S
smokie
Totally agreed on the locations. I also like a few areas above blue river, usually it's total solitude, no one else out.Yup the upper river is good in october thats when I usually catch the majority of my steelhead but they are also still down below the dam caught one last week actually. Went today to just check things out and let my son feed the fish and there were about 15 or so in the trap and didn't see any tags they should be gettin recycled here prety soon. right up above the white bridge is an awsome spot better than below the hatchery I think Esspecially this time of year.
yes, they go all the way up to below the dam at trailbridge, that is the "natural" spawning beds where the "native" fish spawn. The upper river is loaded. No one previously wasted their time fishing above leaburg because there were no "hatchery" fish. I think the hatchery recycles fish downriver a couple of miles from the hatchery, but I'm not certain on that. All the fish with amputated fins, in theory, go up the creek back into the hatchery. I don't think they're going to be clipping fins on mckenzie fish anymore however, heard the ODFW guy mention it, as steelhead are not a native species for the river to begin with, all of them are of hatchery stock that have been spawning successfully on their own, and as a result, they have somewhat taken over the system, hence the change in the regs.
Some may not believe me but I seen a rotten steelhead in Trail Bridge Res one year. It had was sores all over it. I couldn't believe it myself! :shock:
Where is the white bridge?
lots of old salmon rolling around and a few guys trying to catch them up by the hatchery intakeQUOTE]
That's ballsy. I'd be on the phone immediately over that! That crap makes me so mad. The McKenzie is going down the drain, it's turning into the willamette (Think...Dexter)........ It's really very sad.