Here are the weekly river reports:

Breitenbush River Report – 05/27/2010

Little North Santiam 05/27/2010

The Little North is at a great level for fishing. The temperature is coming up, but that may change with warm weather and snow melt from up high. Most Steelhead will be in the upper reaches of the river.

Species: Steelhead, Rainbow Trout

Hatches: BWO, Brown Caddis, March Brown

Flies to use: Trout – Biot BWO, Double Wing EHC. Steelhead: String Leaches, Matuka’s, Hairwings

Flow: 874 cfs
Depth: 4.82 ft
Temp: 46.4
Wading: Difficult
Clarity: Steelhead Green!

Posted on 27 May 2010 by dcarp

 

North Santiam River Report – 05/27/2010

The N Santiam is coming down some after a week of heavy flows. Spring Chinook and Summer Steelhead numbers are still looking great.

Species: Rainbow, Cutthroat, Steelhead & Spring Chinook

Hatches: Brown Caddis, Olive Caddis, Yellow Stonefly, BWO

Flies to use: Trout – Double Wing EHC, Bullet Stone, March Brown, Biot BWO. Steelhead/Salmon: Bunny Matuka, Hairwings, ESL

Flow: 4,220 cfs @ Mehama
Depth: 4.86 ft @ Mehama
Temp: 47 degrees
Clarity: Excellent
Wading: Difficult

Posted on 27 May 2010 by dcarp

 

Picture of the Week:

 

Tight Lines!

Dave

Howdy,

I had the pleasure this week to spend a day with Dr. Bob and Dr. Dave.  Grey skies, high water and ominous clouds loomed overhead as we shoved off from the Mehama Bridge boat launch to start our downstream journey.  Bob and Dave are fly casters at heart, but were open to any method necessary to have a shot at the numerous Steelhead and Spring Salmon beginning their way upriver.  They drifted corkies through the first couple runs as I got my rowing muscles warmed up.  The river was fairly clear and reading 47 degrees.  Not too bad, all things considered. 

With the river running high and angry, I figured our best bet would be to work the riverbank and softer water around the rapids and riffles.  They continued to work likely looking seams with the corkies and occasionally tossed a bobber and jig in the mix. 

Our first stop was at the first set of power lines that cross the river below Mehama.  With the high water, a fairly good sized channel splits off to the north side and creates a small gravel island.  We anchored the boat and set up the fly rods.  On a trip down this section the previous weekend with Jeff Goodell (Oregon Outdoor Excursions Guide)and Jordan Rada, I’d spotted a couple steelhead in there, obviously taking a breather and avoiding the strong swift currents. 

Dr. Dave working a side channel.

 Both fellas gave the channel a thorough try, swinging flies along the deeper slots.  I did see one fish give chase to Bob’s fly, but it turned at the last moment and swam back into the deeper water.  It was good to see that the fish were still hanging in that area.

Dr. Bob giving it a shot

We loaded back up and moved on downstream, tossing gear in likely look places.  We soon pulled into another side channel with a deep pool on the south bank of the river this time.  On the previous trip with Jeff and Jordan, they each pulled a big native trout from this pool and once had a rod go down hard but missed the take.  Bob and Dave again pulled out the fly rods and worked the area well.  No takers though.  We continued downstream a ways and stopped on the island above “The Rock”, a big right hand turn with a nasty whirlpool, made even nastier by the amount of water pushing through right now.  We gobbled down some great sandwiches made by the folks at the Koffee Kupp in Sublimity, Oregon and went back to exploring the small island and the side channel down the back side.  Bob took his fly rod, Dave grabbed one of the baitcasting rods rigged with pink corkies.  I brought along a 5 wt. flyrod and a handful of flies. 

A spot of sunshine broke out and bugs started hatching – mostly olive and brown caddis and a few golden stoneflies.  With the cottonwood “hatch” going on, not much was happening on the surface. A splash downstream from Dave caught my eye.  Then it happened again.  The third rise confirmed that a trout was keying in on stonefly adults.  I quickly tied on a yellow bullet stone and traded rods with Dave.  The trout took a swipe at the fly on the 3rd or 4th pass, then slammed it hard a few casts later.  A pretty 11″ native cutthroat was photographed with it’s captor and quickly released.

Dave and a Native Cutthroat trying to see things eye-to-eye.

The coloring on this fish was beautiful.  It had very pronounced red “slashes” under the jaw, was chrome bright and speckled with it’s ancestral sea-run black spots.  I don’t think Dr. Dave was impressed, this being a steelhead/salmon trip, but I sure enjoyed seeing this fish.  It was fat and healthy – just what you want to see in your local river.

We continued on downstream throwing everything in the boat at likely fish holding areas.  We ported the Upper Bennett Dam without incident and worked our way though the flatter, slower section of the drift.  Spotty hatches of Caddis and Stoneflies continued and the occasional trout would rise for the meal.  As we neared the end of the trip, we stopped one last time at another location I’d scouted on the last trip.  I’d missed a take here and had a fish on for a few seconds on the trip on Sunday.  Both clients rigged up the fly rods, Bob with a new fly I’m tying lately with some cool new products from Flymen Fishing Co. (I’ll go into more detail in a future blog post). 

It didn’t take long and Bob’s rod bent over double and his reel was screaming! HE WAS INTO SOMETHING BIG.  The fish jumped about 4 feet out of the water, shaking and twisting.  The battle was on.  The fish jumped several more times, made several reel screaming runs anytime it saw us.  As it began to appear that the fish was wearing down, I moved in to put the net on him.  He was having none of that and with a renewed strength, gave Bob a few more jumps and runs. I positioned downstream a bit more and Bob worked the fish closer to shore.  I slowly moved the net into position and picked him up on the turn around.  The big buck steelhead was netted – and it had it’s adipose fin intact, meaning it was a native (wild) fish.  We snapped a couple quick shots and released him unharmed to continue his journey. 

Dr. Bob and his Native Santiam Steelhead

Not only was this a wild, pissed off, buck steelhead in his prime, but Bob did battle with him on a 6 wt. fly rod and 10 lb tippet!  It made me a believer in the Orvis Helios, that’s for sure! 

The rain finally drove us back into the boat and we pulled out at the Stayton Bridge ramp.  It was a great day….. or would have been if we’d gotten out of there a little quicker.  I’ll avoid the gory details, but as we were leaving, a City of Stayton Councilman decided to let me know how displeased he was that I was operating a guide service.  For one thing, the city of Stayton is on the OTHER side of the river from where we were located, for another, I have full license from the State of Oregon Marine Board to operate a guide business here.  I guess the guy feels he holds the title of God over the Rivers and Fishes along with his city councilman position……………….

Anyway, thank you Dave and Bob for joining me on the river this week!  BTW, I did some checking up and it turns out that being a City of Stayton elected official does NOT give you any right, title, license or jurisdiction over the water, or it’s fish, on the North Santiam River.

Tight Lines!

Dave

Howdy,

Last Saturday I had the pleasure of running the Ogden boys down the lower section of the North Santiam from Stayton to Shellburn.  This section is always a good drift in the early summer/late spring.  This time of year the Spring Chinook Salmon are entering this part of the river on their way upstream to the spawning beds.  There are also a fresh batch of Summer Steelhead moving in as well. 

We started the morning at the Stayton Bridge Boat launch with high hopes.  Steve and Josh arrived right on time and after a quick shuttle trip to drop my rig at the take out, we hit the water.  I’d brought along a varying selection of gear with baitcasting rigs, spinning gear and of course, fly rods.  It was going to be a great day on the water.  The sun was shining, the water temp was near 50 and the air temp was supposed to reach a high of 78 degrees.

Josh & Steve at the Stayton Launch - Ready to board the Rapid Sucess

 As we rounded the first bend, Steve selected the Bobber and Jig set up while Josh grabbed the Spinning rig.  We worked our way downriver hitting the likely looking spots along the way.  At the first long, deep run, I convinced Josh to give the Baitcasting rig a try.  Rigged with a Yellow/Silver Oakie  rig, he worked the run from top to bottom.  He got the hang of it pretty quick.

Working the 1st long run

As we neared the midway point in this section of the river, Steve was still working the bobber and jig.  Josh had switched to the other baitcasting setup with Hot Pink Oakies.  We rounded a corner and settled into a flat section just above where I planned to stop for lunch.  Steve was casting to the north bank is some very nice looking water.  I instructed Josh to just “let it drag” behind us as we lazily drifted to our lunch stop on the next gravel bar.

What happened next was “classic”!  Just as Steve is in mid-cast, Josh yells out “Fish on!”  Steve’s jig launches into a tree just upstream as Josh’s fish turns and heads downstream.  As the fish passes the boat heading downriver I drop the anchor to start the process of trying to manage the chaos.  As I scramble to get the net, I’m aslo giving instruction to both Steve and Josh.  Steve managed to break off and get his gear clear.  Josh was doing a great job of handling the hot fish and we soon had him tuckered out enough to get him to the boat.  As luck would have it, the fish was missing his adipose fin (a hatchery raised fish) and could be tagged.

Josh's Hatchery Steelhead

 Josh filled out his harvest tag and we ate some lunch.  We worked the area around the big gravel island after finishing the grilled lunch and a beverage.  Josh was ready to pick up the fly rod and Steve switched over to the Spinning rod.  As predicted, the weather really warmed up in the afternoon.

We made our way downriver and Josh had another good hit, but no full on take.  Steve had a smaller trout on for a short time as well.  We arrived at the takeout in the early afternoon and called it a day.  Not a bad way to spend a Oregon springtime weekend.   A big thank you to Josh & Steve for a great day!

 If you’d like to experience a day on the river, be sure to visit the Oregon Outdoor Excursions website and book a trip!

Tight Lines!

Dave

Howdy,

I’m a little late in the month for the “fly of the month club” entries…. sorry about that….

Trout Fly of the Month

Bivisible

Brown Bivisible

Recipe:

• Hook:  Standard Dry sizes 14-20
• Thread: Tan
• Body Hackle:  Rear 3/4 Brown, Front 1/4 White

The Bivisible is a classic fly that was introduced by Edward Hewitt (1866-1951) in 1926 in his book, “Telling on the Trout”. It has remained a standard attractor fly through the years either mimicing a skating caddis or a midge cluster. The Bivisible was developed to use two contrasting colors. The darker colors are more readily visible to the trout while the contrast of the light against dark colors allowed the flyfishermen to see the fly on the water more easily. The use of palmering the hackle over the body is a old technique going back perhaps to the 1700′s. Mr. Hewitt presented the first Bivisible as a Brown Hackle body with a White hackle wisp at the head. This pattern has been recognized as the Brown Bivisible.

Steelhead Fly of the Month

Admiral Hairwing

Admiral Hairwing

Recipe:

• Hook:  Salmon/Steelhead size 2-6
• Tail:  Red Hackle Fibers
• Body:  Red Angora wool or chenille
• Rib:  Flat Silver Tinsel
• Collar:  Red Saddle hackle
• Wing:  White Fox, Bucktail, Skunk or Polar Bear Substitute

This dressing is a hairwing variation of the fly originated by Rear Admiral E. B, Rogers. He tied the Admiral with scarlet silk floss and white goose-quill feathers.  It is said that the fly pattern was originally tied as a trout fly, but it was found to be quite effective for steelhead.

Tight Lines!

Dave