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10/20/11
fly fishing oregon:
steelhead fall 2011.
suffice to say that i am not at all an expert on steelhead or fishing them with the two handed rod. if you are looking for some useful information on either subjects you are reading the wrong blog. i am a rote beginner who has somehow developed an insane passion for swinging flies for this particular anadromous fish. having to travel as far as these fish do to even get near one, progress on this journey has been slow. i have been fortunate enough to have good friends to help me along. still, as it is in bonefishing or any other kind of fishing, nothing can replace practice and time on the water. these two things are extremely difficult for a poor grom steelhead bum stuck on an island in the middle of the pacific. but, as i always say you just gotta play the hand you’re dealt. just as the steelies i seek, i go through life just pressing on and doing what i simply gotta do. here is how the fall 2011 trip went.
day one: arrive at pdx just after 11 p.m. a pretty uneventful flight. i am met by harold and his wife hayley. i take out what i need to fish from my luggage (in the cell phone parking lot), chuck the rest of my junk into hayley’s van and harold and i head for the river. the deschutes is a good two and a half hours away and we reach the campground at around three in the morning. we get what seems like two seconds of sleep then head off at daybreak to fish. we fish through a couple of runs in the morning and get nothing. harold fished a cf7134-4 13’ 4” 7wt. burkheimer, a hardy salmon 1 with a rio steelhead scandi 480gr. head, an airflo 15ft. floating polyleader, and a #6 traditional steelhead fly he calls the natural. i fished a sage 7119-4 tcx switch, a spey company switch reel, an airflo 480gr. skagit switch head, a 10ft. rio intermediate tip, and a bunny leech type fly tied on a wadington shank. the fall fish on the deschutes respond well to traditional flies fished near the surface. i just went with the larger sinking fly so that between harold and i, we could cover the runs better. besides, the skagit style is the one i use the most bombing for bones so i am more comfortable with it.
it is a little before one when we get back on the water and start down the run. cast, swing, dangle, step down, repeat. complex simplicity... the story of my life. cast, swing, kabam! a steelie hit my fly full speed. my spey co. reel screamed with delight. i fought the fish as harold came barreling down the river toward me. harold loves his steelhead. with the possibility of the fish i had on being a hatchery fish that can be kept, he didn’t want to take any chances of me losing it, or worse, letting it go as i have been known to do. turns out it was a hatchery fish so i recorded it on my tag and handed it to harold to do with as he wished. harold said he had also just hooked one but lost it. i let him continue down the run in front of me. a little ways down i pick harold’s pocket and hook another freight train. harold also gets one soon after that. pretty darn good for the middle of the day or any day for that matter and my first limit on the d. we had high hopes for the evening but didn’t get a single grab. like i always say you never know unless you go. as we sat around in camp that night i told harold, “it can’t get any better than this. i’m done, i’m going home”. i knew that it could be true so i was not surprised when it actually turned out like that.
day2: the next morning i fished my sage 7126-4 tcx (the deathstar). fished it with a rio skagit flight 550gr and 10ft. rio intermediate tip. on my first cast of the day i hooked a steelie that dogged me for a while then rolled herself off of my hook. later that morning i hooked another fish that went airborne several times before finally throwing the fly back at me. two hookups none to hand. harold caught one and we called it good. we went back to tigard to watch the ducks destroy cal 43-15.
day 3: rest day. hung out with hayley. coffee, fred meyers, trader joes, lunch with harold at thai elephant. sweet. tied up some flies and headed back to the river this time with benny the spey wonderboy.
day 4: i had planned to fish my sage 6119-4 tcx that i just had fixed after breaking it on my july trip. got down to the water and before i even got the head fully out i heard a cracking sound as the tip of my rod shattered yet again. i stood there for a few minutes in disbelief, the rod broke at the exact same place. in two trips this 6119-4 tcx, which i previously considered the best in the tcx switch line, has yet to make a single cast in a river. poor benny was waiting since july to try this rod and will now have to wait yet again until i return. i rigged up my sage 5119-4 tcx 5wt. switch with a 325gr. rio skagit short, a 10ft. rio intermediate tip, and a black rabbit leech with a chartruese butt. we went to the top of the run and took turns casting it for a while. ben liked it a lot so i let him fish it. i fished his sage 7136-4 z axis with a 450 gr. rio steelhead scandi, 15ft. airflo intermediate polyleader and a green butt silver hilton. we worked down the run with no grabs. later i went down another run and harold followed me while benny fished up top. harold got a fish (picking my pocket right back). benny got a couple of grabs but no hook ups.
day 5: we fished the morning hard with absolute zeroes. benny, being an overachieving (and now national honor society inductee) junior in high school had to study for a couple of tests so we bagged the afternoon and headed back.
day6 and 7: more r&r catching up with hayley. some dutch bros. coffee (quadruple shot), columbia outlet, thai elephant (of course) and assorted other errands. reorganized my gear and spun up a few more flies.
days 8 and 9: back to the river. for me, these two days were how i imagined steelheading to be when i signed up for it. hours of casting and swinging the water. not even a pull. alone. with only my thoughts to keep me company... just the way i like it. jeff ran into some fish (he was due) and harold got a couple of fatties. it just wasn’t my turn.
day 10: last day to relax and buy what must be bought to bring back home. mailed my rods back home before heading out to the river for one last blast. the trip was winding down.
day 11: woke up early and started fishing. fished my sage 7136-4 z axis with a 500gr. rio skagit flight, 5/5 rio light mow tip and (my favorite) pink and purple bunny leech. i fished down the run once, went back up to the top and fished it again. the casts were working well, the swings were swinging well. i was once again in the zone. everything was clicking. at the tailout, i fired a nice tight looped cackhanded upstream circle spey. as the fly swung in toward the bank, i decided that this was a good way to end my fall 2011 steelhead season. i reeled up my line, climbed up the bank and began the long journey home... until the next time.
downstream view...
upstream view. yeah sometimes it's pretty tight to the bank casting on the deschutes.
the sage 7136-4 z axis. a perfect deschutes rod.
harold casts, swings, and is rewarded.
swinging flies for steelhead is enough enjoyment for the soul to me... encountering one makes the whole experience over the top.
yesterday i found myself back on the coral reefs of hawaii hooking bones. i, like the steelhead, will spend most of my time in the pacific ocean. at least until, once again, it will be time for us both to make our long journeys to the river systems of the pacific northwest. good times.
clay.
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