Recent content by 808steelheader

I've gotten a couple Siletz summers on #6 McMillan steelhead caddis, just hanging in whitewater pockets. Fun to see them come up and grab the fly on a short line! Todd

Have fun with that cane rod. Will look forward to your report on how it works for you. I bet you'd like a 8wt Ambush line on it for swinging for steel. Todd

Thanks for your comments guys. Brad, is that a cane rod that you have? Should be fun, I never knew cane rods could be so crisp and powerful until I got the opportunity to field test James Reid's prototype. Todd

Hey gang, haven't posted a report here in a while so here goes: Dry Line steelhead encounters have been tough to come by for me this season so I was pleasantly surprised to encounter the fine specimen pictured below on a coastal Oregon stream on 1/17/14. I started at the upper part of a run...

I fully agree with Bill McMillan. Intensive hatchery management has largely eliminated the early segment of the wild winter run in Puget sound and parts of Oregon and recovering the early winter runs is key to recovery of wild stocks. Bill also mentions that historically, the early return...

I think after the hot/bright conditions of summer, the cooling weather during fall gets the fish more active. Also, fishing pressure is down in the fall with folks occupied with hunting, going to Ducks games, etc. There is also insect activity, especially the October caddis that may draw these...

I don't blame you, most of us just want to catch a darn fish and as many of them as possible! I've just had the misfortune of getting stuck on witnessing the beauty of a steelhead attacking a fly on the surface - I love the experience so much, I am willing to wait for it to happen, sometimes a...

Thanks for the feedback folks! Getting steelhead on the surface can take a lot of patience and persistence, especially when fishing over hatchery steelhead. In my case, my home river is the Willamette in Springfield/Eugene. These fish don't really start coming to the surface to grab flies...

I've been working hard at getting my local hatchery summer runs to impersonate free rising wild steelhead - it's a mostly futile endeavor that I persist in anyway. I've endured a long dry spell of just getting casting practice and finding inner peace for the whole summer with no steelhead coming...

Thanks, we're all in this together. My dream would be for everyone to realize the value of our wild steelhead - each one is a precious gift. We have all been living in the age of hatcheries where the expectation to harvest fish is strong. I gotta admit, I love bonking a bright hatchery fish...

Hi guys: I'm not a frequent poster on here, but just wanted to say that it's great to hear of the collective care and concern for wild fish on this board. I've seen fish handled in the way the video shows and have been concerned for the mortality of wild fish as a result. I agree with points...

Thanks guys for clarifying on this, I wasn't real clear from reading the fishing regulations. I agree, I would have thought that throwing fish guts in the river would provide food for insects and such, just like when salmon die in the river. I wonder if ODFW is concerned about folks throwing...

Just checking... is it legal to clean your fish then throw the guts in the river?