A "Collaborative" Summer Tradition

This has been the third year of gathering with my good friend Adrian Cortes, Keith Tymchuck and others on our favorite Oregon summer steelhead river.  I'm not sure if this qualifies to be called such, but it is becoming a summer tradition for us to schedule this gathering each July, It is always a great time of getting like minded souls together to obsess over this obscure niche known as steelhead fly fishing.  Hanging out with others who actually understand the language and thought process that comes through our unique passion is so refreshing.

Adrian initiated the planning and logistics with our "raising a ruckus" get together this year.  Bucky Buchstaber, Executive Director/founder of the Fly Fishing Collaborative (FFC) and Dave Fineran, Communications Director with the Fly Fishing Collaborative joined us, along with Josh Browning, a prolific donor of classic flies to the FFC.  Dave's fiancee Lindsey Wayman was even brave enough to join a group of crazy steelheaders for the weekend.

Keith and Adrian were the first to arrive at the river and staked out a campspot.  I arrived on the evening of that first day and caught up with Keith during his evening session on a favorite run.  It was a beautiful time on the river and a great pleasure to watch Keith fish a promising tailout that has been a well known producer, but has yet to yield a steelhead to either of us to date.

Upon arriving back at camp, Adrian soon arrived from his evening session and reported that he had not encountered any steel yet either.

Guide Mark Stangeland was also camping and fishing the river as well.  He came over to visit and we stayed up later than we should have as we caught up with the latest steelhead talk and we tried to absorb every possible bit of river wisdom that we could from Mark as he shared of his years of experience on this famed river.

Adrian and I fished together the following morning and we hit some of our favorite spots with no action until we got to the last pool.  Adrian was fishing through with one of his classic wets and halfway through the swing, line started slowly pulling from his reel, then nothing.  Most likely, a steelhead stopped his fly and started to slowly turn with it and the hook pulled out.  We surveyed the water and there didn't appear to be anything that would have snagged his fly in that area.

Bucky arrived that afternoon and Adrian introduced him to me and Keith for the first time.  I spoke to Bucky about the FFC and how I remember the time a few years ago when Adrian had mentioned to me about when it was just being birthed as a concept ministry to enlist fly fishers to come together for the cause of stopping human trafficking in third world countries.  I admired Bucky for the visionary he has been and praised God for bringing Bucky's visions to fruition as the FFC is a thriving ministry today.

Kudos must also go out to Adrian Cortes, Josh Browning, Matt Zilliox, and others who have generously donated their time, skill, and resources by tying beautiful classic salmon flies that get packaged in classy leather fly wallets that are much in demand by discriminating classic fly lovers around the world, with proceeds going to support the FFC.  Several guiding operations contribute guided trips to the FFC as well, including Marty and Mia Sheppard of Little Creek Outfitters and others.

During the evening session, I took Bucky out to some of the famous pools on this beautiful river.  We hit some of my favored spots with no steel action, but Bucky was in awe of the beauty of this place.  I pointed spots out as we drove by and gave some history on the river along with any personal stories I happened to have about runs we passed by or stopped at.

Bucky fishng a famous pool

Back at camp, we settled in, ate dinners of a simple sort, tied flies, and again stayed up visiting until later than we should have.  Mark Stangeland joined the crew again and talk of steelheading began flowing again.  A major topic of conversation was the upcoming emergency closure issued by ODFW.  The river would be closed to fishing from 2pm until and hour before sunrise the following morning each day until further notice.  We lamented the elimination of our evening sessions, especially in light of the fact that the river has been running at normal summer temperatures after we came through the heat wave earlier in the month.

The following morning, I took Bucky out to some of my other favorite spots on the lower fly water.  One of the spots I took Bucky to was an obscure out of the way, single person deal.  I pointed out the holding lie for Bucky and watched him swing his fly into the zone.  Bucky covered the water well and by the time he reached the limit of the holding water we accepted that there was no one home.

When we arrived back at the rig, a fellow had stopped by and said hey.  We realized it was Josh Browning, a friend I had made through Speypages and Facebook and a very talented tyer who has been donating some spectacular classics to the FFC cause.  We decided to escort him back to camp so he could drop off his car and fish with us for the remainder of the morning.

After getting Josh situated at camp, we jumped in my trusty Honda and headed back to the river.  As we drove along the river, we ended up at a run that is still fairly new to me, but was selected since it still had some shade on it.  This run had a riffly head that deepened into a slow pool and the lower section formed a tailout below a rocky break.  I gave Bucky and Josh the choice of water to fish and I'd just get in behind either one of them.

A beautiful freestyle tied by and gifted to me by Josh Browning

For no particular reason, Bucky ended up at the riffly head in and Josh ended up in the tailout.  After getting the guys set up in their respective positions, I decided to take a break on a convenient log as I watched Bucky fish his water.  After a few casts, I hear Bucky yelling over to me that apparently, Josh had raised a fish, which Bucky surmised from Josh's hand motions that he could see from his position.

I decided to grab my camera and head over to Josh's position in case he was able to get the steelhead to come back.  When I arrived on the scene, Josh informed that he raised a steelhead near a boulder in the lower part of the tailout on a little wang skater that I had given him.  When I asked if the steelhead came back on successive casts, Josh stated that he had made a same cast a few more times and there was no response from Mr. Steelhead so I suggest that Josh shorten up and go back with a different fly.

Josh reeled in 10 or so feet of line and I grabbed his tippet and tied on a greaseliner tied by and gifted to me by Adrian Cortes.  By this time, Bucky had come over to watch the events unfold with Josh's steelhead encounter.

Josh cast the greaseliner out and I was explaining that the riffle hitched fly sits lower in the water than the foam skater and can be more difficult to see.  I was trying to locate the greaseliner in the chop and had just spotted the fly as it started to come into the slower inside cushion.  Just as I said "there it is" and pointed to the riffle hitched greaseliner coming across, the three of us witnessed the open mouthed attack of a nice steelhead as the greaseliner disappeared in a great rise followed by three jaws dropped!

Josh was expertly able to delay lifting the rod until he felt the weight of the fish and the fish was on and fighting.  The mighty creature gave at least 3 clean jumps as it cavorted up and down the tailout.  Bucky and I gave encouragement and affirmations to Josh as we shared and relished in the excitement of this special moment.

After several minutes, Josh had the beautiful steelhead close to being in range to be tailed.  By the visual glimpses we got of this steelhead during her jumps and flashes during the fight, we judged her to be a fairly bright hen in the 10-12lb range, and a nice hefty, larger than average steelhead for this river.

Just when we thought Josh would get his hands on this beauty, the fly pulled out.  A brief moment of disappointment was followed by true joy as the three of us collectively felt enormously blessed to be able to witness and share in a very special experience together.  As we thought about it, we realized Josh's grand steelhead encounter was a "four way collaboration" in that Josh raised the steelhead, Bucky alerted me to the situation, I played amateur fishing guide and tied on a comeback fly for Josh, Adrian Cortes had tied said fly, and then Josh was able to raise and hook the steelhead for the three of us to witness and enjoy, with a grand tale to tell.

Fish on!  Josh hooked up to surface steelhead - a collaborative effort! 

Back at camp, we compared notes with Adrian.  It turned out that Adrian found some surface excitement as well.  He told the tale of fishing a favorite run when he raised a steelhead halfway down.  Just as he was about to make his comeback attempts, a flotilla of rafters went through happily waving and talking as they passed.  A little frustrated, but not dissuaded, Adrian decided to rest his fish while responding to a call of nature and changing his fly.  When he got his greasliner back in the zone, a nice steelhead came up with a confident rise and took his fly solidly on it's way back to where it came from.  Some headshakes and reel screaming followed until man and fish parted ways as Adrian proves that a guy shouldn't be discouraged by the "rubber hatch".

Dave Fineran and his fiancée Lyndsey Wayman showed up in the afternoon and with the 2pm closure and no more fishing to be had for the rest of the day, we went to work tying our favorite flies and visiting.  I got a few more of my foam jobs tied up and Dave tied up a deadly looking marabou fly on a shank.

With time on our hands, we decided to visit Lee Spencer on big bend pool.  There was approximately 160 summer steelhead milling around in the pool and we would watch as one would randomly jump for no apparent reason.

I got to chatting with Lee and we talked of the futility of having a broodstock hatchery summer steelhead program on the North.  Lee reminded of how wild steelhead populations have particular habitat niches within a given watershed so randomly pairing steelhead from different habitat niches can't be good.  I mentioned about how hatchery summer steelhead stray all the way up and down the fly water and likely reduceds spawning productivity as these hatchery strays surely intermingle with wild steelhead on the spawning beds.

Lee and I also talked of our shared respect and admiration for Bill McMillan and all Bill has done to teach an angling ethic of self-restraint and respect for wild steelhead.  Lee  has also had communications with Bill and they have discussed the historic carrying capacity of the Umpqua watershed among other conservation related issues with the wild steelhead populations on the North Umpqua and beyond.

Lee also talked of angling with surface flies with the hook points cut off so that when a steelhead comes for his fly, he just feels a headshake and a few pulls before the steelhead is off after a second or two.  What led him to this point, is that Lee felt that even while utilizing a surface approach, that he was still making too big of an impact on the wild summer steelhead population with the hookups he encountered,so he starting angling with his hook points cut off years ago.  Even then, Lee told us stories of actually landing a couple steelhead with no point on his hook!  He was apparently able to keep enough tension on the blunt end of the hook bend of his fly to bring those steelhead to hand.

Another reflection that Lee shared that I can totally relate to is his how the North Umpqua has a "personality".  He talked about recently going an entire season without "hooking" a steelhead, yet he often fished with others who were doing fine hooking into steelhead.  I've gone through similar dry spells down there and have similarly been with others who nonchalantly raise and hook into steelhead, seemingly at will, while I examine myself and wonder if I ever really knew what I was doing in this endeavor to begin with!

That evening was spent with mine and other's typical eating of junk food, with the exception of Dave Fineran's camp which was rumored to have produced a gourmet meal of salmon and other high end camp fare.  The caliber of Dave's camp cooking was confirmed when Josh Browning brought over a sliver of Dave's salmon for me to sample - what a tease after eating canned chili!

Camp talk again centered about the 2pm closure and a group of steelheaders lamenting the temporary loss of our beloved evening sessions.  While we appreciated that ODFW was taking measures to protect wild steelhead in light of the warm weather, the emergency closure came after the fact, when there was no longer a threat to willd steelhead due to excessively warm temperatures.  We hoped that this emergency regulation would not set a precedent for future seasons, especially if no threat is present due to warm water temps.

The next day was spent with me taking Dave Fineran out and Adrian, Josh, and Bucky fishing together.  I took Dave to some of my favorite spots and by mid morning we were still seeking the prize.  Dave had never fished this river before and he had never really tried skating for steelhead before either so the whole experience was new to him.  Dave watched me as I fished through a couple runs to get a sense of my casts and method of fishing the skater on this river.  I tend to make more cross stream casts to put some speed on the fly with gentle twiches to simply pulsate my skater.  As Dave watched me, I explained that this is not an exact science and folks have gottten steelhead while employing everything from frightening, aggressive twitches to using no twitch at all - in the end it becomes all a matter of personal style.

Foam skater with weird name coming across a pool in the morning sun

Dave and I ended up at another run so I put Dave through first, advising him to start at the very top and to work all the way through to the tailout.  In the meantime, I walked above to a minor run upstream so I could fish through the lower section and tailout of that run, giving Dave some space before coming in behind him.

By the time I reached the upper section of the run Dave was fishing, he was about halfway down, looked over his shoulder at me and was pointing to the water behind him.  Even from the distance, it appeared that Dave was wide-eyed as he was motioning over to me.  I had a feeling something exciting had happened for Dave....

When I caught up with Dave after he fished through the tailout, he came up and told me the story of his happy encounter.  He was fishing the upper section of the run and during one of his casts, he was watching his skater as it came across on it's mid river swing.  He was concentrating on getting a rhythm with twitching his skater during the swing, when he just saw a mouth appear behind his skater with his fly disappearing in a showy rise.  Dave's jaw dropped as the sudden, unexpected appearance of a hefty summer steelhead on the surface brought on such surprise that all Dave could do was ... nothing.  When Dave came to his senses, he raised the rod, felt a couple headshakes and the pull of the steelhead starting to take off on a run when the hook pulled out.

Dave was still visibly shaken in the recounting of his first surface steelhead encouter.  I was so happy to see a fellow steelheader experiencing the thrill of the surface take for the first time.  It was so great to have put  Dave in water that produced such an adrenaline rush and in hearing about it from Dave, I was just as thrilled as if it had happened to me.   Again, this river produces and rise and hookup to a fella new to the river and new to surface steelheading, leaving me to wonder how a guy like me who fishes this river regularly all season can go trip after trip with nary a rise.  I guess if this wasn't such a beautiful place to get skunked, I'd probably be fishing elsewhere by now!

By the time we returned to camp, we waited for Adrian, Josh, and Bucky to return.  With the summer heat, Dave and I threw in the towel by about 1pm.  Apparently the guys fished right up to the 2pm closure as they didn't show back up in camp until about 2:30pm.

When the guys returned, they told the story of Adrian hooking into a little hen behind a boulder on his greaseliner in the bright sun just before the 2 pm closure on one of the famous campwater pools.  In the meantime Bucky had been fishing another famous spot, also in the bright sun.  He saw a steelhead flash under his fly as his sparkly skunk swung by, but the steelhead would not commit to his fly.  He did a "reverse comback" by tying on an early version Little Wang that I had tied, gifted to Adrian, who in turn gifted it to Bucky.  When the vintage foam skater came over the lie, the steelhead returned with an explosive rise, took the skater, but did not get hooked.  Who says steelhead won't take skaters in bright sun??

I left for home later in the afternoon and Bucky and Adrian stayed on through the following day.  Adrian later reported that Bucky had a surface hookup on the far side on the upper section of one of the newer runs we've been fishing and Adrian had another steelhead on his greaseliner that came unpinned on another one of our favorite pools.  These are some fishy guys!!

Bucky Buchstaber, executive director of the Fly Fishing Collaborative - a worthy cause.

Check out the FFC website and pledge your support to this wonderful ministry: http://flyfishingcollaborative.org/

Going East

My good friend Adrian Cortes had hatched a plan to visit a famous eastern Oregon steelhead river after driving by it's lower section with our mutual friend Steve Turner this past August.  Adrian was taken by the beauty of the place and vowed to put a plan into place to make a fall trip a reality.

I had previously visited this river in October 2008 and fished it's lower section with my father in law Jim Jones, his brother Mel and his friend Toby.  Reportedly, the fishing had been good before our arrival, which happened to coincide with a sudden cold snap, which of course put off the fishing.  None of us landed a single steelhead that trip and I only manged to raise one steelhead to the surface.  Not even Mel and Toby dredging with Teeny lines did the trick.

Adrian's and my plan came together in early October with Adrain showing up a day before me.  I used Google directions and got put on a long gravel road.  I'm surprised that the Steelhead Taxi's suspension didn't fall off going through the wash boards, but I managed to make it to the bottom of the grade in one piece and met up with Adrian by 8am.  I was running about an hour behind schedule due to the unexpected gravel delay.  I figured I'd find Adrian to be on the river fishing when I arrived and in fact Adrian was near the top of a nice run when I pulled in.  I waved over to Adrian and he quickly came over to greet me.

Adrian had actually been waiting in his rig since daylight in anticipation of my arrival and while waiting, he got some tying done.  He tied a beautiful Thompson river caddis in hand which he gifted to me shortly after I arrived.  Adrian had only stepped into the run a few minutes before I pulled in when it became apparent that I was delayed longer than expected.

When we greeted each other I told him that I  felt badly for rushing him, but he mentioned that he was happy to wait for my arrival until seriously hitting the water.  After our greetings, Adrian calmly told me about the incredible evening session he had the day before.  The events that unfolded involved 7 to 8 rises, 3 hookups, and two nice wild steelhead landed!  I was tired, but ready to fish!!  Adrian tells the story in words and pictures below:

"First fish on this particular river. Spent all day skating dries with nary a rise. After a beer, I find a run that is tough to wade in...and then it becomes magical...numerically magical."

"The second steelhead on this river was memorable. Big surface crash...and nothing. Dangle...recast...nothing. Shortened up, recast progressively to the zone...Kaboosh! Then nothing. #@$%&*! That fish missed the fly again! Dangle...single spey...in the zone...Kaboosh! ZZZZZZzzzzzzzz......I put the glass to it in a spectacular battle of jumps and runs. Beautifully wild, big, and full of vinegar and piss. Bent out my dryfly hook"

Lemire's Thompson River Caddis tied in hand by Adrian Cortes.  Adrian Cortes photo

Greaselined.  Adrian Cortes photo

Wild and Free.  A hefty buck that ate Adrian's Greaseliner.  Adrian Cortes photo

The result of Adrian's battle with a wild and hefty buck.  Adrian Cortes photo

Wild and Free of another type.  Four legged critters seem drawn to Adrian's presence on rivers.  Adrian Cortes photo

After getting the skinny on Adrian's encounter with the loaded run, I quickly wadered up and we fished the nearby water.  This was a big run and we spread out as I re-fished the choppy head and Adrian went to the lower section of the run.  A couple gear guys ended up between us so I ended up moving towards Adrian in the tailout.  We examined the fish holding possibilities of this water, but with sun directly on it, we decided to move on after fishing it just briefly.

We then headed to camp where I quickly set up my tent so I wouldn't have to worry about it after our day's fishing.  We then hurriedly packed into Adrian's Land Rover and hit some water that Adrian fished the day before.

Adrian and I were blessed to have gotten some intel on spots to fish from our good friend and steelheading icon Bill McMillan.  Bill had lived on and fished this river a good deal back in the early 90's.  Bill was excited to hear of our trip to this special place, a location that has much spiritual meaning to him.  As we drove along we sought out some of the spots Bill described for us.

We hit a spot with three distinct runs strung together.  The short run directly out from the trail called out to me so I waded to mid river to hit the slot on the far side.  In the meantime, Adrian walked upstream to the uppermost of the three runs, leaving the middle one for me to hit after I got through with run I was fishing first.

I quickly fished through this short riffly run with no result and looked upstream to see Adrian fishing the upper run, but with a raft and three guys right by him also fishing the run.  I figured that the raft must have been carrying a guide and two clients and Adrian gave them water to fish.

Rather than heading up towards Adrian, I decided to just re-fish the little run again to kill time.  With all the October Caddis fluttering about, I figured to change to an October Caddis version of my foam skater.  As I got into the lower section, I made a cross stream cast in front of an exposed bankside boulder.  The main current caught my line and leader, causing a belly and pulling my skater briskly down and across the face of boulder.  A small steelhead of maybe 24" launched across the top after my skater.  This little fella missed his target, but I was pleasantly surprised by it's sudden and aggressive response to the surface.  Of course I went through my comeback dance, but no followup  rise came about.

I ended up fishing the middle run and it swung my skater really nicely, but no foam eating steelhead appeared.  Adrian and I caught up with each other shortly thereafter and Adrian reported that indeed, the folks in the raft was a well known PNW steelhead guide with a couple sports.  Apparently said guide liked the run Adrian was fishing well enough to have been willing to park and wait until Adrian fished through.  Rather than looking over his shoulder while the guide and sports waited on him,  Adrian let them have the water and then fished through behind them.

Adrian then took me to another spot he fished the day before.  This was one of the spots that Bill had described to us.  Adrian reported that he had raised a steelhead low in this run but did not hookup.  I started at the head of the run and Adrian walked further up and fished the run above me.  As I got about a third of the way down, a steelhead came up with an aggressive rise to my skater.  Again, this steelhead responded to a fast swing facilitated by a cross stream cast bellied by the main current.  I made the same cast and this steelie actually came up a second time but the hook point didn't find purchase in steelhead matter.

At the next run, I started at the riffly top end and worked my skater along the broadening seam as I got into the heart of  this fishy looking piece of water.  About a third of the way down, a steelhead came up and charged up after my skater as it came out of the chop into the seam.  I shorted up and started back in with my foam skater hoping for a come back and just then, the famous guide we saw earlier came through the top of the run with his two sports and politely rowed his raft quietly behind me as Adrian had been able to alert him that I had just raised a fish.

As I went back with my October Caddis Wang, the guide and sports also watched the bright "indicator post" of my skater as it came through the choppy main flow.  After a couple casts, no return appearance of steel appeared.  As the guide and sports were getting past my position, the guide remarked to Adrian with a wink "steelhead on this river think foam is gay".

I changed over to a riffle hitched greaseliner and gave it a go.  On the first cast with the greaseliner, the steelhead returned with a bulge at the fly as it came into the soft seam.  Unfortunately, further comeback attempts were unsuccessful.  I continued down the remainder of this beautiful run with no other feedback to my surface presentations.

We concluded our day at Adrian's "loaded run".  Being the gracious friend that he is, Adrian insisted that I go through first.  Adrian grabbed an IPA and took a seat on an exposed boulder as I started up high in the run.  I decided to give my Fenwick 8.5' 6wt glass rod and 6wt Ambush line some air time.  I was getting back into the rhythm of single hand spey casting as I chatted with Adrian about the potential of this juicy run.  We noted current seams created by the bouldery structure and commented on how all that structure provides great cover for steelhead while also providing for the difficult wading I was experiencing.  These characteristics probably attributed to Adrian finding multiple steelhead holding in it the evening before.

The upper section of the run called for short, controlled casts in the conflicting currents.  I was casting the Ambush head with maybe six strips of running line and was just starting to step down the run.  Adrian and I were both watching my baby blue foam skater coming across the current when a steelhead made a broadside launch across the surface and solidly grabbed the skater.  I simply did nothing and the steelhead came tight on the line and began making some short powerful bursts on runs that made my cheapo ebay special (battered Shakespeare Beaulite 3.5") create a joyful blue collar racket.

Fish on!  Adrian Cortes photo

Taking a load off while Ms. Surface Steelhead bores down stream.  Adrian Cortes photo

The hook held and I eventually got this beautiful little hen to shore.  Adrian and I high fived and Adrian got some photos of a happy Asian holding a steelhead.  We were delighted that both of us had the blessing of witnessing a beautiful surface steelhead grab and I thanked Adrian for his generosity in putting me through his new found loaded run.

Chunky hatchery hen that obliged to a "baby blue" wang.  Adrian Cortes photo

Baby Blue Wang does the trick.  My angry hen chewed hard enough to open up the stinger hook a bit.  Adrian Cortes photo

I was quite surprised to find that this perfect steelhead was of hatchery origin.   It just happened that an ODFW creel checker was driving by when I had the fish on so she stopped to check in.  I decided to harvest this steelhead so she took down data that she needed and returned my fish in a tidy plastic bag.  When Adrian and I commented that we were impressed with this steelhead even considering it was a hatchery steelhead the creel checker responded "of course, they're all from native stock", reminding me that the hatchery program there comes from wild brood stock.

ODFW creel checker taking stats on my steelhead.  Adrian Cortes photo.

We went through the remainder of the loaded run and we were surprised to find no one home as we fished in to evening's darkness.  We then headed back to camp where stories were shared and a few more foam skaters tied as two crazed surface steelheaders ruminated over the wonder of steelhead that come to the surface for our chosen patterns.  Gourmet dinners that came out of cans and packages were prepared and eaten before we turned in for the evening.

We spent the next morning fishing some of the same runs and we also walked into another run described to us by Bill McMillan.  We had an enjoyable morning expoloring new water and I bid Adrian farwell by mid day.  I fished the evening session and a quick morning session the following day and continued to find surface steelhead elusive.  Such is the surface steelheading game, you may not get into topwater steel on every outing, but the journey is always satisfying.

Unwinding after a memorable day of surface steelheading.  Adrian Cortes photo

The Steelhead Taxi parked along a morning steelhead run

Dry Fly Steelhead Window Of Opportunity

Being in the midst of the fall season, I have gotten into the rushed, frantic mode of trying to get every bit of steelhead skating in that is humanly possible.  It is a mixed blessing to have a hatchery home water in my backyard.  The convenience is great, but it makes me extra obsessive each Fall.  A sense of urgency is felt with the shorter days and with the weather and water temps cooling.  The inevitability of winter coming around the corner puts me in a state of mind where I am always scheming for every window of opportunity  during this most wonderful time of year when steelhead will be most willing to break the surface to grab my weird pieces of foam and hair surfing across my favorite runs.

In my experience, Fall is consistently the very best time of year to get into steelhead with surface methods.  I suppose it is a variety of factors that seem to consistently make fall the prime season to skate steelhead to the surface including the lower angle of the sun, rivers filled with the majority of the summer run, fewer anglers out (on my water at least), cooling water, steelhead secure in their lies, and frequent overcast weather.

I love steelhead rivers in Fall as well with the brilliant colors as leaves turn, softer lighting, and no longer having to deal with the blistering heat of summer.  Fall conditions also allow one to fish throughout the day if one pleases.  Summer tends to be a morning and evening show and with the shorter days of fall, I am able to get a bit more sleep and still make it to the river at sunrise.

However, the shortening days of Fall creates a nervousness in me as I am constantly calculating how much daylight I'll have left when I leave work to get out on my evening weekday sessions.  Wendi has been promoted as a manager at her workplace this past year which has been great for her, but she tends to be a workaholic so she often works late.  This creates more windows of opportunity for me to get out on my evening sessions.

As noted in my prior posts, the numbers of fish around have been small, but it appears that small pods of fish must be coming into my local water which is enough to keep me interested and obsessed.  Since getting the steehead in my prior post, I had a multi hookup session (both got off)  the following day, then things went dead.

I figure the only way to get into surface steelhead is to keep a hook in the water so I've persisted with my efforts even when it seems the few fish around have left town.  Yesterday was a typical day of going to work with my thoughts going on about how to get an evening session in.  Turns out Wendi was not working late, but had errands to do so she suggested I go fishing afterwork - great advice!

One problem, my daughter had texted and informed that her car wouldn't start.  I ran over to check over her vehicle at the end of the day and determined that her starter was binding up.  I did the tapping the starter with a wrench trick and got her car started so she could drive it to my house for me to repair that evening.

With the impending car repair weighing on my mind, I debated on whether to fish for a bit then run home to work on my daughter's car, or forget fishing all together and just get right to work on the car..... of course, fishing won out.

I rushed to my favorite little run and started at the top.  Feeling hurried while fishing is not my favorite mode to be in while pursing the surface steelhead prize, but obviously, I have a problem so I kept at it anyway.  I tried to move through more quickly than I normally do, but there are multiple spots that have given me fish out of this special place so I found myselft having a hard time just rushing through.

When I had arrived at the run, I noticed that the Army Corps had raised the water just a bit, usually a good thing on this river in my experience.  Sure enough, about a third of the way down, a steelhead came up and charged at my skater with a quick rise.  Went through the comeback routine and no sale.

I continued on down the run and as I got towards the bottom I was thinking how the holds through there are filled in now and could hold fish.  As my skater came through the braided currents a steelhead came up to the skater multiple times as if it was a dolphin playing with a ball on it's nose.  I expected my line to come tight, but no.  With a fish this active, I felt pretty confident about a comeback so I cast again, nothing.  I tried a riffle hitched steelhead caddis - nothing, then a smaller skater - nothing, then a riffle hitched wet - nothing, then a wet with no hitch - nothing!

My time was just about up before I had to get home to get my hands greasy, but something told me to just walk back up a little ways and start back through with a different skater.  I had been fishing my current favorite chartruese/purple job and I then decided to tie on my blue/purple skater I call the "Summer's Hope".

As I got my casts back out with the Summer's Hope, I pondered over my frustration that both of the fish I raised this evening were "one timers" and that I'd have to leave after making a few more casts.  When I got back to where I raised the second steelhead, he came back with a confident, porpoising rise and I simply did nothing until I felt the steelhead pulling.  I slowly raised the rod and the steelhead was on and the stinger hook did it's job in taking immediate hold in the jaw of this buck.

This guy gave a few headshakes and like the last steelhead I got, just came right in and then batlled in close with a few short, stubborn runs.  When I got him in, I found the stinger hook lodged firmly in the lower jaw of the fish.  I got a few photos with my phone and felt overjoyed that the Summer's Hope had proven itself for the first time.  Apparantly, that steelhead wanted the Summer's Hope and not my Chartruese and Purple, go figure.  I'm just glad that the dry fly steelhead mystery is one I'll never completely solve.

The Summer's Hope Proves Itself

Summer Ramblings

(Posting this retroactively, meant to put this up in mid August, time just flies by)

It is mid August and as I turned 52 yesterday (August 14, 2015), I meditated on the reality of being a middle aged steelheader as I skated beautiful runs with my good friend Keith Tymchuck.  I'm no spring chicken any more, but I thank God for my health and comfortable life that affords me ample opportunities to chase after the mystical steelhead with my chosen methods.  At my age, one starts contemplating the reality that my number of future days on the river are not endless and I gotta pace myself, be safe out on the river, and that I really should watch what I eat and start exercising for Pete's sake!  Well, isn't fishing exercise??  You mean coffee, chips, cookies, and sandwiches are not healthy??  At least I don't smoke...

Breakfast of champions!

Not a healthy fishing diet??

I've also been contemplating the way my fishing has been panning out over the past several months.  Namely, that I haven't put my hands on steelhead slime since November 1, 2014!!  Aside from a couple brief hookups, I was blanked throughout the past winter steelhead season and aside from a couple brief hookups in June, I've been blanked thus far for the summer season.  Pretty grim huh??

I'm not sure what's going on with the extra long dry spell I'm in the midst of - maybe God is trying to get a  message across to me like "time to seek a better balance in life, bonehead".  True, I do get a "little" obsessive about steelheading where things go by the wayside, like the wood gates that need to be rebuilt ("I'll get right to that, honey!"), not to mention other things that go with being a responsible adult.

Another lesson that God may be teaching me is about contentment.  Who in their right mind would consider chasing steelhead while rigidly adhering to certain methods, without success for so long??  I'm reminded that Jesus assures that His Grace is sufficient and this applies to fishing and life (fishing is life though, right?).

When I am out on the river, the beauty of His creation is always enough.  The fellowship of great friends is always enough and the blessing of having the opportunity to get out regularly is always enough.  I believe that is why I keep doing what I am doing even when my efforts continue to draw a blank.

I keep the faith, knowing that what I am doing has produced steelhead in the past and the flies I tie have drawn steelhead to the top in the past and several of the places I fish have produced memorable steelhead rises in the past.

My Newest and Favorite Color Combo:  Chartruese and Purple

A Day in the Life..........

Needle In A Haystack

It's been a tough summer season on my local ditch, the Middle Fork of the Willamette.  Numbers over Willamette falls has been dismal and the record warm weather in July and August effectively created a thermal block downstream of the falls with literally no fish going over the falls through most of that time frame.  It was a strange summer with water temps peaking over 70 degrees for most of  July and August even on my home stretch of river, and due to these impossible conditions I only got out to fish a few mornings during that period with evening sessions not even worth the time and effort.

I strangely started to get used to coming straight home from work, with no fishing to be had.  Wendi was getting too accustomed to seeing me at home so much,.  It was not like me to be passing up so much fishing time.

As the cooling weather of fall has come upon us, there has actually been some steelhead starting to come over the falls since late August/early September.  A small bit of hope was restored in me and I started getting out on evening sessions after work - I felt normal again.  Water temps have come down to the mid 60's, still a bit warm, but good enough to hope for some hatchery surface action.

My trips out have been typically unsuccessful, but I keep trying anyway, of course with a skater on the end of my line.  My crazy theory is:  "most normal people adjust their methods to suit prevailing conditions, but with me, I prevail until conditions adjust to suit my method!!"

Yesterday evening was a typical opportunistic jaunt to a local run after work.  Wendi was working late so I didn't feel too bad about shirking responsibilities at home.  As I drove off from work, I contemplated over which local run to fish.  Since I hadn't really been getting any fish in any of them it would not really make much difference where I ended up fishing.

I figured I'd just hit the particular run that was most consistent at holding fish last year.  My thought process was that if any fish were around at all, this run would be the best barometer of such.

I started at the top of the run as I usually do, even though it is shallower in this year's lower flow.  I continued on through and thought that if I got done with this run early enough, I'd hit another one that I had not fished in awhile.

As I got to the lower section of the run, I was tracing the swing of my chartruese "stinger wang" foam skater.  The upright umm... indicator post was pretty visible in the softening flows of the bottom of the run in the pleasant evening glow.  As the fly was swinging through the soft transition from the main flow into the inside seam, my "internal dialogue" was going even with my long, long stretch of going without surface grabs.  Whenever I swing through juicy water I find the self-talk happening.  I was muttering stuff like "come on, eat that fly...gotta be a fish there....come on you dumb fish, etc", then as if in response to my utterings, slurp, fish on!

The rise was a rather subtle gulp, but I think after enough time spent chasing surface steel, I immediately knew it was a steelhead, just by the appearance of the rise.  It seemed that the stinger hook on my skater took immediate hold of this fish.  The line came tight and a few headshakes followed, then the steelhead swam towards me and I hurriedly recovered line to keep up with the fish.  It's times like this when I am glad that I switched to reeling with my right hand several years ago.

As I got tight to the steelhead, I was nearly to the point of having the leader butt at the tip of the rod, then of course Ms. Steelhead decides to utilize her short game fighting tactics with some near shore tug of war going back and forth.  Knowing this was a hatchery steelhead, I backed myself  up the bank and beached her.  I was overcome with feeling blessed by this rare, if imperfect and unlikely prize.  With the small numbers of steelhead around, it felt like finding a needle in a haystack.

Chartruese Stinger Wang does the trick

A Rare Prize

One Timers

Fisherman's Log:  Sunday, August 30, 2015.
Conditions:  Overcast/drizzle
Water Temp:  58 degrees
Species:  Summer Steelhead
Location:  Favorite Oregon River
Method:  Skating Foam Flies
Equipment:  11' 6wt Cabela's TLr, Hardy 3 7/8 perfect, 360gr Airflo Rage, Hand tied Maxima Leader, #4 Chartreuse/Purple wang skater.

I've been getting out regularly after summer steelhead since early June.  While it's always great to be out on the water and taking in the beauty where our favorite gamefish draws us to, the fact remains that I've been having a tough summer season.

With Wendi's weekend plans coinciding with mine, we were able to arrange for our schedules to allow us to both get out to enjoy the respective things that we love - bingo for Wendi and steelheading for me.  It turned out that I was I able to hit the water friday, saturday and today.

I drew my typical blank days on friday and saturday, but things changed a bit today.  I was optimistic with the overcast and drizzly weather as fall is now in view, but my optimism was tempered by the reality of the skunkitis I can't seem to shake off.

I decided to fish runs that I have not been hiting lately as I have gotten into a rut of fishing the same water, even when this strategy has not produced.  I got to a promising run before first light and I sat in my car and dozed off for a few minutes as I waited for daylight.  As I sat there, I pondered over how it seems that the days get shorter more quickly than I realize during this time of year and maybe I don't have to get up so darn early anymore.

I was woken as a car sped by and I idly wondered if that was another fisherman heading to another promising run.  When there was enough light to see in the overcast morning, I lazily got into my waders and gathered the stuff I'd need for the day's fishing:  rod/reel, box of skaters, wheatly clip box containing wet flies gifted to me by friends (or OPs - flies from "other people"),  waterproof point and shoot camera, cell phone.  The box of wet flies is brought along just in case I ever raise a steelhead and need a little sparse wet fly on the "comeback".

The first run fished beautifully in the dim light of dawn.  I was reminded of how nicely this piece of water swings a fly and I also remembered a few years ago, when I stopped my friend Terry Robinson off to fish this spot while I fished a run above and when I returned to pick Terry up, he told me the story of a steelhead that almost pulled his rod out of his hand when it came up for his skater.

I started in the smooth upper section of the run and felt anticipation as I neared the area of Terry's episode of almost loosing his rod to an angry steelhead.  I fished to the bottom of the run and while I was able to get some decent cackhanded single speys out and some nice swings, no steelhead were impressed.

I briefly fished a couple pools upstream, then worked my way downstream over the course of the day.  When I stopped at the pullout of an obscure run that is a bushwhack, downhill slog for one casting station deal, I realized the effects of drinking coffee on my digestive system and decided to head for another spot where an outhouse is close by.  I figured if the runs by said outhouse were open by the time I got done with my "paperwork", I'd fish them.

I got my paperwork assignment done and went out to hit the near-by runs that were open.  These runs had surely been fished earlier in the morning, but on a day like this, you never know when new fish may move in, so I fished the first run with all the confidence a hard luck steelheader could muster.

This pool is a well known producer, but it has yet to produce as much as a single definitive steelhead rise for me.  I worked by way down to the very bottom of this juicy tailout and an unmistakable bulge of water appeared at my fly as a steelhead rolled at my skater.  While the steelhead didn't actually try to take my fly and I didn't get a clear view of the fish, the nature and amount of water displaced on the rise left me confident  that it was not a trout.  I went into "comeback mode":  made the same cast - 0, shorted up, tied on a riffle hitched greaseliner - 0, shorted up, tied on a smaller green/purple skater - 0, shorted up, tied on a small, sparse riffle hitched wet  - 0!!  I went back through with the skater I started with, still nothing, so I finally moved on after giving that fish the best comeback effort I could.

I fished the other runs downstream and came up empty so I drove back to the run I had planned to fish when nature called.  Not surprisingly, it was still open so I took the usual treacherous decent down the bank and slogged my way to the single casting station.    I have raised and hooked into steelhead in this spot before, but I can't say it has given me any consistency.  It has given up rewards often enough to be worth the occasional visit and today was the day, since I haven't been down here in awhile.

I worked my Rage head out and for some reason, found myself using compact double speys rather than my typical cackhanded single speys.  I didn't seem to remember the huge boulder upstream from me that made cackhanded singles difficult today.  I wondered if that boulder had recently fallen into the water or if I had been making adjustments with my casting and forgot having done so.

By the time I was casting the Rage head plus 8 strips of running line out, my fly was reaching near the far bank and I was getting into the "zone".  There is a submerged boulder alongside an exposed boulder where I have gotten rises before.  Apparantly, steelhead occasionally like to rest alongside that submered boulder.  As my skater swung towards the hot zone, a current caught the line and leader and accelerated the cross stream  swing of the fly.  In an instant, I saw the broadside rise of a buck steelhead of maybe 7 or 8lbs.  This steelhead still had some brightness to him with the rainbow stripe still a faint red.  I let the fly continue to swing past the exposed boulder in case my steelhead decided to follow the fly - it didn't.

I went through my comeback routine and same parade of fly changes with no results.  I was thrilled to encounter a second steelhead on this day, but very puzzled with the one time appearance of this fish.  I wondered what would cause these fish to only rise once.  Maybe they are on the move and no time for "seconds"??

With limited time remaining before having to stop fishing by the "2pm emergency closure" (thanks ODFW, but no lethal water temps around here since early July!!), I had a couple runs in mind to finish out the day.  The first of the two is a nice bouldery run with nice structure at the bottom.  As I approached the rocky structures in the bottom of this run, I braced for action as it seems that this is a day that steelhead are willing to rise and I was hopeful to find a steelhead that would actually eat my fly.  No such luck in this locale so I left for my "closer".

I had just over a half hour left to finish out the day at this last run.  I have hooked and landed steelhead in this often overlooked locale (including a hot, mid teens hen in Sept 2011), but I wondered if this year's low water has made it less appealing for steelhead to hold in.  As I got towards the bottom of this run, I watched for a dimple on the surface that seems to indicate some kind of bottom feature that has drawn rising steelhead to hold there in some of my happier moments.  I simultaneously watched for shoreline features that confirm that I am in the zone that I want to be in.

As I watched for the surface texture I was looking for and also surveying the landmarks on shore, I felt like I was starting to get past where I have raised steel in the past.  My skater was coming through the wake of water that signals the structure I've been watching for and the rise comes - a bulge of water at the fly, but no actual take.  I looked at my watch:  1:45pm.  It appeared that the steelhead followed the fly a few feet as I saw another more subtle bulge under the fly.  I let the fly swing all the way in and waited a couple seconds.

Since this steelhead appeared to have followed the fly after the initial rise, I was bracing for the grab on the next cast......it would have been nice, but no, it didn't happen.  Nor did it happen after I went back with a smaller skater, riffled grease liner and sparse, riffled green butt skunk (thanks to Tony Torrence).  By the time 2pm hit, I was still left with the question - "what da...".  I was hoping to close out the day with a bent rod, but raising 3 steelhead to the surface in day's fishing is nothing to complain about, God is Good!

The trill of raising steelhead to the surface is always worth all the time and effort it takes to make it happen.  It can be tough to keep the faith when there is no feedback from the prize we seek, but even during lean times, I try to maintain focus and consistency with my casting and presentation since these are things I do have some control over.

I am thankful for the feedback the steelhead gave me today because it is what I needed as I prepare to leave for BC with friends Adrian Cortes and Steve Turner this next coming weekend.  Consistent casting and presentation are always critical with surface steelheading and I look forward to the pleasant rhythm of skating for steelhead on the big, broad runs of BC rivers.

My favored vitange Perfect sitting on my $79.95 Cabela's TLR.

My chartruese/purple skaters and comeback flies

Dry Fly Steelhead - A Great Lakes Perspective

By Larry Halyk

I’ve been an avid follower of this blog for some time now, so when Todd asked me to offer a Great Lakes perspective on dry line steelhead, I jumped at the chance.   I’ll be the first to admit that there are many skilled anglers in my home province of Ontario who are more dedicated to pursuing steelhead on a dry line than I.   On my home river, I have several friends who will stick to swinging their beautiful gut eyed Spey and Dee flies just under the surface regardless of how many fish we ‘tip dredgers’ are hooking.   

So yes, I admit it.  I spend most of my Great Lakes river time swinging with tips.  However I do love waking/skating  dry flies, and am convinced that Great Lakes steelhead can be caught on the surface  consistently if you pick the right times and locations, are prepared to make more casts between hookups and (most importantly) fish with confidence.  

According to my outdoor journals, I’ve caught 32 Ontario steelhead on waking flies over the last 25 years.  My dry fly Catch Per Unit Effort (CPUE) over this time period is 0.085 (i.e.  it took me on average 11.7 hours to land one fish) compared to 0.208 (4.8 hours per fish) swinging sub-surface.   These hard facts don’t tell the complete story since the data are tainted by a number of factors and biases (yes, being a retired biologist makes me a data nerd).  The main thing is I had modest success on one river in the late 80s and early 90s, then didn’t really fish dry much until I picked it up again eight years later on a completely different river.   

In the early years (1989 – 1992, 6 on a dry) I targeted Skamania strain steelhead on the lower Saugeen River when both Michigan and Ontario were experimenting with a Skamania program on Lake Huron rivers.  After stocking practices changed, Skamania returns fizzled and my dry fly success there went down the toilet.  This early dry fly success started me on a path though.  My first dry fly steelhead was 37” long and took a Waller Waker just weeks after I first watched that famous 3M video featuring Lani on the Babine River.  To say I was hooked would be an understatement! 

The river I now spend most of my time on supports a unique strain of wild fish that are genetically programed to show up as early as Labour Day so they can jump a 9 foot high dam and quickly run 60-80 miles of warm water to stage in cooler holding pools below their spawning tributaries.   These fish are very grabby, and some aggressive individuals will chase waking flies with the same abandon as a Skeena fish if all factors align.  My records show that for two years in a row, I caught dry fly steelhead on this river while practising for my late September Skeena trip (5 fish over 19 hours), yet caught zero dry fly steelhead on the Bulkley those same two years (a total of 29.5 hours on top).  Some of these ‘practise fish’ were real players that came up 2 or 3 times before being hooked. 

The above experiences convince me that on the Great Lakes, both hatchery and wild fish will take a surface fly, but the more important factor is whether or not the fish are in the river at times when temperatures are optimum for metabolism and aggression.   A good start would be to focus on a river that has good numbers of active fish present in the early fall or late spring.    

On my home river, my best dry fly CPUEs are in September or early October when temperatures are in the 50-60 degree range.   By late October, the fish are usually less aggressive and my dry fly CPUE drops – probably due to a combination of lower water temperatures and higher fishing pressure.   My sub-surface swinging CPUE over the years has remained at a pretty consistent level on this river right through to the close of the season on December 31, so I don’t think my dry fly success dropped off due to lack of fish – just lack of aggressive fish.    

September and October is a great time to hunt for aggressive steelhead, but it is also a time when spawning salmon are present on many of our rivers.  I find that I don’t do well with the dry fly or dry line on rivers where spawning salmon are abundant.  I think it has a lot to do with the ‘egg hatch’ on these rivers that may reward the steelhead for looking down instead of up.   My favourite Great Lakes dry line river doesn’t have a salmon run and I don’t think that’s a coincidence.   

 

A completely different time to do fairly well on top (OK not great but possible) is in the late spring during mayfly hatches.  The takers are mostly mended kelts feeding on duns or spinners, and the best technique is a dead drift imitation just like fishing for resident trout.  The best chance of finding this type of ‘match the hatch’ scenario is on rivers with wild fish and good insect hatches.  Wild fish populations have broader migration and spawning windows than runs dominated with hatchery fish, and quite a few Great Lakes rivers have some fish kicking around well into late May.  These fish can be exposed to some pretty prolific hatches.  

Fishing pressure plays a big role in toning down the aggression level of fish that may be vulnerable to chasing a surface fly.   I have no data to prove it, but I suspect that years of heavy harvest pressure over many steelhead generations can exert selection pressure against fish that could potentially pass in aggressive behavior to their progeny.  The stretch of river I fish most has catch & release, artificials only regulations.  That not only reduces mortality and allows ‘recycling’ of fish after release, but also reduces the overall pressure because many will choose to go where harvest and gear rules are less restrictive. 

Pressure is still a factor on this river though.  When I first started fishing there for steelhead about fifteen years ago, the trout/steelhead  season was closed on September 30 and most anglers didn’t even know it had an early fall steelhead run.  I and a few others fished it through the month of September with virtually no competition from other anglers.   When I had a good pool to myself (which was often back then) I had the luxury of fishing through it first with a waking dry, then with a mono leader and wet, then a tip.  Most fish were caught on a tip, but the dry fly was productive enough that I always tried it first if I had the time.  Now, fishing pressure is much greater on these pools and even though most anglers are well behaved and practice pool rotation, I rarely have the luxury of fishing through three times without company.  Now when I find a good pool empty, I’m tempted to go straight to a tip before the competition arrives.  I hate myself for that and long for those lazy days of casual experimentation. 

Regarding flies, I’m not sure if it matters too much.  I tend to use a big buoyant searching fly like a Bulkley Mouse or one of those foam backed thingies, then switch to something smaller, darker or wetter if a fish shows and/or won’t come back.  The closer is usually a dark wet if all else fails. 

If I had to pick the one most important factor that will lead to success on the surface, I’d have to say it’s having confidence in both the technique and the fish.  If you don’t truly believe it will happen, it probably won’t.  That first surface fish is usually a long time coming and it takes perseverance to stick with it.  The second and third will come a bit easier, and part of the reason is you are building up an experience base to recognize when conditions are good for a decent shot at success, and when they aren’t.  For example, I’m not confident fishing dries my home river when it runs less than 3 feet of visibility.  I’ll bet I’m too conservative, but success hasn’t happened for me yet during these conditions and I doubt it will in the future; mainly because I won’t give it a fair chance.    

My experience learning to have confidence waking dries was similar to my experience weaning myself off my centre pin float rod in the 1980s.  At first I would only experiment with dries when the fishing was slow with tips.  I was setting myself up for failure because if conditions are tough subsurface, they will probably be even tougher on top.  It was only when I started switching to dries shortly after hooking a couple of hot aggressive fish caught on a tip that I started to see some consistency in results.  It takes discipline to abandon a system that works, but fishing dries when conditions are optimal is the best way to build confidence in the technique.

Larry Halyk

My first dry fly steelhead, taken in 1989 on a rod totally inadequate for the job.  I never release hatchery fish.

This early October wild buck took a big Buckley Mouse searching fly on the first pass.

This fresh wild hen showed twice before taking this foam back on the third pass.