Dean Finnerty's Fishing and Hunting

Harry

2012-03-05T18:42:00.000-08:00

In a few short hours I'll be sharing my favorite river with one of my boyhood idols. Harry Lemire and I will spend this week chasing winter steelhead on the North Umpqua. Frank Moore will join us on Wednesday. I'm hoping other friends will join us as well.

The river is running high, but will be dropping over the coming days. We have over 4,000 fish that have crossed the dam at Winchester in February, so fishing should be at least decent. Actually, fishing will be incredible with Harry and Frank...even if the "catching" turns out to be slow.

When I was 12 or 13 years old I bought my first steelhead fly fishing book. Steelhead Fly Fishing and Flies by Trey Combs. In it, he outlines just a few of Harry's early achievments as a steelhead fly fishing pioneer. In the early 1990's, Trey wrote his third book on Steelhead fly fishing and again, Harry plays a huge role in the pages of this epic book, Steelhead Fly Fishing.

Harry and I have fished his home waters (Skagit and Sauk) as well as mine (North Umpqua and a secret coastal river) over the years and have always caught fish and had a great time on the water together. I always look forward to spending time with Harry. He and his friend, Stacy Lamaroux were instrumental in introducing me to my newest flyfishing pals, Justin Crump and Kate Taylor.

I don't know what the coming days will hold for us with regard to steelhead encounters. Of course I want us all to feel that powerful, electric grab we all live for. But if it doesn't happen, I really don't care. I want Harry to raise a fish more than life itself, and I know that I'll enjoy every minute that I get to spend with Harry and our other friends doing what we all love and cherish. Stayed Tuned!

OR-7 the travels of an Oregon Wolf

2012-03-03T11:51:00.000-08:00

An interesting story about a 2 1/2 year old male wolf from the Imnaha pack. I look forward to the day when I can see one in the flesh on one of my steelhead rivers. I know next to nothing about wolves, but its a subject I'm very interested in. I've heard some things about their predation on deer and elk which cause me some concern. I'm also sympathetic to eastern Oregon farmers and ranchers that have lost valuable livestock to wolves recently. Maybe we can figure out a way to co-exist with wolves.

Gray Wolf (OR-10)
Photo courtesy of Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife.

The male wolf known as “OR7” was born in northeastern Oregon in spring 2009. It weighed approximately 90 pounds when collared with a radio transmitter by Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife (ODFW) in February 2011. It is referred to by biologists as OR7 because it was the seventh wolf radio-collared in Oregon. Its collar transmits location information to satellites daily and is expected to continue to function until at least 2013.
Until recently, OR7 was a member of northeastern Oregon’s Imnaha pack. The Imnaha pack was first documented in 2009 and currently occupies much of the Imnaha River drainage (east of the communities of Enterprise and Joseph) in Wallowa County. The founding members of this pack migrated into Oregon from Idaho.
Although it had as many as 16 wolves in 2010, the Imnaha pack may now have as few as five animals. Several members died in 2011, and four radio-collared wolves (including OR7) have dispersed from the pack since December 2010. Additionally, the locations and fates of five uncollared pack members are currently unknown. According to ODFW, it is likely that some or all of these wolves may have also dispersed from the pack.
The dispersal of younger individuals from a pack is common. Dispersing wolves generally attempt to join other packs, carve out new territories within occupied habitat, or form their own pack in unoccupied habitat. In addition to OR7, known dispersers from the Imnaha pack include OR5, OR9 and OR3:

OR5 is a female and entered southeastern Washington in December 2010. Its current whereabouts are unknown.
OR9 is a male that swam across Brownlee Reservoir and entered Idaho in July 2011. OR9 wears a GPS collar and its locations are regularly monitored by ODFW and the Idaho Department of Fish and Game.
OR3 is a male that dispersed westward in May 2011. Its collar transmits VHF radio signals only, making the animal more difficult to regularly locate. It was last located on September 30 in the Ochoco Mountains of central Oregon (northeast of Prineville), and its current fate is unknown.

During winter and spring, the Imnaha pack tends to occupy lower-elevation areas consisting of a mix of private and public lands. In summer and fall, the wolves spend most of their time on public lands at higher elevations. The pack has been documented to kill livestock and two of its members were killed by ODFW in May 2011 in an effort to deter further depredation events. In September, ODFW decided to kill two additional wolves from the pack, including the alpha male. However, that action has not yet been implemented due to a court-ordered temporary stay. As an Imnaha pack member, it is likely that at some point OR7 has been involved in livestock depredation in northeastern Oregon. However, since OR7 was collared in February 2011, it has not been documented to have taken part in any depredation events.

Dispersal – Oregon

OR7 dispersed from the Imnaha pack in September 2011. Between September and early November it followed an approximately southwesterly course that took it across parts of Baker, Grant, Harney, Deschutes, Lake, Klamath and Douglas counties. During that journey it crossed Interstate 84 and U.S. Routes 26, 395, 20 and 97.
Between November 8 and December 23, OR7’s movements slowed and it occupied a broad area near the crest of the southern Cascades. This area included portions of Jackson and Klamath counties and included much of the Sky Lakes Wilderness. Field work conducted by ODFW determined that OR7 visited an elk carcass and livestock carcasses (bone pile) in this area. On November 14, an animal thought likely to be OR7 was photographed by a hunter’s trail camera on public land east of Butte Falls.
In late December, OR7 left the Sky Lakes area and headed south-southwest to near Howard Prairie Lake and Oregon Route 66. It then turned eastward, ultimately crossing the Klamath River and Highway 97. On December 28, OR7 crossed into California northeast of Dorris, a small town in Siskiyou County.

Dispersal – California

Since arriving in California, OR7 has traveled in the southern Cascades and across portions of the Modoc Plateau. Its average daily movement has been approximately 15 air miles. Since animals do not typically walk in straight lines, the actual distance it travels is likely much larger.
Dispersing wolves can readily traverse most habitat types and OR7 has passed through ponderosa pine forests, mixed conifer forests, lava flows, sagebrush shrublands, juniper woodlands and agricultural lands. Although OR7 has used private lands (timberlands in particular), most of its route has traversed public lands.
No public safety incidents events or agricultural losses stemming from wolf damage have been reported in California. There have been no confirmed sightings of OR7 in California.
Dec 28 – 31. After entering California, OR7 passed through Lower Klamath National Wildlife Refuge and then continued south-southeasterly across private and public lands (BLM and USFS) near Mt. Dome. On December 31 it was on the Modoc National Forest between Lava Beds National Monument and Medicine Lake.
Week of January 1-7. OR7 remained in roughly the same area between Medicine Lake and Lava Beds NM until January 3. On January 3 and 4, OR7 crossed the Medicine Lake Highlands and moved approximately 30 air miles to the southeastern corner of Siskiyou County. It entered eastern Shasta County’s Fall River watershed on January 5. It soon turned westward and crossed the Pit River and Highway 89. On January 6 and 7, it was in the Cascade Mountains west of Burney. It spent much of its time in an area of regenerating forest that had burned in the 1992 Fountain Fire.

Week of January 8-15. OR7 remained in the Cascades west of Burney until January 9. It then traveled south along the Cascade crest to LaTour State Forest before turning eastward. By the end of January 10, it had crossed Highways 89 and 44 and was in Lassen County near Bogard Buttes (over 49 air miles from its transmitted location point on January 9). OR7 continued its rapid travel on January 11, traveling approximately 30 air miles to near Grasshopper Valley in northern Lassen County.

As of Feb. 15th, OR-7 has crossed back into Oregon and is currently in Jackson County, Oregon. Maybe it will be on the Rogue where I see my first wolf?

Steve's Fish

2012-02-28T19:19:00.000-08:00

Every so often as a guide you meet someone whose such a blast to fish with. They get it. They know how hard this is. They understand how special every grab is. I'm as guilty as the next guy who steelhead fly fishes. When it come down to it, we talk about fish hooked and landed, making it sound like it's really not that big a deal. We catch fish...right? Every time we're out on the water?...well not so much. Truth be told, steelhead fly fishing, especially in the winter is HARD! I expect to catch fish everytime I'm on the water, but there are times, more often than we want to admit, that it doesn't always happen.

Steve Mealey is a man who has devoted his life to the outdoors. He had an amazing career working for the U.S.F.S. and has spent many years, in fact decades, imersed in the outdoors. He's worked as a guide, volunteered untold hours for a myriad of various organizations from the Boone and Crocket Club to the McKenzie Guides Association.

Steve started fishing with me seven years ago. It's always in the winter when he books with me. It's always on the North Umpqua. Steve just wanted to catch a winter steelhead on the North Umpqua on the swung fly. The first couple of years, Steve fished his single hander. Eventually he started to spey fish. He worked hard. Damn HARD! Year after year we'd fish. The fish wouldn't ever show Steve any love.

Until today.

Persistence and hard work paid off and Steve finally got his fish.

For years Steve told me a story about a client he had when he was guiding Sheep hunters. This man came year after year, trying to harvest a big horn sheep. I don't recall how many years this fella came to hunt with Steve, but it was several years at least. The guy just wouldn't give up. Finally, the guy tells Steve "look, when you finally get me into a sheep, I'm done. You'll never see me again!". So one day, Steve and his client are up on the mountain. They've worked hard! They find a ram the guy wants to harvest. He lays his rifle across a steady rest...he takes his safety off when he's ready and had his cross-hairs centered on the ram. Seconds pass....he squeezes the trigger...CLICK! Steve is stunned. The loud report of the rifle that Steve is expecting doesn't come. The guy has just dry-fired his rifle. Steve watches incredulously as the ram walks out of view. Turns out the fellow had no real interest in harvesting a ram. He just wanted the opportunity and to spend time in the incredible environment that bighorn sheep call home. Steve said that he never saw the man again.

Steve has always told me that story, telling me that when he finally catches a winter steelhead on the North Umpqua..I'll never see him again. When Steve lands his fish, I give him a big hug and we're ecstatic that its finally happened for him. Check that box...he's caught his North Umpqua Winter Steelhead on a swung fly. The fish fought hard. Long runs, several jumps. Steve complains with a smile that his arm is getting tired. The snow has fallen. It's cold. The river is that perfect "steelhead green" we all love. It's PERFECT! and after its over Steve tell's me with a big grin, that he'll be back.

Spring Bear Toy

2012-02-23T19:13:00.000-08:00

Hard to believe that our south west Oregon Spring Bear season is just around the corner. I've recently picked up a new "toy" for the upcoming season. It's a Honda 500 cc four-stroke "Foreman" ATV complete with a back seat (not on the bike) and a cool little electric winch.

I took it out this evening for a few hours of scouting and found a few stumps that were tore up last fall. In the coming weeks I'll be puttin' some serious miles on this ATV scouting areas where I'll be chasing spring bears in April. As it was I saw a nice flock of long beard Toms and a ruffed grouse. I also found a lot of elk sign and some decent deer rubs that were made last December.

If not you, who?

2012-02-20T12:34:00.000-08:00

For anyone who enjoys the outdoors, particularly the Alaskan Wilderness of Bristol Bay has likely heard about the proposed environmentally disastrous "Pebble Mine". If you haven't, you need to do three things.

1. Get educated. Read my friend's article by clicking on this link; http://www.rogueangels.net

2. Get involved! don't do what I have always done...sit back and assume that others will get it done.

3. SCREAM FROM THE ROOF TOPS TO LET THE WORLD KNOW AND STOP THIS FROM HAPPENING!.

I've gotta scoot now, I have a letter to write to another friend of mine;
Congressmen Peter Defazio
http://www.defazio.house.gov

If not me? who?

As the river comes back into shape...

2012-02-17T18:39:00.000-08:00

We start picking up fish on the swing again! Sure feels nice!!! While the Umpqua is known for its big fish, especially in February, March and April we still get a fair number of these perfect little natives. This one thought she was a lot bigger and a whole lot tougher for as hard as she pulled!

Fly Fishing's youngest "Rockstar"

2012-02-09T17:48:00.000-08:00

Tegan Sheppard and her equally famous parents (Marty and Mia Sheppard) came by my booth at the Northwest Sportsman Show at the Portland Expo Center today. Tegan's exploits can be routinely found on the family business blog site "Metalheads" (see link's bar at right) For the past couple of season's the Sheppard's and I have tried to work out a date in our busy schedules to share our rivers with each other. For me, I'll get a chance to revisit my old stompin' grounds on the Sandy. For Marty and Mia I'll get them out on the North Umpqua.

For now, it was just a blast to finally get to meet them in person and spend some time watching Tegan bring smiles to all and warm a big hall with her charm!

Free Seminars and a Smokin' Show Special

2012-02-07T17:58:00.000-08:00

In the morning I head for the Expo Center in Portland, Oregon where for the next 5 days I'll have a booth and I'll be giving free seminars on fly fishing southern Oregon.

Over the years I've done a lot of different seminars at the O'laughlin Shows, but I've got to admit, none have been quite like the one I'm about to unveil. This "beast of all beasts" has over 125 power point slides that cover every type of fly fishing opportunity I offer in "southern" Oregon. I use quotes, because I do "stray a bit" in my geography : ) I'll be covering steelhead (winter and summer) fall chinook, coho, spring chinook, trout, smallmouth bass, largemouth bass, and shad! You'll see more "grin and grab" shots than you've probably EVER seen in any seminar! Stop by and say "hi" and if you have time, please plan on attending one of my free seminars in the fly fishing theater.

I've also got a show special on two trips I offer that knocks more than $100 off the regular rate!

Your choice, McKenzie trout and/or steelhead out of my drift boat or powerboat is one trip I'm offering. The other trip is summer steelhead on the upper Willamette "town run" out of my drift boat or powerboat. Both trips are full day/two party trips for only $249.00. I'll supply all the gear, you just bring your own lunch! It would be a great Valentines day gift for your favorite valentine. It would also make a great fathers day or mothers day gift and gift certificates will be available!

The small print; you have to book this trip at the show or get ahold of me during the dates of the show and a $100 deposit is required. You also have to say you LOVE the blues (just kidding) I also except Visa/Master Card/Discovery and American Express so you can put it on card if you like. Can't beat that deal!

See you all at the show!

Fins

2012-02-05T09:48:00.000-08:00

Over the past couple of seasons I've ran into another phenomenon that I haven't seen before. Steelhead missing pectoral fins. Sometimes these fish are missing one pectoral fin. Others have both missing. All are hatchery fish. Years ago, I would see this occasionally because hatchery fish were once marked this way.

This hatchery fish was harvested in my boat on Friday while working in the 20th annual Umpqua Steelhead Enhancement Derby (my partner and I ended up taking 2nd place with 35 steelhead in two days of fishing the Umpqua system) This fish was caught on the south Umpqua and was not only missing the adipose, but also both pectoral fins.

Not long after we caught the fish missing all the fins, we hooked this fish. This is what the fin's look like on a native south Umpqua winter steelhead.

Back in December, Justin Crump harvested this hatchery fish while fishing the Umpqua with K8 and I. The port-side pectoral fin is missing from this fish. Also note the crooked, mis-shapen dorsal fin and missing adipose.

Later that day, K8 caught this gorgeous, perfect native. Fin's intact, straight and translucent. PERFECT!

When I first started seeing hatchery fish with the adipose missing and a pectoral fin or two missing, I erroneously believed that the fish were strays from some other state, possibly California. I knew that Oregon hasn't done any pectoral clips for years.

Recently, I've learned that over-crowding of steelhead smolts in concrete hatchery raceways are the culprit. ODFW is aware of the problem and have made efforts at reducing this problem. It seems that when too many steelhead smolts are packed into hatcheries, the little fella's get to nippin' at each others fins causing them to be bitten off. I'm not sure why they target the pectoral fins only and not other fins, perhaps its because of the pectoral fins proximity to their eyes? Might explain why it seems flies with "eyes" seem to outfish flies without? Just another thing to ponder during the middle of the night when I can't sleep, thinking about steelhead!

I've spent a fair amount of time thinking about these missing fins. This has brought to the forefront more questions and points to ponder. I haven't come up with any answers to these thoughts, but I wanted to share them. Why don't we see this phenomenon with hatchery Salmon? I've seen bent, crooked and mis-shapen fins, but not missing fins - other than the adipose fin intentionally clipped by hatchery personnel on coho and chinook. Could it be that steelhead are just more aggressive than salmon? Could it be that Steelhead just don't do as well as Salmon in crowded raceways? Why don't we find hatchery steelhead on other rivers missing fins? Its only on the Umpqua and its only the past couple of years? I don't recall EVER seeing this on hatchery fish we've caught on the Siuslaw, Alsea, Siletz, Wilson, Willamette and McKenzie.

As I said, ODFW is aware of the problem and they have addressed the issue by taking some Umpqua hatchery smolts to the Cole Rivers hatchery to be raised prior to release in the Umpqua to help spread the little guys out a bit. They're hoping this will alleviate the problem. Time will tell.

Is this why Steelhead love to eat leeches?

2012-02-01T12:25:00.000-08:00

Look closely around the edges of this gorgeous natives gill plate.

Yesterday I had an open day and an invite to join my good friend, Todd Hirano on a trip to the coast. We went to a small Coos County, Oregon stream and had a blast. It gave me a chance to do some experimental work with my Ambush lines to see how well they would work with indicator / nymphing techniques. Turns out they worked great. Todd fishes dry lines and large iron, "winters hope" patterns on the swing.

Also, I'm still trying to learn how to take decent video with my little hand-held digital video recorder. I still suck at it.

We worked our way into this wonderful, fishy little run. Second or third drift through for me and my bobber goes under...HARD. I lift the rod and feel the surge and power of this fish;

Perfect. Clean. Awesome!

A few minutes later, Todd comes through the run with his "winters hope" and this event happens;

So I understand why a steelhead would eat an egg pattern. I get why they crush sculpins on the swing. Big wiggly Intruders, tandem tubes and the like probably remind them of squid from their time in the ocean. Skaters on the surface make sense too. Green Butt Skunks, Silver Hiltons and other standard steelhead patterns? They all leave me scratchin' my old bald head.

But after bringing Todd's fish to hand and seeing all those nasty, writhing, undulating, blood-sucking leeches! PLEASE!!!! Now, I know why steelhead love to eat black patterns and especially black leech patterns! I wanted to pluck everyone of the leeches off the fish, but ultimately, they deserve to eat too...I guess.

All the years I've fished for salmon and steelhead (over three dozen years now) I've NEVER come across something like this. Not in this particular watershed, or any other for that matter. I've occasionally seen leeches on other fish. Bass and Trout are two that come to mind. Obviously I've encountered lots of salmon and steelhead with numerous sea-lice in various locations on their bodies over the years. Some years they really get covered in them little critters.

If anyone else has seen this type of infestation on a steelhead, give me a call, shoot me a message or e-mail. I'm really curious to know if others have had a similar experience.

This week

2012-01-16T08:02:00.000-08:00

Photo courtesy of Todd Hirano

This past week was mainly spent getting after winter steelhead. Had some good days, had some slow days. Had some VERY crowded days too. Can't say I blame all the folks wanting to get in on this very unique opportunity, but I sure miss the days when I had most of it all to myself. Most days its been so busy that I've not been able to fish my favorite runs. Folks get in them, and stay there making pass after pass after pass. Eventually, I just give up and move to other areas of the river for a little solitude. That's the nice thing about a river system this big, if you know where to go, you can still find some water for yourself.

A highlight of the week was spending a great day with friends Kate Taylor, Justin Crump and their awesome yellow lab pup "Kada". We did a "cast and blast" that was both productive and really fun. In a few short days, "Kada" has not only learned to swim, but also fetch up some ducks! If I can figure out how to make a "snap-t" with my spey rod while my shotgun is slung over my shoulder, the ducks and geese are gonna really be in trouble!

The river is predicted to go out in the coming days, once again giving all the kegged up fish a chance to move on up river. That's a good thing. I'll miss the great swing water we've had, but I've got ducks and geese to hunt before the season ends and my North Umpqua season is really getting underway now and I need the fish to have some water to get there.

Spey casting with a single hander

2012-01-06T11:40:00.000-08:00

"The Godfather" of modern day spey casting, Harry Lemire (note the single hander)

Several years ago I fished with Harry Lemire for the first time. When we loaded gear into Harry's pick-up for our trip on the Sauk, I was surprised to find that not one of Harry's rods was a spey rod? They were ALL single handers? Harry explained that with a spey rod he can throw over a hundred feet of line. And since he can, he usually does... adding that he noticed fewer hook-ups on winter steelhead that typically LOVE laying close to shore in the soft water during heavier, colder winter flows when using his spey rods. Harry went on to explain that he enjoys fishing much more with the lighter single-handed rod and he enjoyed the added benefit of being forced to fish a shorter line that he had far better control over, thus presenting a much better fly to the fish. Its ALWAYS more about presentation than anything else! Harry's outfit was rigged with a floating line/sink tip combo that was ideally suited to spey casting with the single hand rod. His single hand spey casting was quick and efficient at keeping his fly in the water.

"Legend of the North Umpqua" Frank Moore

All the years I've fished with Frank, I've NEVER seen him with a spey rod in his hands...EVER. In the winter, Frank uses shooting head lines or Airflo's 40-plus lines and all his casting is "spey style" with Frank's signature "change of direction" roll casts. Frank has always used a single hander and has always been able to cast a straight line, further than almost anyone I know... except one;

International casting Champion, Steve Rajeff of G. Loomis rods

Steve will cast and fish everything. Single handers, Spey Rods, Switch Rods, Spinning Rods, and of course everything he casts is amazing to watch. Unreal skills! Mostly though when he and I get out on the water, he fish's a small, very light weight switch rod that he can spey cast with one, or both hands. Depending on the run we're fishing, the distance he needs to cover it effectively as well as streamside obstacles, Steve will switch between single-hand spey casting, overhead casting or two-hand spey casts.

So with all these incredibly talented anglers to fish with, why have I been so sloooooow pick-up my old single handers again? dim-witted?... perhaps.

I think it has more to do with the steelhead fly fishing world. I spend a large part of my days on the water guiding, helping people with their casting and 95% of the time, my clients show up for their day on the water with me with spey rods in hand. Spey rods are also the tool of choice for me when I have folks with limited casting skills. They really do help folks with limited or no casting experience in covering the water effectively. In order for me to help folks with their casting, I had to learn not only how to cast two-handers, but also be able to articulate and demonstrate proper and effective two-handed casting techniques to my clients. So for the past dozen or so years, I mostly spent all my time with the spey rod while doing my own fishing.

A few summers back, I had the good fortune of guiding three fellows from Denmark for a week on the North Umpqua. Morning one's initial conversation at Susan Creek Campground went something like this; me: "do you guy's spey fish?" Dudes from Denmark: "ja, we do da spey casting wit da single handers". oh, oh! this is gonna be a long week. I watch the fella's put their gear together with obvious confidence and experience. I learn that the fellas spent the previous week in Russia chasing Atlantic Salmon where their best fish was over "15 kilo's"...OK, maybe this won't be so bad afterall. I also learn that the next week they'll be over on the Deschutes and that these guys typically spend a month together every year, travelling the globe in search of monster Atlantic Salmon and Steelhead.

First run I put them in requires a fairly modest 60-70 foot cast to cover the best lie. Each one get's started and easily cover's the lie with their single handers with these really unique (at least to me) home made fly lines these guys built themselves. All of their casts are crisp, clean and laser-straight. As bank-side vegetation comes into play as they work down the run, they robotically switch from strong side to weak side (off shoulder) spey casts. In short, these guys could cast, they knew their equipment, and as the week went on, I took great delight in trying to fish these guys in run's requiring longer and longer casts to cover the water. It never did happen either. I never found a run that was so challenging that these three guys with their single handed rods that they spey cast - custom built lines, couldn't cover.

So since then I've given a lot of thought to all this. I LOVE my spey rods and all the various lines I use for chucking big rabbit strip flies, Intruder style flies and large pacific salmon flies in heavy winds. I also love my spey rods for helping clients properly cover the water when they just can't quite get it done with a single hander. For years I've avoided the longer, heavier rods and instead use spey rods under 13' and rarely heavier than a seven weight.

I recently began using cane rods and silk lines for most of my own personal summer steelheading. I just love the old traditional gear. Harry Lemire even gave me some very old silkworm - "gut" leader material that I have to soak (to make pliable) the night before I plan to go fishing. He and Frank just kind of roll their eyes when they see me using this "antique" gear. Frank pointed out that he was never so happy when monofilament came out after WWII so he would NEVER have to use that "GUT leader ever again!".

This past summer I blogged about some new lines that I was messing around with from Royal Wulff Products http://www.royalwulff.com/ I ordered two of their "Ambush" lines. One was a seven weight for use on a 7 wgt. single hander. The other was a nine weight for use on a 5-6 weight, 11' switch rod. Both lines and rod combo's worked great and were a blast to fish with. They're not the end-all fly line, but they do work really well for casting in tight quarters with little back casting room and areas where a small, compact "D-loop" is needed. For spey casting with a single hand rod, they are really enjoyable to cast. The Ambush lines are also the closest commercially available lines that I've found thus far, to the home-made lines my clients from Denmark introduced me to a few summers ago.

I was really interested in continuing my experiments with these lines in conjunction with various types, lengths, densities of sink-tips for steelhead and some pacific salmon fishing applications. I was also curious about fly design and how these lines would perform with larger, bulkier (i.e. hard to cast as a bedroom pillow) patterns. I was also interested in learning how these lines would perform with weighted flies and strike indicators.

In the coming weeks, I'll try to give y'all the "down and dirty" about what I've learned thus far. Good, Bad and indifferent. I do know that I've paired my newest Loomis twig, a 10' 9 wgt. NRX prototype single-hander (Thanks again Steve!) with the 9 wgt. Ambush floater.

I've used a wide variety of sink-tips on this rod/line combo and its proven itself as a great winter steelhead and fall chinook outfit. I've not been throwing the bulkier fly patterns on it as water conditions haven't required their use. Mostly I've been throwing various sized steelhead sculpin type patterns using "snap-t" and double speys casts. It's very light weight in the hand, casts 90' in almost every situation (i.e. deep wading, wind, little or no room to form "d-loops" etc.)

As usual, I'm late to most every party, but "better late than never" is the old saw that best fits.

For anyone interested in attending the upcoming Sportsman Show in Portland, Oregon that would like discount coupons, shoot me an e-mail with your address and I'll put some $2.00 off coupons in the mail for you. I have 100 coupons and when they're gone, they're gone. Check out their website for additional information about this years show www.sportshows.com

I'll be giving free seminar's daily at the show again this year. When I get the specific times I'll post them so if your interested in attending my seminars you'll know where and when they'll be presented. The topics this year will be fly fishing southern Oregon, fly fishing for steelhead as well as a seminar on fly fishing for fall salmon. Stop by my booth and say Hi and I'll forward to seeing you at the show.

ALOT of Aluetians!

2012-01-03T20:54:00.000-08:00

Made a morning trip into the duck/goose shoot this morning. It felt more like a spring morning than early January. Not a puff of breeze, clear skies...NOT what you'd call ideal weather for a bird hunt.

Like clock work, a few minutes after 8:00 a.m. the geese began to fly. And fly, and fly, and fly! I still get a bit excited when there are this many birds in the air, but I did have the presence of mind to shoot a little video...not very good video, but hopefully the audio will give you an idea of how many birds are in the area of the valley I'm hunting.

Bug with a Cack

In the dog house...again!

Jemma fetchin' up one.

Intermission

2011-12-29T01:51:00.000-08:00

We ended the day yesterday going seven for nine. All chrome. All native. All perfect. The rain's that had been predicted came late in the afternoon and all was well. I was a little sad that the "low water" start to my winter steelhead season was coming to an end. It was an amazing month. We caught fish everyday but one. Saw more pressure from other anglers than I've ever saw before. But it needed to end. The fish needed the break and an opportunity to get up river without so many anglers pursuing them. Now it will be the plunkers turn for a while. The river has been running a little over 3 feet for weeks. It's predicted to go to 17 feet in the coming days. Time to regroup, refill emptied fly boxes, repair and replace damaged sink-tips, make some needed repairs and maintenance of my boat, patch THE DAMNED LEAKS in my waders...again! I'll get a chance to re-acquaint myself with my family, do some bird hunting and dream of the next opportunity that mother nature will give me at such an amazing fishery. In the past dozen or so years, we've only had three Decembers like it. Below are a just a few of the images from the past several weeks. Thanks to everyone who came out with me and shared in this special fishery!

K8 sends one on its way.

This salmon didn't like my little steelhead muddler.

PERFECT!

K8 on the stick's of my little power boat getting the "Crumpster" and I into shooting range of some unsuspecting mallards. It's ok Mr. Mallard... its just your friend Mr. Fisherman : )

Steelhead and salmon can endure such horrific injuries from seals and sea lions. This one had a good sized bite taken out of its back just below the dorsal fin.

With this storm and subsequent high water, fishable numbers of winter steelhead will begin arriving in the fly water in the coming days and I'm really looking forward to coming home. The summer fish that have patiently waited for the water flows to come up and stay up so they can move into their tribs will now get their chance.

Don Roberts

2011-12-21T01:01:00.000-08:00

Don Robert's working a favorite run on one of our coastal salmon rivers a few years ago.

I met Don Roberts about a dozen years ago. Nick Amato got us together back when I was doing a lot of salmon fly fishing out on the ocean. Nick thought Don and I would hit it off. He was right.

Since then Don and I have had some great adventures together. We've chased mostly salmon and steelhead. All of it on Oregon rivers. We've fished the North Umpqua, upper Willamette, McKenzie, Deschutes, the lower Umpqua and my south coast Salmon rivers. For years now, every November, Don has joined me for a week or so of salmon fishing that Don has come to call the "Annual Salmon Slug Fest". This year was no different, and as usual, we caught fish, spent hours talking fish politics, fly patterns, spey rods, friendships and life. We took photo's, shared meals and enjoyed each others company.

Since most years I'm so busy working and guiding, our annual salmon trip always involves at least a few days shared with clients. Don is always gracious, giving everyone "first water". He's also very humble about all his accomplishments as a fly fishing author and photographer. If I didn't tell the clients who join us what Don did for a living, they'd just assume he was my fishing buddy, and a damned good one at that! He always ends up befriending all my clients and invariably ends up doing things with them, or for them throughout the year. He's just a great guy!

My wife and kids look forward to Don's arrival at our home during our adventures. He always arrives with arm loads of gifts. When my boy's were little and still into toy's he would always show up with really cool toy's for the boy's. Air-rifles, fly reels and lines, books, popcorn poppers, model airplanes, clothes, waders, rain jackets etc. etc. etc. It seemed too, that a number of the gifts, especially from the toy stores would always appear as if they had been previously opened? My wife and I laughed so hard during one of Don's visits around the holidays when he was on the living room floor with the boys, showing them how one of the toys worked, obviously having a little too much "first hand" experience with this particular toy. It was almost like the boys had an older brother to play with. In those days he fondly referred to his "playmates" as the "Finnerty Rugby Team".

So when Don showed up at the house the other day to join me for a day of swinging flies for early winter steelhead, he of course came with another arm load of "stuff". In the pile, was a CD with Don's neat, hand-written title "Slugfest 2011". The disk contained some of the images Don had shot while on a recent trip to the south coast with me and a couple of new clients. I thought I'd share some of those images.

Don is a staunch advocate for our fish and rivers. He always has been. Like most of the really great men I've had the privilege to call my friend and spend time on the water with, Don is a gentlemen. He's an ethical and conscientious sportsman and very much un-interested in any recognition for all that he has done in a lifetime of efforts at protecting our incredible resources. And I look forward to many years of friendship and what future adventures on and off the water we'll get to share.

K8, "Kade" and the "Crumpster"

2011-12-16T20:16:00.000-08:00

from L. to R. "Kade", K8 and "Crumpster"

Every so often I get the privilege to spend some pretty amazing days on steelhead and salmon rivers that I love. Today was one of those days.

A few years back I received a phone call from Kate Taylor (aka K8). She explained that she had been given my number by a mutual friend, Harry Lemire. She said Harry recommended that she get a hold of me if she wanted to fish the Umpqua for winter steelhead. Since then we've tried to work out schedules to get out on the water. Today we finally made it happen and we had a GREAT day.

The "Crumpster" (aka Justin Crump, Kate's boyfriend) started us off with a chrome hatchery buck. (above pic)

Later in the day, K8 hooked up with a gorgeous native.

Kade giving a ride to my lucky "green gremlin". This 3 month old, female yellow lab pup was a source of delight and laughs for me all day. What an amazing dog! She'd spot ducks and geese for me, take long winter naps in the boat under a pile of blankets and was so well behaved, she was amazing!.

We ended the day with each of us getting a fish, (mine was a salmon that ate one of my steelhead muddlers on the swing?) Justin and I burned up some shotgun shells on some mallards along the river and the four of us had a blast!

You can follow K8 and Crumpsters travels and fishing adventures with each other and their large group of fly fishing friends by visiting K8's great blog "Rogue Angels".

Steve and Ellen

2011-12-11T19:02:00.000-08:00

Fly casting legend Steve Rajeff of G. Loomis rods with one of five fish he got with me recently.

Steve and Ellen getting ready for another favorite fly run.

Ellen with a chrome native sporting sea lice!

Steve with on of several coho we caught on swung flies. One pool had tons of coho in it.

Another Coho on the swing.

Another shiny new winter steelhead!

2011-2012 new model years are here!

2011-12-08T17:40:00.000-08:00

Nuff said! You know what I'll be doing until mid-April.

WOW!

2011-11-29T21:07:00.000-08:00

My 7th annual "Salmon Slug Fest" with Don Robert's ended today with an absolutely epic day. We arrived at "the ranch" about an hour earlier than we should have. With an hour to wait for good light, I decided to get after them with a new pattern I'm working on. It's a small ghost shrimp pattern that incorporates...drum roll please...little tiny chem-lights. I picked them up recently from the folks at Spirit River. One pattern incorporates a pink chem-lite, the other one has a bright green lite. I chose the green one to start off my day. It was really amazing watching this little green "bug" screaming through the air on each false cast and the eerie glow the fly emitted as it sank into the clear, pre-dawn water.

Dawn broke and the early light increased until I could clearly see the opposite shoreline some 90 feet away as the little glowing shrimp fly began its swing. Salmon swirled on the surface every where around the fly. A moment later the line came taught and my first fall chinook of the morning tore off into the backing.

Glowing green chem-lite fly.

Don Robert's with a nice native from early this morning. He ended the day with more fish hooked than I could honestly say. It seemed every few minutes for several hours he was into another fish.

So now the day is done. I'm home, Don is heading back to Prineville and I'm already dreaming about next November and our next week long, annual Salmon Slug Fest. I can't wait!

day light till dark

2011-11-28T21:01:00.000-08:00

What a great day! Can't wait for tomorrow.

South Coast Salmon / Hatchery Cookie Cutters

2011-11-27T20:04:00.000-08:00

Mike Feiger from came all the way from Idaho to experience fall chinook on the fly. He went two for two today on nearly identical hatchery fish.

Mike's second fish of the day.

Mike Williamson (also from Idaho) landed a gorgeous native that was released and we had one other fish on that came un-pinned before posing for a pic.

We'll be back after 'um again tomorrow, wish us luck!

South Coast Salmon (week two)

2011-11-26T20:18:00.000-08:00

Don Robert's and I are back down on the south coast chasing fall chinook on flies. This is our sixth year together doing the annual "salmon slug fest". Today we had a slow day with two fish hooked and only one landed. The fish above measured 37"X22" putting it in the mid-20's. This year's run has a high percentage of 5 year olds so we should do well on larger fish over the coming days. Stay Tuned!

South Coast Salmon

2011-11-24T04:01:00.000-08:00

I just returned home from four days of salmon fishing on the south coast. We rose fish to swung flies each day. Some days more than others. We had weather that ran the spectrum from torrential rains, 80 mph winds, snow and one day it was sunny, calm and in the upper 50's. Only on Oregon's south coast in November can you get that kind of mix!

Dan tussles with a monster!

Chris with one of several fish on "Sunny Sunday" with beautiful water color.

BIG MUDDY with some woody debris!

Late Sunday night the winds and rains came with a vengeance! We fished hard all day Monday in horrible winds and rain. By Monday afternoon the winds were blowing so hard that a gust grabbed the partially opened drivers side door of my Suburban and folded it forward until it came to a stop near the front fender! leaving the sheet metal bent and contorted in such a horrible way that it would only open just wide enough for me to squeeze through after I made the mistake of closing the door. Not to worry though, I few well placed whacks with a small sledge hammer and some tactically placed pry's with a crowbar and I've got it workin' good as new....well mostly anyway.

By Tuesday morning the river was raising inches every hour. My buddy's bailed on me. I decided that this was a great opportunity to experiment a bit. In past trips to Alaska I've always been amazed that in thick glacial till, silvers can still find your fly in water that yielded less than three inches of visibility. On my local rivers, I've always said that if you wade into the water until the depth is "knee deep" and you can still see your wading boots, you can fish. I started at first light with that kind of visibility...barely! An hour later the "grit" in the water increased until visibility decreased to less than a foot. Leaves, branches, limbs and even small tree's started to drift past. I kept swinging. When the grab came, I can honestly say that I was STUNNED! It even took a few moments for me to register what had happened. I landed the fish in the above picture and kept the hatchery fish for our upcoming Turkey Day Dinner. Knowing that it had to be a fluke, I stepped back into the run with the same four inch long, chartreuse and bright yellow Clouser, fully expecting that to be my last grab of the day. I was letting the fly swing into the bank where I had caught salmon in past seasons when high water prevailed, but nothing this muddy. The current along this edge slows to a crawl and the depth is about mid-thigh with noting but very small coble. No structure, but a great little channel for upstream racing salmon that have been waiting for this kind of gully washer. I had several obvious "line bumps" over the next half hour so I knew that lots of salmon were on the move and eventually the fly would swing into the maw of another chinook, even still I was astonished when the second salmon of the morning nearly jerked the spey rod from my grasp when it attacked the big-bright Clouser. By the time the second fish was hooked, visibility was down to 6-9"!!! By the time this battle ended, the river had risen to a level that it really wasn't even a good idea to stand in it anymore so I called it day. The point is, I learned a few valuable lessons. If your worm ain't in the water, ya ain't gonna get bit! and Salmon can and will eat your flies in some pretty horrible water if you place the fly where the fish are, or are going to be.

This week Don Robert's and I will be joining forces again for our week long, annual "Salmon Slug Fest" as he's come to call it. In the ten years or so that we've been taking this annual trip to the south coast, this will be the latest in the month of November that we've done the trip. Not that this is a concern, because I routinely fish for Fall Chinook on the south coast all the way up until Christmas, but after the weather I just endured, I'm not so sure that I'm ready to cast in 60 mile an hour winds again so soon, but if the water's high and muddy, I'm still fishin'!!...in fact, I'll still be "CATCHIN' UM"!

Cabela's seminars, "On the River" blog, Winter Steelhead, Duck Shoot and Fall Chinook Flies

2011-11-06T05:44:00.000-08:00

If your interested in a free winter steelhead fly fishing seminar and you're in the Eugene/Springfield area this next Friday, November 11th, from 6:00 p.m. until around 8:00 p.m. please stop by and say hi. The nice folks at the new Springfield Cabela's store have invited me back to do another presentation. Information on the upcoming seminars is available by going to their website. http://www.cabelas.com/.

Within the next twenty days (if the weather holds) my winter steelhead fly fishing season will begin! and fish like the one Johnny Delashaw is gently cradling will be crushing big stringy, slimy looking spey flies!

The fine folks at the "Steamboaters" have added a new blog to their website. "On the River" will be a great source of info for everyone who loves the North Umpqua. I've added a link on my blog list. Visit them often and if you can, join them or donate to their efforts. The Steamboaters and their dedicated members are why we have the North Umpqua that we enjoy today and why we'll have the same great river that our kids will enjoy in the decades to come.

Over the past several weeks family and friends and I have been working hard at creating a brand new duck hunting shoot in the Willamette Valley. The pond is now done, complete with two blinds, it full of water and decoys are out - waiting for some northern birds to arrive. This is what it looks like;

And, last but not least, fall chinook fly fishing is underway on the south coast and over the coming weeks BIG mondo, fly eating kings will be dining on these!

RodWrap

2011-10-29T00:06:00.000-07:00

Chris Wright with his spey rod sportin' a bright yellow RodWrap.

Several weeks ago I had the pleasure of spending a couple of great day's on the water with the owner of the McKenzie Feed Store and Fly Shop http://mckenziefeed.com/, Chris Wright. His shop is conveniently located on Hwy. 126 in Walterville. The first day Chris brought along a friend of his named Steve Brown. Turns out Steve is a Bass Pro and owner of Better Way Products over in Bend, Oregon. Steve's company produces a really cool product called "RodWrap". http://rodwrap.com/

It's a type of tape that you can wrap on any type of rod to protect the cork, improve your grip and allow you a quick and easy way to color code your rods should you have a large number of similar looking rods that your using that day. Bass tournament angling comes to mind for this advantage. The RodWrap has a feel similar to a tennis racket or golf club. Its kind of soft and squishy with a good "tacky" feel. For me, the improved grip and comfort these wraps afforded intrigued me.

At the end of the day Steve and I exchanged cards and he promised a package containing some samples of his products would arrive at my door step in the coming weeks. True to his words the package arrived as promised and contained not only a dozen RodWraps for spey rods, but it also inlcuded a container of grip wax.

I grabbed a couple of my favorite twigs, actually read the directions (really, I did!) and got busy wrappin' some spey grips. I found the process ridiculously easy and it took less than 20 minutes per rod.

Start off by removing the RodWrap from the package. For Spey rods there are of course, two wraps. One short one for the bottom grip, one long one for the top. Start out by removing the clear plastic protective tape from the grip. It's easily accomplished by finding the little yellow sticker that says "remove".

Peel the plastic off.

The RodWrap has a tapered end. The outside (grip) portion of the tape has the RodWrap logo embossed it. Begin to wrap the RodWrap at the bottom of the grip with the tapered end that places the logo in the right position (not upside down). Begin to wrap the RodWrap up the grip allowing about an 1/8" overlap as you proceed up the grip. In the case of my rods, I chose to begin and end on the grip that left decorative "end cork" to remain uncovered. No real reason, just thought it would look good.

Continue to wrap to a point where you want the RodWrap to end on the grip.

You'll need a sharp pair of scissors to trim the tape in the same tapered fashion that the tape began with. This will be the way you end with a nice finish. It took me a few minutes the first time to get the angle and the taper right. After that, its a breeze to trim the tape and get a nice finish.

The RodWrap packaging comes with two "finishing" tapes that are narrow, black strips of tape with the RodWrap logo imprinted on them. These are used to finish the end of the wrap and keep it secure. The directions warn about NOT stretching this black finishing tape when its applied. I don't know why, I just read and followed the directions...I swear!

Bottom grip is finished, now for the top.

Repeat the process in the same manner you did the first (bottom) grip. Peel the protective plastic covering, locate the tapered end and begin wrapping the tape with the logo on the outside and in the proper position. Be sure to over-lap each rap by about 1/8".

Finish the wrap where you want, use scissors to cut the proper finishing taper in the end of the tape and wrap with the black finishing tape.

Finished!

A couple of rods ready to do battle next week with the beginning of my south coast fall chinook fly fishing season opener!

RodWrap's are available at Bi-Mart Stores, Chris's Shop in Walterville, the RodWrap website listed above and our local Cabela's store. I'm not sure what the price is for the spey rod grips, but I'm sure its very reasonable. The single hand fly rod grips cost around $3.00. The "GripWax" is another product from Steve's company. I have a container of the cold weather formula that I'll try out next week. GripWax cost's about $7.00. They come in a variety of colors and there are rodwraps for conventional rods as well.

Check'em out if you get a chance and let me know what you think. I think as the winter steelhead season gets underway, the RodWraps are going to make a difference in comfort and improve my grip on those cold, wet winter days. I'll let you know what I think in the coming weeks and months.

Building a Duck Shoot

2011-10-20T04:40:00.000-07:00

The past couple of weeks have been a whirlwind around here for us. Colby and I have been on the water nearly every day all month. We're mostly running Salmon trips on the lower Umpqua and have been doing quite well. We're still chasing trout on the McKenzie and summer steelhead on the upper Willamette and North Umpqua too.

I recently started a new Duck hunting lease in the Willamette Valley. I've hunted this ground in recent seasons for geese and the hunting can be amazing. The area where I'm starting this new duck hunt is a stones throw away from a migratory waterfowl conservation area. Last year there were times I saw tens of thousands of Pintail, Widgeon and Mallards roosting in this area. Geese (mostly all dark) were also heavily using this conservation ground as a roosting area. There is no real feeding opportunities in this multi-hundred acre piece of ground, so the birds spend the night on the various ponds and then in the morning they fly out in search of feed.

This photo shows what the ground for my new Duck shoot looked like before I started whittling away at it with the backhoe. It's situated in the corner of a multi-hundred acre plot of rye grass. It's bordered on two sides by a small creek that has water year-around running through it.

The land owner has wanted to build a pond at this location for many years and its just one of those things that worked out really well for both of us. Some things just come together like this, not often, but once in awhile.

He already had a well thought out plan for this pond. The size, shape, how it sits in relation to wind and weather patterns etc. had all been considered and planned out by the land owner. I just needed to come in and add the labor and some finishing touches to make it a great shoot.

So I started moving some dirt. And moving some more dirt. And then I moved more! Eventually our vision began to take shape and as it did, it became more and more exciting, seeing the potential for this location unfold before our very eyes.

Throughout my life I've built a lot of things. I've been a contractor/builder, welder, sheet metal fabricator and machinist. Hell, I've even built a few hundred thousand steelhead, salmon, bass and trout flies over the past 40 years. But this is this first time I've ever been involved in a project of this type. The thought that it will bring alot of enjoyment to duck and goose hunters for many years to come is pretty cool indeed!

After working the ground for a long time with the back hoe, the land owner came out to give me a hand with this behemoth! Attached to back of this 50,000 lb., 8-wheel drive tractor is a 24' boxed blade that he built himself. AMAZING piece of machinery! and it could MOVE SOME DIRT! In no time at all he had brought the vast majority of the pond's depth down to about 16".

So now the new Duck shoot is about half done. We still have some ground to move, but the overall outline and shape have been formed. It's probably less than two acres in size and when completed will average around 12" to 16" in depth. Our plan is to fill it with the coming rain water. If that doesn't get it done we can pump some water from the little drainage creek into the pond to top it off. I've also got a couple of duck blinds to put together, which I'll try and get done in the next week.

Next year we'll plant some rows of corn, maybe drill in some peas, buckwheat and millet. I just know its a real privilege to be able to do something like this. I can't wait for the day to come, when I can share one of the duck blinds with friends and family as a flock of mallards cup their wings with their feet down and glide into my decoy spread on a pond I helped to build.

In coming post's I'll update you with the pond and how its progressing. If anyone has any suggestions on our "work-in progress" to make it the best duck pond in the valley, I'd be happy to hear your thoughts. Shoot me an e-mail or give me a call.

Tenkara anyone?

2011-10-08T19:31:00.000-07:00

So I spent three straight days on the North Umpqua after this weather change. We didn't raise a fish! Had a great time, fished some great guys and we worked hard. Didn't pay off with fish gobbling up skaters. Frank Moore and I even got out for a bit one evening. We didn't raise a fish either. You know when you can't bring a steelhead to the fly with Frank, fishing is pretty darned slow.

I got home late yesterday, pretty bummed about my three days on the North, but looking forward to todays trip on the mainstem Umpqua chasing coho with a fly with longtime friend/client Tom Hansch. If your a friend of mine on Facebook you can see how we did. I got my hand hands slimy on salmon. Coho Salmon. Oregon native Coho salmon. Even a few jack's were willing today...and ton's of smallmouth...still? On October 8th?. One weird year is all I can say.

So after lunch Tom says "Dean, I'm gonna introduce you to some new, cutting edge fly stuff"..."that's hundreds of years old"??? Tom pulls out this cool looking little fly rod tube and takes out this little fly rod. No cork grip? It's made of pine? No reel seat either??? He begins pulling the tip section out like an old school telescoping rod. This process continues until twelve feet of "fly rod" emerges from the butt section. Attached to the tip is thirteen or fourteen feet of furled fly line and tippet. He attaches a trout fly and hands it to me.

Have you ever dreamed of a simpler life? A life without cell phones? A life without computers? A life without utility bills, mortgages, car payments, X-boxes, lap-tops, car's you can't work on without a computer, boats that have a set of oars and no fuel-injected motor,...you get the idea. Sometimes I whine to my wife that I'd just love to grab a few fly rods, some old blues tapes and CD's, a few spey rods, my fly tying gear, a few shotguns and rifles, an axe, a few hand tools, take what money we've got in savings and head for Mexico, or Alaska, or where ever and live a much simpler life. Not gonna happen. At least anytime soon.

So my friend Tom hands me this new twig he's got and tells me "its called Tenkara, ever heard of it?" I told him that I had, vaguely? I of course can't recall where I had heard of it, or read about it. He explains that it's this old Japanese method of fly fishing. Simplicity. No reel seat. No reel. Just a rod with a length of tapered line, leader and a fly. OK, I'm in.

At the end of our day chasing coho on the mainstem Umpqua, we go back to Tom's farm along the river and head to his pond full of bluegill, smallmouth bass, pumpkin seeds and other warm water fish and give this ancient Japanese gear a try.

Grasshoppers were abundant along the shoreline and the sunfish eagerly gobbled up every hopper that jumped away from our footfalls and landed, SPLAT on the ponds surface. Tom attached a small foam hopper pattern to the tippet of the Tankara rod and I began placing the pattern along the grassy shoreline.

Tom's little sunfish eagerly popped the little fly off the surface on almost every "cast". While I can't say that the Tenkara outfit was as comfortable to fish as my little single-hander with a conventional fly reel, the rod and line did have its charms. My biggest complaint about the outfit was the length of the rod and the length of the fly line. Both made it cumbersome to handle the fish, bring them to hand for release etc. It only took a few minutes though to work through this awkward stage. Much like it did when I began trying to land steelhead on my own for the first time with a spey rod. Once I got the hang of fighting the fish and bringing them to hand, I found the system very enjoyable to fish. I think they would be a blast to fish on high mountain meadow streams where brookies in a small stream lined by grassy banks and few tree's prevail. When I first learned to fly fish as a young boy, I first learned to "dap" the fly before I ever learned to cast. These Tenkara rods are perfectly suited to "dapping". I also think they will work great for smallmouth bass fishing on the mainstem umpqua next summer when we go back fishing rubber leg nymphs "on the drop".

For more info go to http://tenkarausa.com/ and enjoy a "simpler life".

North Umpqua and Upper Willamette Steelhead

2011-09-30T01:12:00.000-07:00

Chris working a favorite upper river (North Umpqua) run as towering Douglas Fir tree's provide a little early morning shade.

The past couple of days have been a blast for me. I spent them with some new clients who can get it done on the water, plus they're just a lot of fun to be with!

Yesterday morning I was on the Upper Willamette with Chris and Steve. Chris owns the Walterville Feed Store and Fly Shop on the McKenzie. Steve owns a business that makes custom rod grip wraps that really enhance your grip on any rod. While Chris knows his way around a spey rod, Steve is a former Bass Pro who is just getting started with learning how to cast a spey rod. So by morning's end, we rose four fish, hooked three solid and landed one.

We swung some new prototype tube flies that I've been working on and the fish loved them! When Chris and Steve met me at daylight at the boat launch, Chris had his own spey rod. Steve had a typical 6 1/2' bass stick with a level wind? I didn't say anything about the bass rod. I knew Steve needed some gear so I brought some extra twigs for him to cast and fish with. I just wasn't really sure what he planned on doing with the bass tackle.

After raising a nice fish on the spey rod, Steve asked if he could use his bass gear? Why not. "It's your day" I thought to myself. What happened next, was one of those rare moments when you just can't even believe your own eyes. I apologize that I've been sworn to secrecy and its not fair to the readers to even mention this event, but suffice to say, "Steve the Bass Pro" knew his gear, knew what to do with it to draw the attention of some upper willy summer fish and really taught me something about steelhead behavior that I didn't know. Steelhead can be made VERY AGGRESSIVE if you know how to do it.

So in the afternoon, Chris parted ways with Steve, picked up his buddy Brad and both met me on the North Umpqua. I was off the clock for the evening so I fished some of my favorite water and brought Chris and Brad along with me. Brad is one of those guys who's friendly and so enthusiastic about fly fishing for steelhead that you just have a great time being on the water with him. He's been fly fishing for years and spent many seasons guiding up in Alaska for trout and salmon, but spey rods and steelhead are a new thing to Brad and he's as passionate about both as much, if not more, than anyone I've ever known.

Since it was my evening to fish, I used my cane rod, silk line and 60 year old Hardy Perfect "Taupo" reel to skate my dries over a couple of my more reliable runs. I ended the evening raising two NU fish before the bats started gobbling up the October Caddis that began to take flight as the sun set.

Chris, Brad and I camped at one of my little primitive camps, drank a few Ninkassi's (and a few more PBR's) ate some great grilled brat's and slept under a cloudless sky while the North Umpqua babbled a few feet away.

This morning we got started before daylight. I was back on the clock and working while Chris and Brad got after'um! In the first run, Brad rose a fish on the dry and like everyone does, when he saw the fish try to snarf the skater, he pulled the fly away! literally snatching defeat from the jaws of victory. A few minutes later, and a little further down the run, Chris had a fish crush the prototype tube fly he caught the fish on yesterday, but somehow the hook didn't find a solid purchase and the fish was gone a moment later.

In the next run I was helping Brad with his casting and put the skater across the run to a distant seam that always hold fish. Like clockwork a chromer swirled on my little skater as I twitched it across the glassy tailout, but like so many fish the past few summers, we couldn't get the fish to come back. "One rise wonders" is what I've come to call them.

We continued on through the rest of the morning without another rise and I decided to move to the upper river above Steamboat Creek. It was amazing how many spring chinook were in the upper river. I haven't been working the upper river this summer. So many more fish seem to be in the lower part of the fly water so I haven't worked up there yet. I haven't seen this many salmon in the upper river since the 2000 season. If you end up on the north umpqua in the coming weeks, PLEASE be careful wading around on any gravel and avoid the redds.

We ended the day with Chris hooking (and loosing) another fish on my new tube fly. So by my fuzzy "guide math" we rose ten fish over the past two days. Certainly didn't land all that we rose, but overall, not bad fishin' and what a great treat to share that kind of fishing with three new friends! Thanks guys!!!!

The next few days will be spent chasing late season trout on the upper McKenzie. Saturday our deer rifle season starts and I've got some boys chomping at the bit to fill a deer tag. As hot and dry as its been the last two days, this weekends forecast for rain should have the deer moving. Next week is booked solid with more days on the North Umpqua and I can't wait!

The past week in pic's

2011-09-23T05:17:00.000-07:00

This past seven days has really been a whirl-wind kind of week.

It started off with a great day on the North Umpqua fly water with two of my favorite customers. Brent Maher (pictured above working a favorite run)

and his dad, Richard swinging a dry with a single-hander.

Then it was off to the Deschutes for a couple of days of fishing with Kyle, Colby and my 'ol buddy,

Don Roberts. Rose some fish on a new fly design I'm working on for steelhead and had a great couple of days in the high desert.

Walking along the stream side trail one morning, Don and I spotted this swallow nest (not sure if it was African or European? sorry) made of monofilament??? Pretty cool design and use of our garbage! Not so sure though that I want to ever see another one. Just a reminder to pick up mono every time you find it laying along our rivers and properly dispose of it.

Then it was back over the mountains for a driftboat trip on the North Umpqua where I had another great day with another favorite customer, Rob Brown and his wife from http://randblures.com/

Then I headed down river to end what has been one of my best smallmouth bass seasons ever. It started out pretty challenging because of all the high, cold water and the late start we got, but I don't recall a season where we've caught so many large bass like this year and I don't recall another season where I've been fishing so late into September either.

Sunrise over a portion of the ranch from the area we call "the Gap".

Jannie had a great morning with several bass in this size range. Smallmouth bass fishing from a driftboat was new to her and she did a great job!

Barbara hopped in the boat for the afternoon session and she caught some really nice bass on her fly rod as well as conventional tackle.

So that was my week. Like I've said so many times before... Sleep is a weakness and I really am a VERY LUCKY MAN!

T.G.I.F.!

2011-09-16T09:58:00.000-07:00

To say its been a busy summer is akin to saying we got a little rain this past winter/spring! Its time for a couple of days off...and I'm goin' fishin'!

Tomorrow Hunter and I have a bass tournament at Cottage Grove Reservoir and we're gonna WIN IT!

Then Sunday morning, Colby and I are headed to Ed Iman's writers camp where we're gonna do a little "networking" with a bunch of outdoor writers and industry types and spend a good part of our days swinging flies on the lower Deschutes with my dear 'ol friend, Don Roberts.

It's good to be me : )

Mailman brought some new toys!

2011-09-07T21:34:00.000-07:00

A few weeks ago I mentioned that I had the opportunity to try out some new lines, rods, reels and other cool fly fishing toys. One of the highlights of this tackle field test fest was the Ambush lines from Wulff products that my buddy Dick Sagara brought along. These lines were really close to some lines I was introduced to last summer when three of my favorite new clients from Norway showed up on the North Umpqua with some homemade lines they spey cast on single handers for like 500'! Okay, that may be a little guide BS, but those fella's could throw some fly line...a VERY LONG WAY!

So the other day, my mailman, who normally just brings me stacks of bills, actually brought me something I could make use of...in fact, I was just giddy with delight when I saw what that insufferable bastard actually brought me for a change.

FLY LINES!!!

The nice folks at Wulff products sent me a handy-dandy Ambush line for my little 4-5 wgt. 11' TFO Deer Creek switch rod and a 400 grain Ambush line for my ECHO 9' 7 wgt. single hander.

A few minutes later I had both lines loaded up on a couple of my favorite 'ol "look at me" Hardy reels and I'm ready to go!

Tomorrow I'm fishin' some guests at the Big K for smallmouth bass, the next two days I'm fishin' trout on the McKenzie...a day off...two more days for trout on the McKenzie, but Wednesday my little skaters are gonna get thrown clear across the North Umpqua attached to the end of these new lines! You can bet I'll let you know how it goes.

Coastal Bucktails

2011-09-06T08:23:00.000-07:00

"Coastal Bucktail" when its dry.

Recently I posted some pic's and video about a fall chinook I caught the other day and I mentioned that the fish ate one of my "Coastal Bucktails". This prompted some folks to inquire about the pattern and ask for additional information.

I'm a big believer in fall salmon flies having several traits. First, they have to have eyes. Second, they need to have movement, the more the better. And lastly, I think the fly should at least have some similarity to the natural food the salmon has recently fed on.

Over the years, I've made a habit of doing two things with every fish my clients, friends, family or I catch while we're out. I like to closely examine the mouth of our fish for prior hook marks or injuries. Its fascinating to me, how often salmon and steelhead that eat our flies have other evidence of previous hook-ups, especially the further up a river system we're fishing. Second, on fish that are harvested, I conduct an autopsy of sorts - on their digestive tracts for evidence of what the fish have recently consumed. Unreal what is revealed by taking the time to check this out.

So, back to Coastal Bucktails. This fly evolved over the past 15 years that I've been serious about catching salmon on flies. The closer I get to the ocean, the more often I find herring, sardines, anchovies and candle fish in the stomachs of the salmon we harvest. During the summer months, "crab spawn" aka "crab larva" also make up a large part of the food consumed by our Oregon salmon. I think that's why smaller comet type patterns can be so effective.

"Coastal Bucktail" when its wet.

Initially, I wanted a fly that simply looked like a baitfish. Simple enough. I tied them with bucktail (hence the name) in various colors. Anytime I've ever held live bait in my hand, I've always been amazed at all the colors that are displayed. Purples, blues, blacks, greens, olives, whites, silvers and more are very prominent. The other very prominent feature of these little guys are there eyes. So when I sat down at the vice to come up with a fly that would have all these features, I came up with the first "Coastal Bucktails". We fished them, and they worked. They worked GREAT as a matter of fact. To date we've used this pattern to catch a wide variety of fish on them. They've caught all five species of pacific salmon. They've enticed salmon in fresh and salt water. Albacore Tuna eat them. Stripers eat them. Dorado, Roosters and Pompano eat them. Pretty much every type of fish that eats other, smaller fish eat them.

I tied them with white bellies, a little flash along the lateral line of the pattern and then created multi-colors of bucktail along the back of the fly in an effort to capture the vast array of colors displayed by the actual fish. I added eyes and coated them with 5-minute epoxy to finish them off.

This was my pattern. I was very proud of "inventing" it, until one day a client looked in my fly box on a striper trip and said, "Oh ya, I love Trey Combs sea-habit fly's too!, its a great pattern".... WHAT! No, no, no... this is NOT a "sea-habit" this is a "coastal bucktail". I did a little research and found out that "my" pattern had been catching fish for Trey Combs in saltwater for many years before I came up with it. So much for "cutting edge" fly design!

One thing I did want to change on my pattern was the lack of movement it had when tied with bucktail. Most of my steelhead flies during this period of time, began being made with a lot of rabbit strips, ostrich herl, marabou and other materials that had a lot of movement. Then one day I came across a new material. New to me at least. Craft-fur had the right length, colors and most importantly, it "breathed" and came to life when in the water.

So now my "coastal bucktails" sport craft-fur in a variety of colors. Sometimes blended to achieve the same "rainbow" effect of colors displayed by the naturals. Sometimes I tie them in two distinct colors. For example, the fly that caught the chinook recently in the photos above has two colors, white for the belly and chartreuse for the back. It also sports a few strands of chartreuse Krystal flash along the lateral line and back, not much, just a little. I tie them by sculpting the belly with shorter fibers first, and lengthening them with each new small clump of fibers to try and get the right shape to more closely resemble the natural. If you just slap the material on the hook and then trim the ends to get the shape you want it won't look right. At least to me. Once I reach the lateral line and begin creating the top or "back" of the fly I reverse the process by starting out with longer fibers and work with shorter and shorter fibers, again to help sculpt the proper shape.

I use clear mono thread when tying and creating the "head" of the fly. This allows a continuation of the colors of the body to come through in the head when I finish the fly. Prismatic eyes in various sizes and colors are attached with a dollop of zap-a-gap or super glue. Once the glue has dried, I mix up a small batch of 5-minute epoxy and cover the head and eyes. Years ago, Bill Nelson built me a home-made fly turner out of a barbecue rotisserie motor he bought from the St. Vincent DePaul for a couple of bucks. Bill makes them and gives them to friends. They have simple wooden clothes pins attached to a wooden disk that he attaches to the shaft of the motor. You simply place the hook in the clothes pin, turn on the motor and it slowly rotates, allowing an even distribution of the epoxy around the head of the fly. Once dry, this makes a very durable head and fly that usually out-lasts the hooks they're tied on.

As for hooks, I use a number of different sizes and styles. Gamagatsu and Honer both make great hooks. I like the silver "octopus" style hooks used by gear anglers in sizes from 4 to 2/0 for alot of these patterns. I try to avoid tying them on stainless steel hooks. So often, big chinook that we hook are not landed and I don't like the idea that a stainless steel hook may stay pinned in the salmon's mouth for a longer period of time.

These patterns are effective in blue/white, green/white, olive/white, purple/white, chartreuse/white and then the original of course that has a blend of multiple colors for the upper half of the fly.

Last year I made another modification that made the fly even more attractive to the salmon it seemed. I still need a little more field testing to confirm that. Once I do, I'll share with readers the "new" version of my "coastal bucktail" fly.

Umpqua tide-water fall chinook on a fly (a brief how-to) on Vimeo

2011-09-04T07:37:00.000-07:00

Umpqua tide-water fall chinook on a fly (a brief how-to) on Vimeo

Ok, these "magic boxes" also known as COMPUTERS by some of you more enlightened soles sometimes (ok... ALWAYS) cause me grief, but I'm tryin', without always buggin' my kids to help me with all this technology and social media stuff. I implore you to please be patient with me and with a little luck, perhaps someday your patience will be rewarded with some little nugget I post that may actually be interesting and helpful.

So with all that being said, I'm trying to learn how to take decent video of some of my days afield with hopes that I can share it with folks on my Facebook, Blog or website or embed it in my power-point programs for some of my seminars. I've really enjoyed viewing Marty Shepherd's videos that he's put up on his blog over the past several years. Just go to Metalheads on my bloglist to check out some of his stuff. Really cool and informative...and even pretty darned entertaining! Inmatation being the most sincere form of flattery, my hope is that someday I'll be able to negotiate all this technology half as good as Marty does.

So if you follow me on Facebook, I appologize for this video and text being uploaded about a hundred times.

Fall Chinook and new posts on "huntin'" and "gear we use" pages.

2011-09-02T20:08:00.000-07:00

My fall chinook on the fly season - officially started on September 1st this year when I landed this chinook on the lower Umpqua. I've been workin' hard, I had the day off and I went fishin' all by myself. It was wonderful! I hooked this "oinker" a little after daylight and after an epic, half-hour long battle that pulled my little power boat down river about a 1/4 mile, I was finally able to slide the net under this 27 pound buck!

The gear I used was a 9', 8-weight TFO /TiCRX single hander with a Ross Big Game - 5 reel. I had a 30' type IV shooting head, 4' of 15lb. Maxima leader and this fly...

Its a fly from my "coastal bucktail" series. It's tied using craft fur in white/Chartreuse with a few strands of chartreuse Krystal flash and prismatic eyes that are coated in five-minute epoxy.

I was anchored in 12' of water on an out-going tide that was about an hour from going slack. Water temperature where I was at started was around 63 degrees and as the tide continued out, temps built to 67 degree's. When the fish grabbed the fly at the bottom end of the swing, water temp was around 64 degree's. The grab started out as a soft "pluck" and then built to a solid, VERY strong down stream pull that caused me to toss my anchor float and start following the fish down river.

So I hope that covers a lot of the common questions I get from readers about my fall salmon fly fishing. If you have others, don't hesitate to give me a call or e-mail. This is the very beginning of one of my favorite seasons. These fish are just AWSOME and fishing this early season in areas that are dominated by guys trolling gear is VERY satisfying. Come pioneer a great fishery with me, but be sure to eat your Wheaties!!! These fish PULL HARD!

Also, if you've ever had an interest in fletching your own arrows, check out my huntin' page for a pictorial and explanation on how I fletch my own arrows and if you need to re-sole a pair of wading shoes, check out my page on "gear we use" for a low down on how I recently re-soled a favorite pair of wading shoes.

Ambush Lines and Switch Rods

2011-08-24T08:41:00.000-07:00

Over the past several days I had the opportunity to spend time on the water with my favorite tackle rep., Dick Sagara (on left above) and a new friend, Jesse Riding of Rainy's Fly's from Logan, Utah.

I've just recently become a fly innovator for Rainy's and this trip was an opportunity for Jesse and I to get to know one another better, do a little fishin' and thank's to Dick and Jesse, do a bunch of field testing of some of Rainy's new Steelhead and Smallmouth bass flies and a few of the new products Dick has in his line of great fly fishing products.

Dick has been a friend of mine for many years since I began fishing a lot of Temple Fork Outfitter (TFO) fly rods and spey rods.

I'll admit, I've not been on the "switch rod" band wagon like alot of other folks. I've always kind of felt that they don't really do either type of casting very well. The rear grip always seems to get in my way while traditional casting and their shorter length doesn't allow the type of distance casting and superior line control I get with a more traditional length spey rod. As a result, I've not really been a fan of the switch rods. Until now. Dick brought along a brand new twig, loaded with a brand new "Ambush" line from Wulff. WOW! What an absolute blast to cast and fish. I've not been this jazzed about a new fly/spey product since the first time I cast a Skagit line.

While I'm publicly admitting that I'm not a fan of some new gee-whiz spey gear, I might as well also mention that I've not been all that enamourred with all these short-belly "Scandi" style lines either. Almost everyone of my clients who have shown up for a day of fishing with me, equipped with one of these Scandi lines, has created problems where problems didn't exist before. Specifically, I've had to spend alot of time working with them on their casting because the short belly lines invariably create problems with guys pulling their anchor...all day long.

So when Dick was explaining the characteristics of these lines, I kind of cringed a little, thinking that a 20' heavy bellied line was going to be awful to spey cast. What I found from casting these lines for most of the day was that they really cast incredibly well. Yes, you have to slow down and let a solid anchor build, but once the anchor is formed, the heavy weight built into this short head holds a tremendous amount of casting energy and really allows you to shoot alot of line. Where they REALLY SHINE is in casting them on a switch rod or single handed rod and spey casting in tight quarters. UNREAL! I was cackling like a loon as I shot 100' plus casts across one of my wider runs on the upper Willy with a traditional cast. I cast the line just like I would a 30' shooting head. Bring the head up to within a few inches or a foot of the rod tip. Roll cast in the direction you want the final cast to go. Allow the head to come into contact with the surface of the water and haul back smoothly to execute the back cast. Now come forward on the cast and do a short pull down with the fly line held in your weak hand and shoot the line, leader and fly across the river. Tight line, super-tight loops...AWSOME!

When we entered those runs where spey casting became difficult because of overhanging Alders and deep, un-wadeable water this rod/line combo was such a pleasure to fish. The rod I enjoyed the most was an 11', 6 weight switch rod in the TFO Deer Creek series matched up with a 400 grain Ambush line. This is a full floating line that I had a ten foot leader on. I had a size 4, traditional hair-wing steelhead fly attached to the tippet. While I didn't put any tips on it, I have no doubt these lines can handle them and have plenty of energy to turn everything over with authority. Even out to 90', roll casts performed as a single hand cast would snap tight to the reel.

If you go to http://www.royalwulff.com/ and check out the page on Ambush lines you can learn more about these very cool lines. My hope is that they will begin making them in sinking lines for my salmon fishing. That will fill a void that exists (in my opinion) since manufacturers have begun phasing out 30' shooting heads.

Cabela's Springfield Store - Free Seminars this weekend.

2011-08-19T15:46:00.000-07:00

This weekend (August 20th and 21st) I'll be giving free seminars on fly fishing. Both seminars begin at 3:00 p.m. On Saturday I'll be talking about Precision Techniques for Steelhead fly fishing. In it, I'll discuss why Steelhead fly fishing guru's like Frank Moore, Harry Lemire, Stacy LaMoreux, Mark Bachmann and others catch so darn many steelhead on a swung fly each year.

Then on Sunday I'm going to talk about techniques, fly patterns and equipment that we use to successfully catch fall salmon (mostly chinook, but we'll cover coho too) on flies each year.

Both programs are power-point shows and I'll have a bunch of gear from Cabela's that you can look at and purchase.

Stop by and say hi if you can.

Also, if you go to my website (http://www.deanfinnerty.com/) you'll find some pretty good rates for some trips that we offer. I've put together some trips at a significant reduction in rates to make them more affordable to more folks.

"Georgia Clay" Josh Kelly

2011-08-09T21:03:00.000-07:00

Country singer Josh Kelly with an Umpqua Smallmouth.

Country singer Josh Kelly came to Roseburg today for a concert tonight at the Douglas County Fair Grounds. It seems Josh is an avid fly fisherman and he wanted to fish before his show. So we introduced him to Umpqua Smallmouth and he had a blast. Turns out Josh is a helluva good guy and a great fly fisherman.

"Break a leg" Josh, have a great show and we'll see you next summer. Thanks!

Smallmouth Bass (part 3)

2011-08-07T21:17:00.000-07:00

So this will be my final post about smallmouth bass. At least as it relates to what I know about catching Umpqua Smallmouth Bass and the flies and techniques that work for my guests and I. I'm sure there will be future posts about the great days we'll have before the end of summer, but by the end of this post I think I will have said all there is for me to say about that, as Forest Gump would say.

By far and away, the most effective technique to get Umpqua smallies to grab your fly is the previously mentioned "on the drop" technique where we let a bead-head rubber leg nymph (i.e. girdle bug type) drop slowly through the water column until the bass swim up and eat the fly. For your part, simply let the fly fall without movement and set the hook when the bass inhales. Very simple, very effective and pretty darn fun since 95% of the hook-ups are done with you watching the whole thing unfold. Undisturbed water surface, clear flows and Polaroid glasses are all very helpful.

Everyone that fly fishes, loves to take their quarry at or near the surface whenever they can. Trout, Steelhead, Bass and a variety of salt water species are all sought while fishing on top. Its the most exciting way to get fish to grab your fly. Smallmouth on the Umpqua are no different...only they don't look up as often as I think they should. Which is to say that the number of days where we've experienced consistent surface action are fairly limited. I've not been able to really come up with an answer for this. I'm aware of other smallmouth fisheries where "top water" techniques dominate. Not so much on the Umpqua, sadly. However, when the stars align and the bass look up, the best pattern that I've found to get them to eat is a simple black and red Chernobyl ant. Red on the bottom and black on the top with long black rubber legs. That's the ticket. I've found them to me most effective when they're slapped hard on the water during the presentation. Let them sit perfectly still until all the rings disappear from the surface. Move it gently a few inches and let it set. Work the fly in this manner for a few feet or a couple of minutes per presentation. If you don't get a bass to pounce, repeat the process six to ten feet away from the last cast. Bass locate their prey in a number of ways. Sight and especially sound are the most frequently used senses. But I think sound is the most important. When you gently place the fly on the surface like you would on Silver Creek or the Metolius for trout

, you rarely get a bass to even look your way. When the fly smacks the water...HARD! bass will come from long distances (15 or even 20 feet away) to find out what that was that just crashed to the surface.

Some of my favorite smallmouth patterns. From top, clockwise; Shad fry streamer, black/red Chernobyl ant, bead head rubber-leg nymph (black) and bead-head rubber leg nymph (purple).

Every year around now (early to mid-August) the shad fry begin to school up and head down stream towards the Pacific. When that happens the bass go nuts! When this is happening we go to tiny little streamer patterns and swing them like we would for steelhead and then strip them back to the boat. The bass just smash'em! Getting a bass to grab a fly in current, that it thinks is an escaping shad fry on a tight line is a BLAST! Especially when its on EVERY CAST! After awhile it just gets kind of stupid, but that's ok...stupid suits me just fine.

Bass take a long time to grow big. A 20" fish is probably around 10 years old (maybe even older). Big bass pull hard, especially if you find them in current. Big bass are pork chop eatin' carnivors. They don't sip mayflies, they eat other bass, steelhead and salmon smolts, pike minnow, frogs, crawfish, baby ducks...you get the idea. One of the best opportunities to catch BIG smallmouth is during the spring spawn. The other thing about really large smallmouth, they almost always stay in the company of other really large smallmouth. We call them "wolf packs" because thats what they look like as they start to swarm around a small bass that you've hooked on a fly and haven't got in the boat yet. They will work together to try and get the little bass turned the right way so that they can consume the little guy. Bass have spiny rays on their back that probably makes them pretty hard to swallow tail first without causing significant damage to the larger predators digestive tract. As a result, big bass that want to eat a smaller bass always try to get the smaller fish into a position where it can be swallowed head first, never tail first.

So I guess that's it. There are other guides who have forgot more about bass than I'll probably ever know. Over the years I've had the opportunity to fish and work with the best of them. The knowledge that they've passed to me will make me forever grateful to them.

No doubt, my heart is forever with Mykiss, but when I have to fish for something other than steelhead, smallmouth are probably at the very top of my list. I hope this information will help you enjoy your days on the water chasing smallmouth too.

Smallmouth Bass-Part 2

2011-08-03T08:38:00.000-07:00

Smallmouth bass are greedy, opportunistic little pigs! This photo does a great job of making my point. You can clearly see that this bass had already gobbled up another anglers 5" soft-plastic worm, yet still had an appetite for a streamer pattern.

This photo also does a great job of making my point. I posted this pic recently when the bass were gobbling up out-migrating smolts this spring/summer.

Smallmouth bass feed about every three days depending on several factors. One of which is water temperature. When the water warms up into the 70's their metabolism really burns through the groceries and they need to feed. As water temps cool, so does their desire to feed.

Smallmouth Bass on the Umpqua are given a wide variety of food items to choose from throughout the year. I've shown you what they do to out-migrating smolts. Some years this feeding activity is more pronounced than others. This season and last season happened to be years with heavy smolt predation. Other years, the bass key more on the pike-minnow fry which helps our salmon and steelhead fry and smolts from higher populations of these lowly predators.

Every year around the middle of August one of the smallmouth's favorite food items hatch heavier than the Umpqua moss. Hundreds of thousands of Shad fry hatch and form up in massive schools to begin their migration to the ocean. This outward-migrating biomass cause the bass to binge like no other time during the year. Many, many days I've had so many regurgitated Shad fry in the bottom of my boat that you could hardly stand! The bass were so full of fry that every one of them that came in the boat would eject the shiny little fry and if I didn't constantly pluck them off the floor of the boat and toss them over board you'd nearly slip and break your neck!.

Crawfish are another favorite food of the smallmouth. Especially crawfish larva and the early stages of the crawdads life. Its is extremely rare to catch a smallmouth and not see them regurgitate pieces of crawdad while they're in the water fighting you, or once they're in hand and you look down their pie hole, you can often see a pair of crawdad antennae sticking out. Interestingly though, I've tried a multitude of crawfish patterns and soft plastics over the years. These flies and lures closely resemble the crawfish, and rarely are they productive. Where crawdad patterns shine is when your using a pattern that "generally" represents the size, color and "look" of the crawdad's young when their larva are present. Bass fight over getting to your fly first when that's happening.

Lamprey larva are another favorite food of the bass and when these are present in the river, usually late spring, I use a san juan worm in tan, grey, olive, black or dark brown. I tie them just like I would for trout, just a little longer. You'll know when the bass are on the Lamprey bite, because like the crawfish, you'll see the lamprey larva stuck in the throats of the bass when you catch them and bring them to hand.

Smallmouth bass have a pair of bone "pads" in the upper rear of their mouth, just ahead of their throat. If I remember correctly from my college days in fisheries, the bone is called a "hyoid" bone. This pad-like bone pulverizes food items the bass consumes before sending it down their throat. This process takes some time, so its very common to see the bass regurgitate what they've just consumed, or to look into the back of their mouths and plainly see what they've been eatin'. If you look closely at the below photo, you can make out the two pads in the back of this bass's mouth. If you stick a finger down there, you'll immediately feel a very hard, rough surface and the bass will begin to reflexively squeeze your finger tight against these pads.

In the first installment of this series, I mentioned girdle bugs and bead head rubber leg patterns. The fly in this photo and the one below are representative of what most of my flies look like. Day in, day out, all spring and summer long these types of patterns account for 80% of the bass my guests catch.

In the next installment I'm going to cover flies and techniques to catch bass on surface patterns and the wet fly swing, two of my personal favorite ways of whacking these little green slimy creatures!

Smallmouth Bass

2011-07-31T10:42:00.000-07:00

I'm a steelhead and salmon fly fishing freak. No other fish I'd rather fish for than salmon and steelhead on the fly. Trout are fun and I like catching them, no doubt. Stripers on the fly are also a blast, just not consistent enough to make it a true passion like my steelhead and salmon. Largemouth are also a blast at certain times and I LOVE watching an 8 pound large mouth explode on a deer hair popper on the surface. Umpqua shad on the fly are also awsome, but because of the past several springs being so cold and wet with high flows, my shad fishing has been a memory. But going out on the Umpqua and site fishing (and catching a hundred or more) smallmouth bass on flies is not as bad as having root canal either!

These little green slimy fish pull! and they pull hard! Their aggressive, will gladly take surface patterns (even better!) and most of the techniques and patterns I use allow my guys, gals and kids to watch the fish swim up and EAT the fly. So all in all, when summer time comes and I HAVE to go fish for smallmouth on the lower Umpqua...well its a dirty job, but someone has to do it : )

Fish from a boat if you can. Pontoon boat, drift boat or small powerboat all work. I prefer my little flat bottom sled. I have it set up just like a driftboat with oars, anchor system and everything else my driftboat has. I just don't need a shuttle to work out of this boat. I simply meet my folks in Elkton, put the boat in and run up river. Then I hop in the rowers seat, grab the sticks and start working my way back towards Elkton. My guests fish from a very stable platform that allows them to look down into the pools and along all the rock structure the Umpqua is known for and catch bass after bass after bass!

We use 8 1/2' 3-5 wgt. fly rods with full floating lines. 8-10' leaders tapered down to 6 lb. tippet works fine. We attach a sz. 8-10 black, brown, purple or olive girdle bug to the tippet and toss it overboard. Nothing fancy, just hit the water. Let the fly drift in a free fall fashion towards the bottom. If it hits the bottom, gently lift and let it fall again. It normally won't take more than two or three lifts and drops to hook-up. If the water is deeper than your leader length, let the fly drop as far as it can go until you loose sight of it, then simply lift and drop it again.

Most of the fish will swim up, inhale the fly and eject it just as fast so I always tie my bass flies with a spash of color so that it makes it easier for the folks to see the fly disapear in the bass's mouth, then they simply set the hook. Using this technique should produce a bass on nearly every cast.

In coming posts I'll cover a few other techniques that have been very effective for us on the Umpqua.

"Lumpy" on the sticks

2011-07-27T18:57:00.000-07:00

Over the past few months business has been booming. So much so, that I've hired my two oldest son's to work for me. Its worked out kinda nice. I get to spend some extra time with my boys, especially when we're running larger groups, and I don't have to give hard earned "secrets" to other guides. Just kiddin'...not really!

Colby (aka "Lumpy, Pokemon and lots of others!) running my Willie through some water on the upper Willamette earlier today.

Lunch break. (from L. to R. "Lumpy", me, Harry, Marilyn, John and Len)

We had another great day on the Willamette today. Over the past week I've spent the bulk of my time working on the Upper Willie. Fishing has been consistent with steelhead grabbing every day we've been out. My other son, Kyle has been working for me on the McKenzie and finding willing Native Cutts and a few Rainbow every day.

Smallmouth Bass, Trout and Summer Steelhead are on the agenda for the next few days. We'll be working the lower Umpqua for smallmouth, McKenzie for trout and the North Umpqua for summer steelhead. I'll sleep when I'm dead!

"Kalamity K8" and the "Crumpster"

2011-07-22T14:18:00.000-07:00

A couple of years ago I got a call from Kate Taylor (aka K-8). She explained that we had mutual friends in common with Harry Lemire and Stacy Lamaroux and that they (Harry and Stacy) had given her my number and recommended she get a hold of me to talk about swingin' flies for Umpqua winter steelhead.

Awhile later, in fact it may have even been the following winter, I was working with clients on the mainstem Umpqua when we recovered a 500 grain, compact skagit. Long story short, ends up this very fly line belonged to Kate's boyfriend, Justin Crump (aka the Crumpster) Through K8's web blog (Rogue Angles) you can follow their fishing and hunting adventures from Alaska to the East Cape of Baja and east to K8's family farm in the southeastern US where they go to hunt whitetails every fall. These two know how to live!

It was at K8 and Crumpsters urging that my girl and I head for the East Cape this past February and chased Roosters on the beach. Good call you two!

So anyway, through the web blog, I know that these two are impressive photographers and capture great images while their out on the water fishing for themselves or while guiding in Alaska.

Last week I got a call from Bill Black at Spirit River asking me if I could help supply and locate some great images for the new Spirit River Catalog. So I shoot an e-mail to K8 and Crumpster who are currently guiding in Alaska and ask them if they would like to send some pics along that I can send to Bill for the new calender.

The pic's in this post is what they sent along. Pretty cool huh! I told Kate that I was going to claim them as my own and that all these MONSTER rainbows came from trips we'd done on the McKenzie. Evil ain't I? Well before I could even do that I had to figure out how to explain the Alaska-like background...nope, not gonna work, no matter how much "guide" spin I put on it. So, Kate and Justin get the well deserved credit. Great Fish!, Great Folks and Great Pics!!!

A new toy

2011-07-06T17:16:00.000-07:00

For Fathers day my girl bought me a cool new toy. Its something I've wanted for quite awhile and now I finally have one. Its a tiny little magic box commonly known as a digital video recorder. It shoots cool digital images in high resolution and stores the images on one of those little postage stamp sized thingy's...I think you call 'em memory cards or somethin' like that. Anyway, this little magic box is even waterproof so I can shoot underwater! It takes high resolution digital pics as well. No fancy lens like my trusty 'ol Nikon digital SLR. But carryin' this little thing will definitely minimize the number of trips to my local chiropractor for adjustments to the vertebrae in my neck. Every couple of months it seems I bulge the discs in my neck carrying the Nikon around my neck as I jump from rock, to ledge, to rock on the North Umpqua everyday!

I know, I know, welcome to the 21st century! DORK! I'm pretty sure most avid outdoors folks have a couple of these little toys around, but I'm not to techno-savvy, savvy.

So anywho I've taken to cartin' this thing around everywhere I go. I'm S-L-O-W-L-Y learning how to shoot, capture and edit my little picture shows and today....TADA! I actually figured out how to upload a little clip to you-tube! Now I've embedded it (cool computer geek lingo too!) to my blog and now, dear readers, your treated to the world premier of my new production company's first little video clip.

Once the statue of limitations are up (I think in about three years) I'll show you a hilarious "redneck style" video of what my two oldest boys do to each other with some alleged illegal fireworks while up in the woods on the 4th of July! AWESOME what technology can do fer ya!

The video shows the viewers what a smallmouth bass nest full of smallmouth bass fry looks like. The gravel bar where this video was shot had approximately 65 nests on it. Most of the nests still had adults on the nests. I'm still a little "fuzzy" about how I feel about fishing for bass on their nests. Their not steelhead afterall and most everyone I talk to about it all say the same thing. NO BIG DEAL! It doesn't hurt the bass as long as they're released, but I still feel a little guilty about doing it. Maybe I'll get over it, maybe I'll just not do it anymore. Who knows. For now the bass spawning season is all but over so I won't have to dwell on it much until next spring.

Home Sweet Home

2011-06-30T17:55:00.000-07:00

Steamboat Inn

Today I finally began my summer steelhead season on my home river, the North Umpqua. It was so nice being back after a six week departure. I'll still be doing smallmouth bass trips on the mainstem Umpqua and summer steelhead and trout trips on the upper McKenzie and upper Willamette, but its so nice to be back on the North Umpqua. After the season ended late last October I didn't think summer would ever return. We had a great day but didn't raise any fish. The river is still high with snow melt and runoff, but thats good for the fish and the outlook for the rest of the summer is excellent.

The folks at Steamboat Inn (http://www.thesteamboatinn.com/) are interested in hearing from any of my guests who stay at the Inn. They are considering making a change to the way they do dinners at the inn. Every summer it seems just as the sun has left the canyon and the river falls completely into shade, its time to run the guests back to the inn for their 8:00 p.m. dinner. We always seem to miss that magic last hour of daylight when so many grabs occur. We've always kind of snivled about having to leave at such a great time to be on the water. So the great folks at the Inn are trying to figure out a way to serve dinner to the guests who want to eat earlier than 8:00 p.m. as well as be able to let us guides stay out later with the guests who want to swing flies and twitch skaters when the bats are flitin' around. So let them know your thoughts. Its a great opportunity to make the Inn an even more special place for everyone.

Big Smallmouth

2011-06-29T17:31:00.000-07:00

Ron Munshow from Pennsylvania came to the Big K today to catch smallmouth with me, and did he and his wife, Deborah catch smallmouth. The above pictured smallie is the largest one to date for my boat.

A short time later, Ron landed this beast too!

Deborah caught several nice fish as well and between the two of then they landed well over a hundred bass. Not a bad day on the water!

I didn't see any schools of Salmon or Steelhead smolts today trying to migrate out, but several of their bass did caugh up partially digested smolts. Perhaps the melay is slowing down a bit.

2011 model years are in!

2011-06-28T16:16:00.000-07:00

Stan Rocco from Salem with one of two today.

The past couple of days have seen consistent fishing for my clients on the McKenzie and upper Willamette. Work continues on the dam at Dexter making water flows fluctuate wildly which is not helping out, but if you hit it when the flows have been allowed to stabilize so the fish can settle in a bit, they will get grabby. The other thing I've noted so far this year is the above average sizes of fish we're finding. Instead of the typical "cookie cutter" six to eight pound fish (like the one above) several of our recent fish have been large, like 10, 12 pound large.

Tommorow I'm back on the Umpqua at the Big K for smallmouth, then....

my summer season on the North Umpqua starts Thursday and I can't wait! Stay tuned!

Any Questions?

2011-06-27T10:55:00.000-07:00

Umpqua Smallmouth with a salmon smolt stuck in its throat.

(note the "match the hatch" soft-plastic we use to catch these bass)

I love fishing for smallmouth bass. They're a blast! The eat flies readily. They pull hard, jump, make decent runs and you can catch 'um by the hundreds. They're a great way to introduce folks (especially young'uns) to fishin'. BUT.....

I've always wondered, as have many others, how hard they are on our native stocks of salmon and steelhead. Smallmouth bass are NOT native to our Oregon waters. They were brought here from eastern waters by others who loved fishing for them back home. As for how they got into the Umpqua, the story goes like this; There was a fella who owned a logging mill in the Roseburg area. The mill was on the banks of the Umpqua. As most mills did back then, this one had a large log pond on it. The owner, having previously resided in the Ozarks where smallmouth bass were abundant, loved the little olive-green fish. He had a batch of smallmouth bass fry shipped out west where he planted them in his log pond on the banks of the Umpqua river. Smallmouth bass like moving water. They like ledges and other "rock" type structure. They're VERY hardy and TOUGH! Back to the log pond. A big winter storm blew in, blew out the river until the rising river breached the dike containing the log pond and released the mill owner's smallmouth bass into the Umpqua.

For several years no one seen or heard from the bass. Then one summer day, some kids fishing downstream from the mill caught a mess of them and the rest is history. By the 1980's enough bass had populated the river to the point that word began to spread about the great smallmouth bass fishing in the mainstem Umpqua.

Several years ago I was running a winter steelhead trip in brutally cold water on the North Umpqua. The water temps that day were in the mid-30's. Air temps were in the teens. It was COLD! The water was low and clear and we were pulling plugs near the gravel bin below the Santos Ranch area of the river. I watched as a Heron stalked along the south bank below a small feeder stream. He paused for a moment and then plunged his spear-like beak into the icy water. A moment later he came up with a much larger sized fish than you usually see Heron come up with. A moment later the Heron released this fish on the gravel bar along the bank. The fish didn't hardly move when it landed on the gravel. I was curious about what kind of fish it was. When we finished the run, I rowed my driftboat back up to the gravel bar and got out of the boat. I was surprised to find a 12" long, nearly frozen smallmouth bass. I was not happy to find a smallmouth that far up in the North Umpqua. I'm still not sure if the bass had been in the North Umpqua all its life, or if it had washed down the feeder creek from some farm pond. I still don't no the answer. I just know at least one smallmouth bass was living in my beloved North Umpqua.

During a "typical" year the smallmouth bass are not generally very active during the out-migration of salmon and steelhead smolts. They begin to get active as the pike-minnow fry begin moving about which has worked out very nicely in helping keep their voracious, salmon-steelhead smolt eating numbers in check.

This year, and last for that matter have NOT been typical years. The high, cold flows we've had the past couple of springs have kept the smolts in the river longer and given the bass more of an opportunity to get after them. Over the past week or two, every day I've watched hundreds, if not thousands of salmon and steelhead smolts in fairly large schools getting attacked by marauding smallmouth. Nearly every smallmouth we catch is regurgitating several smolts as we bring them to the boat. Even bass that are guarding beds are puking up smolts. One gravel bar we were on the other day had dozens of morts (dead smolts) laying among the beds.

Smallmouth bass that was found guarding a bed two days ago.

Nuther one.

So with all that being said, what should be done, if anything about this? I sure don't have the answers. Like I said at the outset, I love fishing for smallmouth. I really love fishing for salmon and steelhead though and if the bass were removed (somehow?) I'd miss them for sure. I'd also hate to see the pikeminnow numbers come back to what they used to be. I've read a few studies and articles about bass predation on salmonids. One that comes to mind was a small study conducted on the Willamette near Corvallis during a bass tournament where stomach examinations of several hundred bass caught during the tournament were conducted. As I recall only one or two bass stomach contents contained evidence of salmonids being consumed. The author of that article used this "study" as a way to make the argument that bass, smallmouth in particular don't play a role in salmon and steelhead populations in the Northwest.

I beg to differ with that position. They clearly do and what, if anything that should be done about that I guess is up to debate. I'd love to get your thoughts and comments on it.

Meanwhile, back at the ranch...

2011-06-16T00:27:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was the beginning of my 2011 summer smallmouth bass season on the Big K Guest Ranch (http://www.big-k.com/) near Elkton, Oregon. I had a great day with first time clients, Ray, Mike (pictured above) and Maureen. This was the third day of fishing for this group and they had a great trip to the ranch. The 1st day they fished with Todd Hannah (http://www.theoregonangler.com/), day two they fished with Todd Harrington (http://www.fishinglivingwaters.com/) and they ended their trip with me.

Ray fly fished and was able to find bass each day, even in the higher than normal flows and cooler water temps.

Feeding the raptors (ospreys and eagles) is an everyday occurrence for the guests and guides on the mainstem Umpqua smallmouth bass trips.

Its great to be back on the Big K. Between the folks I get to work with, the wonderful guests who stay and fish with us and the incredible sights we enjoy everyday make it a very special place!

Imature bald eagle perched on a riverside douglas fir.

The smallmouth bass season will last through the end of September and 100 fish days per angler are very common on the ranch. If you've ever wanted to fish for smallmouth, you'd be hard pressed to find a better location for these great fish... ANYWHERE!

"multi-media extravaganza" aka Dean's dog and pony show

2011-06-10T00:24:00.000-07:00

The nice folks at Central Coast Fly Fishers Club in Waldport, Oregon asked me back to do a presentation on summer steelhead fly fishing. I was there this past winter speaking about smallmouth bass fly fishing on the Umpqua river. They're a great group of guys and gals who are doing great things for fly fishing in the central Oregon coastal area.

If your interested in having me give a presentation at your club, just give me a call or e-mail and we'll set it up. I do presentations on various fly fishing related topics and as long as you've got access to a screen and power-point projector, I have the lap-top and several power-point programs that you might find entertaining and useful to your club members.

Tommorow I'm back on the water chasing springers, then a day of trout on the Mac and then down to the Big K for the start of the summer season there. I just LOVE this time of year!

10,000 +

2011-06-09T02:38:00.000-07:00

As of June 6th over 10,000 summer steelhead have crossed the falls on the Willamette at Oregon City. Over the past several days while working trout trips on the McKenize I've been seeing more steelhead laying in the high water slots and tailouts than I ever remember seeing. The upper Willamette, while still running high, is slowly coming down and in the coming days and weeks its gonna go off! Better plan on being there for some of the hardest tuggin' fish of the season!

Speaking of "Tiller"

2011-06-06T01:06:00.000-07:00

My three youngest boys ready to work one of our favorite run's on the lower Deschutes in October, 2007.

For years I ran all my powerboat trips out of this boat. It was one of the fastest boats on the river. It was 20' Longton with a high output, Kodiak package LT-1 (corvette motor) Chevy 350. It held 60 gallons of fuel, and it used it all on long days. The thing was built so well it was just amazing. Great boat! It's currently in the hands of one of my best friends and he's put a new coat of paint on it and is running Salmon trips out of Winchester bay with it now.

When my business changed from conventional tackle Salmon, Steelhead and Sturgeon trips to fly trips, it really cut back the number of days that I could or would make use of this great boat. On the mainstem Umpqua when the water was high enough to launch this boat at many of the boat launches, the water would be too high to make fly fishing a possibility. It was handy for running trips on the upper Willamette for summer steelhead and it was great for chasing Spring Chinook on the lower Umpqua, but that was about it. It was time to make a change.

I needed a boat that was more fuel efficient when fuel prices began to soar. I needed a boat that could handle me and one or two clients at a time, not four or five. I needed a boat that I could push off the trailer if I couldn't get the boat in the water due to low flows. I also wanted a boat that I could use for a wider variety of trips. I needed a boat that would be at home on the bays, yet still get me through some pretty good white water, or sneak back into the tulle's on a bass trip. I wanted it equipped with a four-stroke motor with a pump for shallow water runnin'. I wanted it set up with a bow mounted electric trolling motor for stripers, smallmouth and largemouth bass trips, as well as some of my fall salmon fly fishing trips where gas motors are not allowed. It had to be big enough to be safe on bigger water, but small enough to run around on the McKenzie, upper Willamette and the really skinny water that I swing flies on for early winter fish on the lower Umpqua.

This is "that" boat.

It even came with a duck blind and camo-pedestal seats! The duck blind goes on and comes off in a matter of minutes so when I'm doing a duck hunting trip I just put the blind on. The next day if I'm doing a fishin' trip, I take the blind off and store it in my boat shed.

I added oar locks and use 9 1/2 cataract oars to side drift from it. Works slick! For McKenzie march brown trips where we're side drifting nymph combo rigs under bobbers I can cover the water so much more thoroughly than I ever could from my drift boat.

In the winter when I'm running side drifting trips for steelhead I cover the water in the same way.

It has a 50 hp Honda four stroke motor with a pump that they call the "35 jet". It has an 18 gallon fuel capacity that allows me to run all day long for three days before needing fuel. I've had as many as three clients with me in this boat and it will still get on plane and go where I need it to go. With just me and one client, I can even get there pretty darned fast!

The sides are low enough that its easy to get in and out of when we're using it as a "water taxi" to get from run to run when swingin' flies.

It's very stable, has plenty of storage and its become one of the funnest boats I've ever owned. I just love runnin' this little OD green boat around.

New hand on the tiller

2011-06-05T00:59:00.000-07:00

Kyle running my powerboat on the McKenzie yesterday.

My oldest son, Kyle has come aboard to join the family business. Kyle began fishing with me when he was three years old. Back then he joined me for shad, trout and summer-time bluegill trips mostly. He caught his first salmon on the upper willamette at age four. He loves to hunt, espeically birds, so he'll be helping out this fall in the Duck blinds and Goose fields.

Kyle in Alaska in Sept. 2008

When he was in Junior high, he helped me out with Fall Chinook trips on the lower Umpqua. Many of you still remember Kyle running the boat, baiting hooks and netting fish for you. Well now he's old enough to start running his own trips so this summer he'll be running driftboat trips for me on the upper Willamette for summer steelhead and trout trips on the McKenzie. I'm biased, but I think you'll enjoy your days on the water with my son.

New Spring Chinook "fly"

2011-05-27T23:07:00.000-07:00

The new and improved K-16 fly. If you open up your loop, keep yor back cast up and let 'um swing, springers just crush this pattern!

This one is so bright you gotta wear shades to even look at it!

Had a great day yesterday with return client Tim Walters and his son Josh. Tim came out with Frank Moore and I a few weeks back. Tim had so much fun chasing these springers that he wanted to return and introduce his son to this great fishery. Josh took to it like a duck to water. Josh limited out and we nearly got Tim his limit as well.

The spring chinook season will likely last until the end of June this year.

Brining bait for Salmon

2011-05-23T09:41:00.000-07:00

I've been asked to give folks my "secret" brining recipe for bait (herring, sardines and anchovies) that I use on some of my salmon trips. On my page, "gear we use", I recently posted my favorite conventional tackle rigging for spring chinook. This is how I prepare my bait for use with the Rogue Bait rigs discussed in that post.

"You can't make a silk purse out of sows ear" is the old saw that also applies to any bait. If you don't start off with the highest quality bait you can get your hands on, there really isn't much that you can do to improve it. When I run conventional tackle trips for fall chinook, I ALWAYS make the effort to obtain FRESH bait. Frozen works, but fresh is best. If the bait pens at Umpqua bait in the Winchester Bay boat basin are open and have fresh bait, go there before you go out and buy a couple dozen fresh sardines if they have them, otherwise fresh herring will do just fine. After you've purchased your bait, simply place it in the brine solution described below. Even after a short period of time this solution will begin to toughen up your bait, help hold the scales in place and cover any potential unnatural odors.

Normally during spring salmon season in my area, there isn't any place to get fresh bait so I have to use frozen. When it comes to frozen, vacuum packed is way better than bait that's just frozen and covered in sealed plastic. I look for baits that are uniform in color and have little or no frost anywhere on them. With anchovies you also want to look the baits over real closely for bellies that are split open. These baits won't hold up.

Once I've purchased my baits, I keep them frozen until I need them for a trip. I don't want them to thaw at all until their placed in the brine and then I want them to thaw as slowly as possible.

BRINE RECIPE:

1. Clean plastic container with a lid that closes securely. I use a pepperoni container that you see in convenience stores, but any plastic container with a lid will work.

2. Distilled Water (approx. 1/2 gallon) Don't short cut this and use tap water or well water if its treated of has chlorine.

3. Pickling Salt (1 1/2 cups) Rock salt will also work but its a little harder to get fully dissolved.

4. Mrs. Stewart's laundry bluing. (10 drops) This will put a great sheen on your bait.

5. Pure natural Anise Oil. I buy mine at a health food store. It's expensive (about $10.00 an ounce) but there is no alcohol or other additives. I add about 3-5 drops to the solution.

I combine approx. 1/2 gallon of distilled water with the salt, laundry bluing and Anise oil. Stir the solution until the salt is dissolved.

It will look like this.

I place the solution in the refrigerator to get it cold. You can also place it in the freezer to get it really cold as well. If it gets cold enough it will begin to take on a semi-oily viscous appearance.

The night before my trip, I place my frozen baits in the solution and return it to the fridge. In the morning I grab my baits and head out. Try to keep the baits and solution as cold as you can through out the day. I figure on using 3-6 baits per rod, per day. Obviously if you get into a good "bite" you'll burn through more bait.

I also recommend using latex gloves when reaching into the brine and handling the bait, not only to keep my funk off the baits, but also to protect my hands from the salt in the brine, it will really dry out your hands and cause them to split if your doing this all the time.

This brine will keep your baits tough and shiny and VERY attractive to salmon all day!

Great three days!

2011-05-19T10:05:00.000-07:00

I just finished three days with first time clients Mike (on left) and Russ from the Bay area. One of the things I love about guiding is meeting new folks, making friends and spending such great days on my favorite rivers. These past three days were those kinds of days. While the fishing was tough due to high, cold flows on the rivers we fished, the time spent with these two was a blast! Thanks Fella's

One of Mike's McKenzie redside's from this week.

And it was sportin' some new jewelry!

If your one of the volunteers who placed tag # 00721 on this really nice redside, shoot me an e-mail and I'll tell ya where we found it. I'm interested in learning where it was tagged and when.

Cancellation

2011-05-16T19:49:00.000-07:00

Cancellations are just a part of having a guide business. They happen. I currently have a last minute cancellation that will provide you with an opportunity to save a little cash. Anyone interested in May 19th, 20th, 21st or the 22nd and calls now to book one of these dates, I'll take $50.00 off my normal full day rate. This includes Umpqua Spring Chinook, Upper Willamette Summer Steelhead, Umpqua Shad and McKenzie Trout trips. I provide lunch and all your gear. Call now to book! (541) 731-9649.

The summer's are comin'!

2011-05-10T04:14:00.000-07:00

On May 5th, 201 summer steelhead cleared the falls at Oregon City bringing the count to just under 3,000 fish. Figure ten days for them to arrive in the upper river near Eugene and Springfield...and you'll know where I'll be! SUMMERS FINALLY HERE!!!

Royal Treatment

2011-05-09T01:22:00.000-07:00

I had a great time on Saturday giving a seminar on the upper Willamette "town run" summer steelhead fishery and showing folks how to tie my Skater pattern at Joel LaFollette's new fly shop, Royal Treatment Fly Fishing located in West Linn, Oregon. http://www.royaltreatmentflyfishing.com/ It's a great shop and Joel and his staff are extremely knowledgeable about fly fishing gear, equipment, tactics and other fly fishing topics both locally and from around the world. Stop in and check out the shop!

The seminar was "standing room" only and folks seemed very interested in this great fishery. And talking about the evolution of my skater and how much I enjoy bringing steelhead to the surface brought out a lot enthusiasm for everyone. Thanks to Joel for allowing me to come up to his shop and thanks to all who attended!

"Intermission"

2011-05-05T01:46:00.000-07:00

Took a short break yesterday from chasing Springers on the lower river and headed back up into the fly water. My winter steelhead season usually ends each year by "tax day'. This year's winter steelhead season just didn't seem like it was ever going to end with the long, wet cold winter we endured. The cold water seemed to hold the north umpqua winter fish down in the mainstem much longer than normal, as many fish didn't cross the damn until well into March this year. As a result, alot of fish showed up long after everyone had gone on to other "springtime" activities, like chasing Springers.

Heathers first winter steelhead taken May 2nd.

Fishing for winter steelhead on the North Umpqua (or any river for that matter) in April can put anglers into contact with spawning fish if they're not very careful to avoid areas where favorable spawning conditions exist. Deliberately fishing over spawning fish is a "fly fishing felony" and anyone who engages in such detestable, unethical and scurrilous an activity would also be suspected of kissing their own sister. With that said, you can avoid scandal by simply fishing slower, deeper runs that have bottoms devoid of gravel and preferably have good structure like ledges and large - Volkswagon sized boulders. If your not sure, don't fish a run. I also recommend looking over a run very closely, especially when water clarity allows you to peer down into the flows to make certain that there are no spawning fish, spawning gravel etc. around.

But winter steelheading in May? Never heard of such a thing. Winter steelheading in 77 degree weather, with a bright, summer-like sun...in Oregon? This winter? NO WAY! YES WAY!

Chad with his gorgeous North Umpqua winter hen taken May 4th.

So now I can officially call the 2010/11 winter steelhead season over. Put a fork in it. Ya, obviously there are still some nice fish around. Frank said Steve Rajaff lost a nice last week. We found these fish this week. But honestly, I'm tired of chucking monster flies. Tandem tubes, Intruders and the likes. I find myself this way every year. Longing for a full floating fly line, a nice long leader and a skater merrily chugging along until it disappears in a boil the size of washtub! That's what I long for...until next November when a deeply swung, greasy looking black or blue or purple colored Muppet will draw that monster grab from the next run of winter natives!

Spring Chinook fishing just keeps gettin' better!

2011-04-30T03:03:00.000-07:00

Check out my "gear we use" page for some notes on spring chinook equipment that I use for succesful days on the water.

Yesterday I spent a great day on the lower Umpqua with new friend, Tim Walters (seated on left) and old friend, Frank Moore. Tim works for ODFW and is fairly new to our part of the State. He wanted to learn a little about our Spring Chinook fishery so Frank made arrangements with me to take them out for a day.

We ended the day with five on and one landed. Frank is modeling his "advanced technique" of getting another grab by putting a sandwhich and a drink in his hands.

Fellow salmon fly fisherman, Rob Russell joined us for a bit while we were anchored in the "hog line".

SPRINGERS!

2011-04-15T02:45:00.000-07:00

I'm a fly fishermen. Plain and simple. And yes, I fly fish for springers. With good water conditions they're very do-able, especially my larger bugs on spey rods. But the number of "good water" days we get on the Umpqua during the months of April and May can usually be counted on one hand. That means if you want to catch the "King" of all salmon consistently, you better know how to fish conventional tackle for the other 90 plus days that we call "Springer Season".

This week begins the start of my spring chinook season. Water is high, murky and fairly cold. Great conditions for gear trips, but not so much for my fly clients. My season will start off with two of my favorite clients (pictured above) Johnny and Fran Delashaw. Last season we had a great day, hooking five and landing three.

During conventional tackle trips I fish bait-wrapped Kwik-Fish, Spinners from R&B Tackle and Rogue bait-rigs. All work very well and my choices are based on water temp, turbidity and where I anchor my powerboat.

Its the kind of fishery that I look so forward to every year. Days are getting longer and even once in awhile the sun shines. The tree's are all starting leaf-up with the promise of a new summer. Its VERY relaxing as you sit in an anchored boat with rods sitting in their holders, waiting patiently for the rod to double over and line to start screaming off your reel! Cups of coffee go flying, sandwiches are tossed aside as folks grab up their rods! AWSOME. Then the ensuing battle will force us to toss the anchor rope and float overboard so that we can go after the fish thats racing off downstream at an incredible pace before it spools us. INCREDIBLE. Its fun for the whole family. Terry and his family in the above photo camp on the river like many folks do and stay fishing for several days at a time. Some of my fondest memories of fishing with all of my boys was during the years when my wife was finishing her degree at the U of O and each evening that I wasn't working, the boys and I would head for the river, fish for springers, b-b-q hot dogs or burgers for dinner, work on their homework in the boat and fish till dark.

No doubt I love to fly fish, but these springers are soooooo much fun, fight soooooo hard and eat sooooo good that I don't complain one bit when water conditions force me to leave my fly gear at home and break out my level winds and salmon rods and enjoy some of the best fishing the Umpqua has to offer!

McDonald Pool in 1950

2011-04-13T21:57:00.000-07:00

This very cool old picture of the McDonald Pool in the fly water section of the North Umpqua River was e-mailed to me this evening from Frank Moore. The black and white photo was taken 60 years ago!

Frank explained that the murky colored water was caused from the construction that was going on then at Soda Springs Dam.

I've added the two arrows (one horizontal the other vertical). The horizontal arrow I placed to show the location of the current casting station most all of us use nowadays.

The vertical arrow I placed to point out what Frank used to do when he was guiding. If you look beneath the arrow you'll see a large pile of rocks. Each summer Frank would gather streamside rocks and create these piles. The rock piles would place the caster higher off the water, making it a little easier to make the longer casts needed to cover the water.

Each winter, high water would come along and wipe out Frank's little pyramids making this chore necessary at the beginning of each new summer season.

Also, note the douglas fir tree stump up the hill and behind the casting platform. A very energetic angler deemed the trees placement a hindrance to his backcast so the tree had to go! And to think I feel a little guilty every time I snip a branch or two to clear a casting lane! Times have changed.

Frank said that when this photo was taken, there obviously was no highway running along the river. To reach the pool (and many others then) you had to hike down the ridge from the old road (where Frank's home now sits) and walk a trail through the woods in the area where the Bogus Creek Camp ground is located today. Times have changed indeed!

How many adjectives will you be known by?

2011-04-12T00:19:00.000-07:00

The fish car and a welcome sign.

Believer, Husband, Father, grandfather, great grandfather, friend, kind, generous, legend, leader, influential, pioneer, fisherman, conservationist, role model, hero, extraordinary fly caster, teacher, singer, advocate, historian, business owner, fishing guide, biologist, builder, visionary.

Frank found one moments before this pic was taken.

Behind me as usual!

These are just a handful of adjectives used to describe my friend, Frank Moore. He came into my life at a time when I really needed to meet a man like him. To say that his friendship was "life changing" for me is a huge understatement. He is the reason I'm a fly fishing guide on the North Umpqua. He has taught me so much about life, love, friendship and family, not to mention less important things like casting a fly, steelhead behavior and hundreds of other things related to fly fishing.

Wadin' Deep and castin' far!

Frank and I became friends many years ago when my oldest son's were just little guys tying flies at my booth at the Roseburg Sportsman Show. I still marvel at how much he and his beloved wife Jeannie have come to mean to me and my family. Our love of the Moores is definitely not rare or unique. Its so amazing to me when I consider how many people in this world feel the same way about the Moores. During the summer season, I often work "split days" with clients where we fish for several hours in the early morning, "split" during the mid-part of the day when the sun is full on the water and then get back together late in the afternoon and fish until the bats are flying. During the mid-part of the day, I usually sleep at Frank and Jeannie's. Rare is the day when I arrive for my afternoon siesta when there isn't at least one other "guest" already at their log cabin home. I've met other friends of the Moore's from all points of the compass. I don't think there is any place on the globe where they haven't been, fished and made friends. I don't think I've ever read a book or magazine article about the North Umpqua where there isn't at least a mention of Frank, if not whole chapters and even books! Amazing folks these Moores!

Today I got to spend the day swinging flies with Frank. Of course he found fish behind me. He ALWAYS does! Someday, I'm going to figure out a way to fish behind him, but so far thats NEVER happened... NEVER! I found fish too! Its hard not to when your out with Frank. With all the time I spend guiding on the North throughout the year, I often (a bit arrogantly) start thinking there aren't too many more places for me to learn where fish hold at various river levels and conditions. Of all the places Frank took me to today, not one of them were places I had fished before during the winter run...NOT ONE! and as usual I learned a bunch about steelhead behavior, learned some new holding water and had a great time with my friend.

What a great day! Thanks Frank!

Drumsticks anyone?

2011-04-10T20:24:00.000-07:00

Yesterday the juvenile spring turkey season opened in our area. Its only a two day season before the main spring turkey season opener starts next weekend. So yesterday, Hunter and I went out and found some birds not far from home. We called to a decent tom and brought him into range and Hunter sealed the deal with a great shot.

Today, I went out with another one of my boys. Rhett loves to hunt and when he saw Hunter's bird from yesterday, thats all it took to get him motivated and get out there with me. We hunted a new area, not far from where we went yesterday. It didn't take long to get a pair of toms to answer my "owl" call. Once located, the rest was pretty easy. At least at first. For some reason the pair of toms hung up out of range and I couldn't get them to budge. Fearing they were just going to walk off and never be seen again, I decided to take Rhett on a quick little stalk to close the distance and get him into range. With the help of so wind to cover our noise and a bunch of christmas tree-sized douglas firs, we were able to get within 25 yards, plenty close enough for my Browning "gold" and Rhett's great shooting ability.

Two days, two birds and we're eatin' pretty good this week! I LOVE MY JOB!!!!

Tomorrow is my day to play, so Frank Moore and I are going to spend the day swinging flies. I can't wait!

Another First for "Bug"!

2011-04-09T20:02:00.000-07:00

A couple of weeks ago my youngest son, Hunter (aka "Bug") caught his first steelhead over 20 pounds. Today, he and I went out to try and harvest his first spring Turkey. Lucky little turd that he is, he not only got his first Turkey, he shot it at about 15 yards and made a clean kill on a very nice "Tom" that sported a seven inch beard and weighed over 20 pounds! It took about 20 minutes for us to get into position and call it in after it first answered my hen clucks. There were two toms that came in and Hunter chose this one. GREAT JOB SON!

A new adventure begins!

2011-04-08T01:05:00.000-07:00

South Coast Fly Caught Fall Chinook

Without a doubt, I live in the best State in the best Country in the World! Within minutes of my home I can find something to do in the outdoors 365 days a year...and I do! As a fishing and hunting guide I also get to spend my days introducing folks from literally around the world to the incredible outdoor experiences that can only be enjoyed in my part of the world.

This blog is intended to give readers an opportunity to come with me and my guests on our adventures afield. I'll try to describe our days on the water chasing steelhead with a fly or in a duck blind as birds work to our decoys. I'll try to give some of my tips to help make your day afield more productive or enjoyable. And because I love photography, I'll place an emphasis on presenting images... lots of them from the great outdoors.

My son Hunter's monster winter steelhead

I guide on a variety of Southern Oregon rivers, lakes and bays. You'll see rivers like the famed North Umpqua where I guide for steelhead with a fly. Coastal rivers and bays where we chase monster fall chinook on fly's. You'll see spring chinook caught on flies and conventional tackle from the mainstem Umpqua. During the summer months you get to come along on float trips for trout on the McKenzie river or smallmouth bass on the Umpqua.

A bag of Willamette Valley ducks and geese

In the fall and winter you'll get a chance to follow us into the duck marshes and goose fields in the Willamette Valley or a coastal bay where I'll try to capture in words and images what our day was like as birds worked our decoys or turned back towards us by our calls. Big game animal hunts will also be featured with Elk, Deer and Bear hunts with my boys and I as we harvest food for our table with bow, muzzle loader, rifle and shotgun.

For the past five or six years I've often used my website to try and relate these experiences, but I feel like this blog may be a better vehicle to allow others to enjoy my outdoors activities. I'll continue to update my website and I encourage readers of this blog to visit my site as well.

I look forward to this new adventure and I hope you enjoy your time spent here, but please make a point of getting out there yourself every chance you get! It seems too much time is spent in front of a computer screen these days instead of making your own "memories of a lifetime" that can only come from being out there and doing it yourself.