sure, no one else was around, but I was actually happy that I encountered what I assumed was a steelhead within my first 20 minutes of the trip.

(Mike's Undertaker was so juicy, a steelhead chewed it up and bent the hook)

I grabbed a campspot since Wendi said she might come over friday eve.  It was nice to have a break from sleeping in my car.  I pitched my tent in the dark and cooked a quick gourmet dinner of a pair of brats.

The next day, I fished several favorite runs and discovered a couple new spots.  It seems exploring is sometimes worthwhile and gives a break from fishing the same old places.  Nice day, no fish.

The following morning, I made a quick couple passes through a favorite run before heading back to help at a church event.  No morning steel materialized.   I ended up doing some pruning work the day before during mid day.  I went back down to a favored run, tied my pruning saw to a stick and cut down and pulled down some of those annoying branches that keep catching our lines/rods when we forget to make a low, sidearm cast.  Folks may appreciate my manicuring next time down there.

On the day before leaving for my trip to BC, a morning's fishing proved uneventful, but with the longer shadows with fall approaching, I was still able to find a pool with a bit of shade remaining at noon.  I was daydreaming when I heard a rise as my fly come into the bottom half of it's swing.  Turns out the rise was to my fly!  A little hen was pulling against my vintage glass rod with my Green Butt foam skater in it's mouth.  I landed this little beauty and measured in at about 21".

Dry Line Contributors Wanted

Just thought to put an invitation out to anyone who has a dry line steelheading story or perspective to share to please feel free to let me know and I can set you up to be a contributor on this blog or I can copy/paste your story and pictures here as well.

I find it great fun to share fishing stories with others and to exchange ideas about dry line steelheading with folks who have the same specialized interest within the sport that draws us together.  After awhile, it probably gets old listening to the same crazy guy rambling on here so it would be great to add some variety and I'd be glad to see other folks posting stories here.

Chrome Report from Steve Turner

It's great to have a network of fishing buds that share the passion of seeking steelhead on the surface.  It's fun emailing back and forth sharing fishing stories and keeping the steelhead fever stoked.  My good friend Steve Turner recently emailed the following report and it was such a stellar fishing story that I thought it was too good not to share here.

Steve's email:

Mornin’ Gents,

Report from the D:  The fish are freaking stacked in the runs like sardines!! (Well, OK, that might be a wee bit of an overstatement, but there are most certainly some fish around!)

Charlie and I drove to the river in the pre-dawn only to find several rigs already parked and the best spots already staked out so we decided to head downriver and fish the water in the middle to lower sections of the run. I opted to start in above a gentleman who was fishing the middle run while Charlie continued further downriver and dropped in well below him.

I watched this fella go one for two in the heart of the run, and saw another single-hander directly across the river from us hook and land a fish just before he slipped, went for a short swim-about, then dragged himself to shore and headed back to his boat to dry out. Once the guy below me finished fishing his way through the run, he turned, gave a wave, wished me luck and headed out. 

I continued fishing my way down, swinging an Undertaker on a dry line until I arrived at the holding lie. I decided my best bet might be to show the fish something different, so I tied on Todd’s now infamous “Little Wang” - black with a green butt.

At the lower end of the bucket, just as the LWGB was sliding out of the chop and into the softer water, a huge bulge appeared behind the fly, then a gaping white maw absolutely crushed the poor little penile creature. It was one of those super-hot fish that went totally ballistic at the sting of the hook, melted line off the reel at an incredibly insane clip, then exploded way upriver in a hell-bent for destruction, end-over-end catapult while the fly line was still way downriver, making me wonder if it was even possible that this was the same fish I was currently doing battle with.

It was one of the best tussles I’ve had in quite some time! I was finally able to tire her enough to lead her into shallower water. I could see she was a beautiful wild hen and I didn’t want to chance harming her just for a picture, so I quickly snapped this shot just before tailing her, slipping the hook out and gently sending her back on her way. Really a special fish - nickel bright, super broad across the back and perfectly formed. Although the picture makes her look a bit smaller than she actually was (they always do, don’t they?! =), I’d guess she was pushing the 10lb mark, maybe even a touch heavier.

 

Charlie fished a Pom Skater through the lower sections and at one point had a steelie absolutely explode all over his fly, somehow miraculously managing NOT to impale itself on the hook in the process. Unfortunately, try though he might, he was unable to coax it back for a second go-around.

As I finished fishing my way through the run I noticed that a sled had somehow sneaked in and parked just above me (My hearing must be even worse than I thought). It turned out to be Tom Larimer and his camera  crew shooting some footage for an upcoming spey fishing video. Tom’s an old friend of both of ours and we had a nice visit with him and his crew, then we headed upriver to the uppermost run which had by this time been abandoned by it’s earlier occupants.

It was approaching noon and beginning to get really warm, but we decided to give it a quick go anyway, so we put tips on and divvied up the run with Charlie going up to the top and me starting in about mid-way down. I had neglected to throw my tube flies in the sling-pack (which is typically what I fish on tips) so for kicks I tried something really different and lashed a size 6 low-water Night Dancer onto six feet of 10 lb. Maxima and attached that to 10 feet of T-14, fully expecting never to see that fly again.

I’d made maybe half a dozen casts and had just reached the full length of my shooting head, when about midway through the swing, the rod darn near got ripped out of my hand. The take was so violent that even Charlie saw it from his station way upriver.

It didn’t take but a few seconds to realize that this was not a typical Deschutes river fish, given the super-long, super-strong runs even with mega pressure applied. After a lengthy battle, I was finally able to tire her enough that Charlie, who had come down to help land her, was able to get a hand around the wrist of her tail. I’m guessing this was a stray B-run fish from the Clearwater. We snapped a couple of pics and then allowed her to continue on her journey. I know, I know. She’s just a hatchery brat, but I have a soft spot where the Idaho bound fish are concerned and just couldn’t bring myself to harvest her.
 

We decided to run into town during the heat of the day to grab a burger and shake at Big Jim’s in The Dalles, then return to give it one last shot when the sun left the water - which we did, but unfortunately with no further excitement. Given water temps that were pushing seventy degrees by this time, the fish may have been less active than they were in the morning when temps were closer to the comfy sixty degree mark.

I gave Charlie one of my coveted Little Wang GB's to fish the evening session with, and he really liked it. (Shocker, eh?!  =) In fact, he asked if I could get some info on the foam you use Todd, i.e. type, size and maybe where you typically get it.

Anyhoo - that’s the haps from the D boyz!

Steve

Double Dose of Mojo - Floating with my Bride and Hardy meets Cabela's

My wife Wendi decided that she'd float with me in my drift boat for the first time yesterday afternoon.  We did a short local stretch for a quick afternoon/evening float.  Wendi brought her phone, some paperwork, and some sale ads and was good to go.

I hit a few spots in the nice shade on river left as evening approached.  I fished a favorite run with anticipation, but the glare made it tough and I regretted stopping there because of having to bang into rocks in that shallow stuff which jolted Wendi around and made her back hurt - note to self, next time pass that spot up.

Hit another favored run with high hopes, nothing.

I figured to close out the evening at a nice classic run near the take out.  I came in a bit lower in the run to avoid banging the boat around on the rocks near shore.  Wendi was on her phone with an insurance guy getting car insurance quotes while I walked above the boat, figuring to allow myself space to extend my line enough so that by the time my fly would get even with the boat, I had a good working length of line out.  I had my Ambush head and a strip or two of running line out the tip.  On about my second cast, my fly was even with the boat and I was looking down at my reel to look at a bit of loose running line I had after the cast.  Just then, I heard a good splash at the fly and saw the rise in the periphery of my vision, and fish on!  I managed to keep my loose line from tangling and the steelie took off.  After a few back and forth runs I had the fish just about banked on the gravel bar and it somehow caught some traction and took off across the run again.  I got the steelie back in and it started heading for my anchor rope so I put some pressure on to keep it from tangling.  I got it cleared of the anchor rope then had it coming back to shore and the hook pulled out, Dang it!!  Ah well, again, can't bonk em all, got a good fight out of him/her.  Looked like a typical 8-9lb steelhead, fairly bright with a hint of pink.

The Green Butt LW strikes again, plus Wendi saw the whole thing from the rise to the end of the battle, she was quite entertained.  She was going to video me with the fish on, but she was still on the phone and her battery was running low.  Also, I was using my brand new Cabela's TL R 11' 6wt switch rod that was on sale my local Cabela's and it was a deal that I couldn't pass up.  Maybe my new toy has some mojo.  Didn't know $80 could buy me so much fun.  My 3 7/8 Perfect and 9wt Ambush were an ideal match on this little rod.

So I had a great day with my three B's - my Bronco, my Boat, and my Blonde.

Blessed Friendships

I gathered with some good friends on a favorite summer river a couple weeks ago for what is becoming an annual summer steelhead rondi.  I looked forward with much anticipation to gathering with my buds from "up north".  Adrian Cortes and Aaron Ostoj had arrived a day before me and got two campsites for our little crew of steelhead fanatics.  Steve Turner would drive down from Ridgefield, WA to catch up with us for a quick overnighter and morning session.

On the first day that I arrived, I caught up with Adrian and Aaron on one of the lower river pools. My alarm had gone off at 2:30am and I had left my home in Springfield by 3am, arriving at the river by about 4:50am - only steelheading could cause such maddness. The report was that the evening before, Adrian has raised and hooked a nice summer run on a green butt skater in the tailout of a pool further upriver.  After some line was coming off the reel, the hook pulled out, but very encouraging news to hear.

We split up water down at the area where we met.  After fishing through, we parted ways with  Adrian and Aaron hitting spots and I took off solo and hit several pools before the summer heat set in and we would meet back at the campground.  After fishing through my morning session, I headed for camp and I got my tent set up and settled in for a midday break.

The evening session was uneventful for me, but I was able to become familiar again with some of my favorite pools on this special river.  Back at camp that night, we compared notes and Adrian reported that he raised and hooked a steelie in the lower section of a big pool where some nice bedrock structure provided some cover.  He saw the surface attack and the steelhead was pulling line from his antique clicker.  He said he waited about ten seconds before hollering over to Aaron of the news of having a fish on.  Just moments later, the fish got unpinned.  However, raising and hooking 2 steelhead in two days is considered good fishing in my book.  Adrian's the top rod and on a hot streak.

Steve Turner arrived that evening and the talk of steelhead gulping skaters on top filled our discussions.  Steve, Adrian, and I have a upcoming trip planned for a BC river in mid Sept so our anticipation in planning for that trip was also in evidence.  It was decided that Steve would fish with me the following morning as we would cruise the river in search of steelhead in my beater 1990 Honda Accord.

The 4am alarm came too soon, but of course coffee needed to get made in time for us to head out at first light.  Steve is brand new to this river so it was fun to show him some of what I have learned of this special place over the past 5 years or so of fishing it each summer/fall.

I chose a pool which was an "easy wader" to start the morning, with the dim lighting of dawn.   I tried to get Steve to go through first, but he insisted that he wanted to sit back, learn about fishing the river and take photos.   I kept trying, but was unsuccessful in getting Steve to budge from his plan.  As I worked down the run, Steve kept even or below me on the bank as he took shots with his Nikon.  Towards the bottom of the run, Steve and I were chatting and I was just beginning to strip in for my next cast and rod got pulled down and jerked a couple times, evidently from a steelhead grabbing the skater at the dangle.  It was over as quickly as I realized what had happened, with my rod and line going limp.  As I stripped in, I noticed there was no resistance at the end of my tippet.  Sure enough the unseen steelhead pulled my fly right off my leader by breaking one of my bloot knots at the 8lb Maxima section.  I've been having a bad streak of breaking off fish right after the grab on this river - this one was probably at least the fourth steelhead that has done so to me down here.  I've got to do a better job of checking my knots.

We headed to another pool and while fishing short casts and watching my skater come into the transition zone between the fast main flow and inside water, a steelhead came up and gulped my waker down.  This guy gave a decent fight, but I soon realized he was a little "half-pounder" sized steelhead of not more than 20".  I won't complain though, every steelhead I encounter is special.

We fished a few more pools and then we came to one I wanted to show Steve.  This run does not get fished very often, judging by the overgrowth we encounter in getting down there.  I misjudged the angle of the sun in relation to this run,. so by mid morning, it was in full sunlight.  I was finally able to convince Steve to fish this run first since the light for photography was then poor.  I pointed out the casting station to Steve and point to lies where Adrian hooked up to a steelhead on a Jock Scott and a spot where Adrian raised one to a skater last year.  I tinkered with my fly boxes as Steve made casts and extended his line.  When I looked up, I saw Steve making a cast to the far side and the skater swung across a choppy seam.  The white post I tie on my skaters was clearly visible in bright light conditions like this.  The skater comes through the seam and is promptly attacked by a steelhead.  I think both Steve's and my jaws dropped at that moment and surprisingly the steelhead didn't get hooked on that rise.

I showed Steve a few more pools before completing our morning sesstion.  We met back at camp for lunch break before Steve left to return home.  Aaron and Adrian broke camp and we visited for a bit, looked into each other's fly boxes and I was even gifted with an exquisitely tied Jock Scott from Aaron, who like Adrian, is a very talented tyer of classic salmon flies "in-hand" (no vise).  I was able to give a few more of my foam skaters to the guys as well.  I think since the guys may not use as much foam and deer/elk hair in their classic salmon flies, that they are willing to accept my crudely tied patterns.  I was honored to share my patterns with my friends and that they've actually raised/hooked fish on them.

I also showed off the flies gifted to me by Mike Papais (see my prior blog entry) and we continued to talk about this swell fellow who we have yet to meet face to face.  I fished Mike's flies a fair amount during this trip and Adrian borrowed one of Mike's patterns to swing as well.  Mike's flies look absolutely great swimming on the swing.  I was able to try some of the smaller patterns as comebacks to rises that could have been steelhead and I fished some of the larger patterns as a primary presentation on some runs.  Surprisingly, I just got  several trout and a 14" half pounder size steelhead on Mike's flies, but it is inevitable that these gorgeous gifts will get me a steelhead at some point.

Aaron's fly box:

In Hand Masters:

Flies from Mike Papais:

Rarely caught in front of the lens, Steve Turner fishing a run in full morning light:

Steve raised a steelhead right here:

Steve Turner shared the series of photos below from the morning he fished with me.  Steve is a master of light and composition.  His incredible talent is evident here - too bad his selection of male models was limited to a scrubby steelhead fanatic from Springfield (me)!

Steve has become enamored with this special place after his first visit.  He returned this past week to spend a few days on the river.  Steve and I were able to gather again last friday, when I was able to meet up with him for the day.  He insisted on me fishing runs first, even though he is the one that is new to the river.  I tried, but couldn't argue Steve out of his kind and generous nature.  Steve did the driving that day in his luxury new F150, so it was a day of traveling in comfort for me.  Steve also treated me to a wonderful lunch.  I feebly tried to reciprocate Steve's kindness and generosity with more flies and pointing out more spots on the river.  It turns out Steve did a great job of sniffing out surface steelhead on his own during his stay.  He raised and hooked a hot steelhead in a non-decript run that he found on the evening before I met up with him and he hooked into a similar 5/6lb range steelhead at a new spot we fished together  that morning.  Both fish got unpinned, but the thrill of the surface grab and hookup is never soon forgotten.

Thanks to all of my fishing friends for wonderful days on the river and great companionship that reach far beyond fishing.

Blessed by His Grace,

Todd