RECORDED:80 °FISHING: Good I have been receiving a number of good Bass fishing reports at Davis Lake in the last couple of weeks, and Thu loves to eat Bass, so we packed the camper and headed to Davis Lake for the weekend.
Not too long ago, Davis Lake was one of our most beloved and very productive trophy trout lakes. Now, because of the illegal introduction of Large Mouth Bass, Davis has turned into a trophy Bass fishery. There are still some nice trout in the lake and great hatches to match throughout the season, but not like it used to be as far as numbers and size goes.
Thu and I arrived on Friday evening and set up camp at the Lava campground, and then jumped in our canoe for a quick fish before dark. We paddled out to the weed area in front of the campground and caught half dozen Bass casting poppers to the edge of the weeds. None of the Bass were bigger then 12 inches, but it was fun casting a popper to these aggressive fish again.
Saturday morning we started out early and paddled across to the Ranger and Moore creek side of the lake and started working our way north along the weed beds. We had a lot of action working the weed line on the north end with poppers and streamer patterns. We found that most of the fish we found along and in the weeds to be on the small side, but there were a lot of them. The most important thing was to cast your fly right on the edge of the weeds, If you’re fly lands more than a foot away from the weeds, the number of strikes you got reduced dramatically. If you land your fly inside that foot zone or better yet right on the weeds, you got a take almost every time. We made our way over to the north end of the lava flow and started fishing back along the lava flow towards camp. As soon as we got to where the water was deeper off the lava, we started to see bigger fish. Once again, I found that if I could place my cast so my fly landed right next to the lava, it would get hammered as soon as it hit the water. I caught my two biggest Bass of the day with a cast right to the rocks. Thu made one cast that was a little too long and it landed over the top of a large lava rock on the edge of the lake with a slanted face. With a soft pull, her popper came over the top of the rock and ever so slowly, rolled down the face of the rock and into the water. The moment the popper hit the water, a big Bass that was stationed at the base of the rock exploded on her fly and the fight was on. Although we did see a few anglers picking up some nice size bass just trolling poppers in open water along the lava flow, we seemed to have better luck fishing the structure along the edges.
Thu and I were both casting 8 wt rods with floating lines and used 10 – 15 lb leaders. We caught Bass using Zonkers with copper or silver bodies, three different Sculpin patterns, Rabbit leaches and poppers. All the streamer patterns were weighted with dumbbell eyes or cone heads to help get them down and to give them more action when retrieved.
If you haven’t had a Big-O-Bass crush your popper in a while, you might give Davis Lake a try while it’s still good.
RECORDED:60 °FISHING: Good We have been super busy at the shop lately, so it’s been over a week since I’ve wet a line and I was dying to get out and swing some water. I took Monday off, got up early, packed a cooler and headed out in the dark for the North Santiam. I arrived just after light and was delighted to find my choice for first run of the morning, to be unoccupied. The river was in great shape, running clear and flowing at just over 1200 cfs, and the day was warm with overcast skies for most of the day. I tied on a new steelhead pattern called the “Batman” in blue & black I wanted to test out, and stepped in to the top of the run. It was a beautiful morning with the waking birds and the tranquil waters of the North Santiam brushing past my legs, and I fell into that dream like rhythm of effortless casts followed by long, slow concentric swings on the perfectly paced water, as I moved through the run. About half way through the run, I was jarred out of my dream by a yank on the end of my line followed by the pulse of some heavy head shakes. Two seconds later, the fish was headed down stream in a hurry, ripping line from my reel at a rate that had me worried for a minute. She finally stopped and seemed to be resting as I was able to retrieve all the line she had taken and then some. After few minutes, I had her up even with me and it looked as if that one big run had did her in, so I lifted her head up and guided her over to me. The moment I thought about reaching down to tail her, she pitched her head down and kicked her tail up and bolted down stream leaving me wet and startled to see my running line again. She stopped about eighty feet down steam, thrashed around on the end of my line for a couple of seconds and then she was gone. I supposed she earned the early release, but that’s the 3rd fish in a row that I have hooked on the North Santiam and failed to bring to hand. Lucky for me the streak would be broken a couple of runs later. After lunch, I was fishing through a run with a black Hobo Spey, when my line came tight with another take. After a little give and take this nice 27” fish didn’t have the heart of the other fish, and allowed me to bring her to hand, ending my nasty little streak. I fished through a few other runs with only one other hook-up, and I’m pretty sure it was a trout. It felt a little heavy, but the head shakes felt too fast before it came unbuttoned. I kind of expected there to be more action with the numbers of fish in the Willamette system, but the reports from my customer that fish the North are the same. They are finding one or two fish in a day and sometimes no takes at all. That’s fishing I guess, maybe the fly bite will turn on. I’ll have to try again and let you know.
RECORDED:58 °FISHING: Good The North Santiam finally dropped below 3000cfs after weeks of unfishable high water, so I jumped at the opportunity to go over and swing for some of the fresh summer steelhead making their way up the river. I hadn’t been able to get away from a busy shop and fish for a couple of weeks, so I was itching to get out and swing some water. The number of steelhead over Willamette Falls are way above average for this time of year, giving me a heightened sense of anticipation of hooking up with a couple bright fish.Thu and I headed over the pass to the North Santiam which had dropped to 2530cfs and found a beautiful day waiting for us on the other side of the hill. As steelheaders, we normally like overcast days for our steelhead fishing, but with all the bad weather we’ve had lately, we were just happy to have a warm sunny day again.
We stepped into the water and started to work through the first run of the day. About 40 minutes later I got my first grab of the day. There was no solid hook-up so I shortened up my line a bit and worked back through the same water slower hoping to bring the fish back to my fly, but none would come. I try not to dwell on a fish that won’t come back to my fly. Some anglers will just stay there changing flies and pounding the water for hours with hopes of bringing a fish back again. I may make a few more casts through the same spot just to make sure and I might even change to a different fly and make a few more swings through the area again, but most of the time, if I know that there are fish in the river, I just move on in hopes of finding another fish with a twinkle in his eye for my fly. If the river is busy with anglers, it’s also poor river etiquette to stay in one place and not give other anglers an opportunity to fish the water. Thu and I worked through the rest of the run and the next run downstream without another pull.
We grabbed a bite to eat at the pizza place in Mill City then headed down stream to Fisherman’s Bend to fish a couple of runs in the campground. In the second run after lunch, I finally had the opportunity to hook my first fish. It was a nice solid take after a couple of soft plucks or grabs as it followed my fly. My line went tight and I could feel the head shake, so I set to the bank and felt the weight of the fish on my line. The fish bolted down stream in a three surges taking about 10 yards of line off my reel and then my line went slack. That uncontrollable and immediate change in emotion from riding high, to that low disappointed feeling when your line goes slack and you realize your fish just came unbuttoned, comes over you in a split second. Especially when up to the point of the LDR (long distance release), you think everything has gone by the book and you’ve got a solid hook-up. But, that’s one of the reasons why they call it fishing and not catching. You never know what’s going to happen.
We fished the rest of the day without touching another fish, but enjoyed having such a beautiful day to spend on the water. As always, we are looking forward to the next time we can get away and spend the day on the beautiful North Santiam River.
Jay ran over for a day after we did and had a good morning of fishing, hooking two steelhead and landing one nice big wild fish.
RECORDED:68 °FISHING: Good
South Junction, Deschutes River
After spending a quite weekend trying to avoid central Oregon holidays crowds, Jay and I headed to South Junction on Memorial day afternoon to get a little fishing in.The overflowing dumpsters hinted at large weekend crowds at the campground, but we found the water all but deserted.Jay jumped over the edge, and immediately hooked two fish pulling streamers.That guy has that method dialed.I try to learn something about streamer fishing every time we go out.Sculpzilla’s in olive and black worked well for him.After he fished out that hole, we made our way to the lower island.He switched over to a nymphing rig, while I wanted to throw stone dries.There weren’t any big bugs on the water, but the bushes were loaded with plenty of Golden’s, and just a few Salmon’s.I tied on a Norm Woods, and was able to bring a dozen fish to the surface.Caddis, Blue Wing’s, and PMD’s were out in noticeable number as well.An occasional Green Drake and a large brown Mayfly(looked like a March Brown) were also seen.Jay took several large fish off the bottom with a King Prince/Hotwire Caddis Pupa combo.It was a very enjoyable few hours of fishing on a spectacular river.Hopefully, Mother Nature will see fit to send some nice weather our way to stay.I don’t know about you, but I’m tired of the rain!
With the winter season dragging on and only showing me the occasional glimpse of spring like weather, Thu & I were really looking forward to a week in the warm & sunny Bahamas. I needed to check out Long Island as a future customer Bonefish destination, a location that has been highly recommended to me by those in the know.Long Island is located in the southern part of the Bahamas Islands chain and is about 65 miles long and just a couple miles wide. With the exception of the annual Long Island Sailing Regatta which takes place around the first week of June, the island has a very relaxed and secluded feel to it. Long Island is a great place to get away and forget about the hustle & bustle and stresses of every day life. We stayed with the Knowles family who owns the Winter Haven Inn located in Clarence Town . They provide nice clean accommodations, a great staff and a large restaurant/bar that serves some of the best food and drinks on the island. The weather was great with temperatures in the 80’s with mostly sunny skies. We had a little bit of cloud cover on a few days, which help keep the days cooler, but made it harder to spot Bonefish on the flats. The stunningly beautiful turquoise waters that surround the island ran in the high 70’s which surprises you every time you step into them, normally expecting ocean water to be cold.
Long Island has a main road that runs the length of the island and has good number of access points for anglers who have time for exploration and want to do a little fishing on their own. Good hard packed sand and mud flats can be found where you can fish all day without seeing another angler. Exploring and fishing on your own can be fun, but if you want to improve your chances to catch fish, I would recommend hiring a guide. There are a number of professional guides available that can take you to an endless number of huge, oceanside flats that aren’t accessible by car, where you can see more Bonefish in a day than you will see all week fishing on your own.
Thu and I spent the first couple of days driving around the southern end of the island checking out spots to fish, talking with very friendly locals, and figuring out the tides. The tides are the most important thing to figure out anywhere you bonefish, as they determine where and when fish move on and off the flats to feed. After a few days of exploring, dialing in the tides, and working with Thu on casting an 8wt in the constant Bahamas wind, our success rate improved and we started catching fish. We caught the spectrum of different species normally found on the flats, Bonefish, Snappers, Groupers, Jacks, Ladyfish, Tarpon, and some really big Barracuda, all took our flies and tested our reels.
You have to be prepared for every opportunity when fishing the flats, because you never really know what you might run into while chasing Bonefish. One day while wading down to a deeper end of a flat where we were having success catching Bonefish, when we were suddenly surrounded by rolling Tarpon. I quickly switched over to a Tarpon leader and fly, which I had in my pack, and hooked three of them before they moved on.Unfortunately, I failed to land any of them, with two of them coming unbuttoned and one breaking me off, but it sure was exciting while it lasted. Another trick I use to be prepared for big Barracuda that you might happen across while on the flats, is to have a Clouser Minnow or baitfish imitation with a short piece of wire tied to it with a Duncan loop on the other end in my pack or fly box ready to go. Then if you come across a big Cuda on the flats, you can quickly attach this set up to the bend of the hook on your Bonefish fly using the Duncan slip loop and you’re ready to cast in a matter of seconds. This little trick came in handy a number of times during our trip, which you can see by viewing the pictures on our web site.
We fished 7, 8, & 9 wt. fast action rods matched with floating saltwater bonefish lines. The choice of Bonefish fly was not near as important as the presentation of the fly.
We’ve only been back a couple of days and we are already talking about our next trip to the warm & beautiful fisherman’s paradise, called the Bahamas.
As I sit down to write this report, the clouds are spitting snow at us.Didn’t Mother Nature just tease us with a beautiful weekend?I, for one, am ready for sunny, warm weather!
My good friend, Jeff Coughenour of High Desert Drifter’s, his friend Tyler, and I, made an early season float on the lower Deschutes for a shake down cruise before guide season starts, and an opportunity to actually fish before the masses arrive.The water adjacent to the Warm Springs reservation is closed until this weekend (April 24), so we made a big push of 20 miles the first day.White Horse rapids never fails to excite, and this was no exception.We stopped to scout, but even then, came closer to one of it’s infamous rocks than we cared too.Thank the fish god’s for high flows.It doesn’t matter how experienced an oarsman, or how many times you’ve run White Horse, it demands respect!
Fishing was good, but not as productive as we expected.The water flows were 5250 cfs when we pushed off, and bumped up about 200 cfs each of the next two days.The water temperature hovered around the 50 degree mark, which was very pleasant.There were fish in the usual spots, riffles, and back eddies you expect to find them, but not in the numbers we were hoping.Stonefly nymphs with small droppers were the ticket.Anato-may’s, rock worm’s, caddis pupa, prince nymphs, pheasant tail’s, and hare’s ears in size 16 to 20 all produced.There were caddis, various mayflies, and midges flying, but no sign of stonefly adults, at all.
It was a beautiful weekend with blue skies that let us sleep under the stars.We saw big horn sheep, and I got buzzed by a rattle snake!It may be a bad year for snakes due to our mild winter.Always be aware of where you step.
I hope you’re able to get out and wet a line.Maybe Mom Nature will smile on us, and give us some good weather for the season opener.
RECORDED:45 °FISHING: Good Had the opportunity to get down to the beautiful North Umpqua River a couple of times in the last two weeks to fish for some of the big winter steelhead that make their return up the river each year. I love the North Umpqua this time of year with all the water cascading down from the higher elevations forming tiny waterfalls out of every crack and crevice making the Umpqua River valley one of the greenest places on earth.
With the exception of some off colored water last weekend due to heavy rain on Thursday and Friday, we had some of the best winter water and weather conditions I have had in many years. The river has been flowing right around 1000cfs for the past couple of weeks, clear and with a temperature of around 40 degrees. The weather for the most part was exceptional with clear or partly cloudy skies, warm temperatures and not a lot of wind. Perfect weather for spending long days swinging flies over beautiful waters in search of the often hard to find winter steelhead.
The numbers of winter steelhead are much smaller than the number of summer steelhead that return to the North Umpqua each year, but the lack of numbers of winter fish and challenge of finding one are easily compensated by size of the winter fish. Big shouldered, heavy bodied wild steelhead with wide tails that gives new meaning to a bend in your rod.
The steelhead gods were smiling on us as we were able to land a few fish on each of our trips. Thu finally landed her first North Umpqua fish, a beautiful chrome bright winter fish that she was very happy to bring to hand after hooking six other fish in the last two seasons on the North Umpqua and losing all of them during the fight or landing. A couple of days later, Thu was swinging through a run when her line went tight as a fish grabbed her fly and bent her rod with a heavy looking head shake. A second later the fish was screaming downstream ripping line off Thu’s reel and almost pulling her off her rocky perch and into the river. The fish finally stopped and Thu started working him back upstream, but she was having a tough go of it with big head shakes and short burst runs sometimes losing what line she had gained in seconds. The back and forth battle continued until the fish came close to the surface and I immediately could see the problem. THIS WAS A BIG FISH! Instructions on how to fight the fish started flowing from my mouth like water from a broken water pipe. Thank god, Thu completely ignored me and did a great job fighting this gorges big buck and we were able to land him for a quick photo and release.
This is the time of year when these beautiful fish are spawning, so be aware and on the lookout for spawning beds, reds and fish holding or working on them. Watch for them and avoid fishing or wading over these areas.
RECORDED:53 °FISHING: Good I took advantage of the beautiful day we had on Sunday and made a quick trip down the Fall River. By the time we had some breakfast and made it to the river, the day was warming up nicely; hopefully warm enough to provide some good dry fly action. It wasn’t very long before we started to see bugs flying around and trout noses breaking the surface of the water. There were lots BWO’s on the water as well as a good number of very small black Stoneflies fluttering around. Most of the fish were taking the Blue Wings, which were bigger than normal and about #14 in size. I did get a couple of fish to go after a black caddis that I trimmed down to look like the Stonefly, but they seemed more interested in the stone that was fluttering on the water than to one that was dead drifted or still on the water. When the day cooled off and the fish stopped rising, I switch to a nymph setup with a mayfly nymph followed by a Black Zebra midge and started working spotted fish. I had some success nymphing, with most of the takes coming on the dropper midge pattern. Because of the Fall Rivers slow clear water, the fish normally get a long time to look at your offerings and the fact that you sometimes have to fish really small flies, you sometimes have to go down to 7X tippet to fool them. We drove and fished up and down the river in different spots and spotted fish everywhere we stopped. At a spot just down stream from the headwaters of the Fall River I landed a small, but the most beautiful Brook trout I think I have ever caught before that was holding right in front of a log jam. . The sun was getting low, the day was getting cooler and without lunch, my stomach was telling me it was time to call it a day.
With most of my days spent chasing steelhead on our Northwest Rivers lately, it was refreshing to have a bluebird day with bugs coming off and fish rising to them in crystal clear waters in a beautiful area to reacquaint myself with challenges of trout fishing again.
RECORDED:48 °FISHING: Good Got a chance to get over and fish the North Santiam River a couple days ago.I made the drive over the hill and arrived at the first spot I wanted to fish just as the sun was coming up. I love the first run in the morning at first light; it always makes the bleary-eyed o-dark thirty drives to where ever you are going worth while.
The water was clear and running at about 1250cfs from the dam and 2600cfs below Mehama. The weather was warm with heavy overcast that soon turned to rain which continued most of the day.I didn’t have great expectations, but there have been a few reports of a fish or two being caught. I fished through my first run without a pull and hiked upstream to another run I like to fish and found my first fish of the day. About twenty minutes into the second run a really nice wild fish that went over 10 pounds grabbed my fly with a hard strike and the race was on. It took me a little while with it’s hard runs mixed in with a couple of jumps, but I was finally able to subdue this thick shouldered fish and bring him to hand. I fished through the rest of the afternoon and was delighted to hook two more fish, but failed to land either one with both coming unbuttoned during the fight for a LDR (long distance release).
I’m glad the days are getting longer because it kills me to have to call it a day when the fishing is good and it gets dark so early. The day came to an end and I headed back over the pass, which is a lot more enjoyable when you have a couple of fish to think about on the way home.
RECORDED:51 °FISHING: Great
Grande Ronde and Snake Rivers
I got the opportunity at the beginning of the month to fish the Snake and Grande Ronde rivers, with Jay and a group of his Idaho buddies, on an annual trip they have been doing for several years.It is a good 8 hour drive from central Oregon to the southeast corner of Washington, but a good book on cd makes the drive very easy.
I had broken my Z-Axis 6126 at the end of December, and had it off to be repaired, but it showed up the day before we left.A good omen!While driving through the last of civilization in Washington, we witnessed the mother of all mullets! We should have stopped to take a picture, but just being in it’s presence was good enough.Another good omen!As we were driving up the Snake canyon, we saw a Bald Eagle flying the river.A triple warning of signs of great things to come.
We rolled into camp early afternoon on Friday, and after a thirst quenching beer, and a “Hey, how you been?” shot or two, we were able to wet a line.Casting a rod into a river the size of the Snake is a bit intimidating, but it felt good to be swinging.At last light, Jay landed a spunky 24”er.It was only the beginning!We fished hard for the next few days with incredible success.We both swung and nymphed, but both techniques were equally effective.For the record, Jay nymphed a heck of a lot more than I did.Our trailing hook, marabou fly was the time proven success it always has been.Rubble legs and large Prince nymphs worked, but egg patterns were the wet fly of choice.Spey rods in 6 and 7 wts, and single handers in 7 and 8 wts were the rods of choice.A versitip line with added T-8 and T-14 tips rounded out our arsenals.
What an incredibly beautiful area!Elk, mule deer, bighorn sheep, bald and golden eagles, and raptors were just a few of the animals we saw that made the canyon a very special place.While this was my first trip to this country, it will certainly not be my last.Thanks to Josh, Pat, Mike, Nick, Seth, Brian, and especially, Jay for a weekend that won’t be forgotten any time soon!
