My North Santiam fishing report(nothing big caught)

J
JeepsAreBuilt
Ok, I did a little fishing today ! I never fished the Santiam before.. and today was the first time. I fished 3 spots and caught 5 fish in all. I had fun and discovered some new places today.

First, I went to Buller-Miller county park which is South of Stayton. There I hiked approx .5 miles on a trail from the landing area to the river after a sharp bend. There I threw out my lures, and caught 4 fish in total ! They were rainbow trout but not very big. I threw them all back. I lost my only wedding ring lure there. I used lures with bait at the end - it seems like they were really biting on my worms ! I tired power bait eggs, as my worms kept getting so beat up.. but no bites on those.

I went to the store and picked up a couple more lures and headded East on hwy 22 to Santiam State park which is just north of Mehma. There I couldnt find any good spots to cast. I did spy a couple good holes, but one was occupied by swimmers and the other I needed a watercraft to reach. I turned around and went west to Mehma.

I hit John Neal county park in Lyons. There I found some nice water to fish just east of the boat dock at that park. I caught one little trout there.. lost a new wedding ring, one rooster tail lure. As the sun went down.. the fish were starting to jump ! I wasn't catching anything.

I had fun. I need to figure out a couple things. While wadding in this river.. my tera river sandles just slip on every step on the rocks in the water. I was bashing my toes into rocks.. and it sucked. Are there good wadding shoes out there that wont slip like I experienced ? Next.. I think I need a pontoon boat ! So I can float this river ! Finally.. I think I MUST learn to fly fish for good ! Loosing lures was no fun, and I figured I wont catch any fish if the fish are rising, and my lure is down below. I need to get my ass in gear and train myself to fly fish. I found this website on google. It lists some flies to use in this river. I think I'll stop by sportsman outlet in Salem and try to hunt down some of these flies.
 
A
autofisher
If you're really wanting to learn fly fishing and the flies on the Santiams, I would suggest getting ahold of Dave Carpenter at Riverwood Flies.
He's a good guy and he knows his stuff too. Just make sure you check around and get what you want.
 
L
lilsalmon
I agree with autofisher.....Dave is great. You should look him up....
 
B
bigsteel
Yes ,Dave carpenter fishes the north santiam very well,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,ill give you a hint GODDARD CADDIS
 
F
Finneus Polebender
These guys above know their stuff and a pontoon boat is pretty much the next best thing to a drift boat when floatin /fishin any river. changing the presentation from the middle towards the shore, to the shore heading to the middle will boost almost any lures effectiveness by about ten fold ! Way to get after them and you will find no shortage of the above experts here on OFF. Oh and by the way welcome to OFF.
 
J
JeepsAreBuilt
Thanks for the replies everyone..

I checked out the Riverwood Flies website, and wow do they have a lot of useful information ! This surely will help me get started. I think I'll have to order several flies including the Goddard Caddis(Thanks for the hint bigsteel). It sure can get overwhelming when trying to figure out which flies to get. There are quite a few of them.. and sizes.. and I'll need duplicates of the ones that work for me. I'm thinking I'll need to start with number 8 size, as I only have a 5wt rod.

I also have a float tube.. its a pontoon style, a Fish cat Deluxe I believe. I have never floated it any moving body of water. Would this tube be ok for the Santiam ? Say between Stayton and Buller-Miller ?(if anyones familiar with that section). I do know the water is quite fast at the Buller-Miller landing, I dont know how the heck I'd get off there ! But yeah.. I'd float just past the landing, and get to the shore where the water slows down and walk back.
 
C
capblack
make sure and do your research, there was a log jam between stayton and buell miller, but if you were floating in a tube, you could probably walk around? i know the float from greens bridge down to jefferson is a nice and easy one. Brian
 
J
JeepsAreBuilt
Thanks for the tip.. how do I find info about floating the river ? is there somewhere I can find current info on a river.. such as a log jam ?
 

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