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