WILLAMETTE IS ON!

Christian Rhode with a Willamette summer run!
We are on track for a great early season Willamette fishery this year. We are seeing the best fish counts over the falls in years! We already have 3 times as many fish over the falls than we have had thru any other April since 2004. Even though there have already been some reports of good fishing, I plan to take another couple weeks off to get caught up and wind down after the long grind of my winter season. As mid-May rolls around, I hope to be back on the water full time. I still have slots available for my Willamette fishery. if your itchin' to get an early season crack on some chrome summers, the Willy is your fix. As we get into the prime time (mid-May thru July), there is very little element of "if". It is generally a matter of "how many"! It is a user friendly fishery that is a perfect opportunity for anglers to get a lesson or touch up on their spey casting.

BACK FROM FILMING!

GOOD STUFF!
I just got back from filming parts of the Skagit Master DVD I am doing with Jeff Mishler. The last two weeks we spent filming the BC part of the production. We had a great trip and captured some exciting action. We were fortunate enough to accomplish everything we had hoped for - a couple huge fish, great fight action, and some great adventure visiting a couple small remote coastal rivers. We were successful in tying together much of the winter technique footage we had from the North Umpqua as well as covering some low water scenario technique. We both came home finding ourselves more excited and optimistic about our project. It should be great!!! At this point, we have no doubt we are going to be able to create a very educational DVD that has enough action to keep people glued to the screen.

HAPPY EASTER!!!

"Fly Girl" Beth with just 4 of the many she landed during her latest trip!

I just finished a great trip with lead "Fly Girl" Beth Brunswick. The recent rain forced us onto some different water yesterday. Our move really paid off!!!! She ended the trip going 5 for 5 on her last day with one fish over #16. Each day we are getting a mixed bag. There are a number of colored fish that have been up river for a while, as well as, some brighter fish that are moving up out of where they have been living in the lower river. We are even seeing the odd shiny fish fresh out of the salt. I expect to see some good fishing for at least another week or two. Seeing how we now have most of our fish in the river, April can be the best month to see some big number days. It is also a great time to experience our rivers without the hustle and bustle of the mid-season crowds. Many anglers have had their fill of the winter grind and have moved onto golf and other spring activities.

I am off today to celebrate Easter with my family. Soon, I am heading north to BC to continue filming my DVD project with Jeff Mishler. We are hoping the weather cooperates and we can capture some great spring steelhead footage. We got big plans to visit some of the small remote rivers off the BC coast. We should be able to showcase some of the rivers I used to fish when I lived up North. These are rivers that few anglers have heard of and even fewer have fished. It should be fun!

WIZ!!!!

I Just finished my week's fishing with Wiz and Ranae on the upper NU. We have finally had our first big winter rain just as March comes to an end. Along with our high water came a good batch of fish out of the lower river. We are seeing a mixed bag of colored fish that had been living in the Main and new fish just out of tied water. Wiz saw one of his best days ever with me on a day when he went 4 for 8. His tally included a big buck that was 13-14 lbs and a huge hen that tipped the scale at 16-17lbs. They were both amazing fish that put up epic battles. His hen finally came to hand after 20 minutes of chasing her thru two different pools. Congrats Wiz!!! We'll see you this summer. Remember - you're only welcome back if you bring Ranae with you!

IT'S BEEN A WHILE!

4 of Ranae's beauties!

It has been a while since I have gotten around to a post. Things have been busy and our fishing remains good. I spent the day with Robert "Wiz" Wissmar and Ranae Holland. Ranae tore 'em up! She went 5 for 5 today on the Upper North Umpqua - not bad for her first trip steelheading! She's a natural. We had rain the last 2 days and it finally pumped our river up a bit. This seemed to shuffle the cards and bring some new fish from the lower river. The river was dropping all day and should fish equally well again tomorrow. It felt good to be back on the Upper North - I am sure we will be back up there again in the morning.

SHIZ AND JUDY!!!

Shiz and Judy with some winter chrome!

Despite the fact that our water level continues to fall, the fish have been snapping well. I just finished off a 3 day trip with Shiz and Judy Nakawatase where they went 11 for 16. Today we got 7! We ran into a big pod of fish at the second run of the day and went 4 for 4 in just over an hour of fishing. It is that time of year when the ladies show up. I haven't seen a buck in the last 20 fish I've beached. We will still see a few fresh males show up but most have already made their way thru the system. I have been begging for rain and now that we have some in the forecast, I don't want it. I am on some great fish right now and I don't want the conditions to change. If in fact we do get some weather, it should put us back on our coastal streams. A change of venue wouldn't be bad either!

GREAT DAY!

Dave with 2 fat hens from the NU!

Our fishing has been a bit off and on lately. We are getting fish everyday but we are not consistently seeing the numbers my clients have come accustomed to. Today Dave Souther had 7 with me on the NU. He got a couple real beauties!

We had a dose of rain at the end of last week but the water on the NU just barely wiggled. The fish continue to come but we could use some high flows to get fish spread thru the system and put some grit back in the water. Unfortunately, no big rain in the forecast.

FINALLY SOME RAIN!

Fishy morning!

Perfect!

Josh with one of many!

Translucent fins!

A few pics from a recent trip with Leland Fly fishing Outfitter's Josh Frazier

Our rivers finally got their rain and I finally got my much needed sleep-in! I had the day off and loved every minute of it. Our rivers spiked hard all day and have left little hope I will be back on the water tomorrow. It will be Sunday before things settle down and I get back to work. On a high note, our fishing should be darn good as the rivers fall back into shape. There should have been a couple weeks worth of fish that pushed in on this high water. I am expecting some of the best fishing of the year as our next week begins. Tune in for the pics of some pretty fish.

The day off has given me the time to post some pics from a recent trip with Josh Frazier (the owner of San Fran's Leland Fly Fishing Outfitters) and Thys Heynecker. We had some great fishing and Josh was able to capture the mood on film.

THE LATEST CHROME!

The last week or so our fishing has really fallen off. We are still usually seeing 2-4 fish a day but we are working hard for each one of them. We have had some glimpses of great fishing but it has been far from consistent. Thankfully, many of the fish we have been seeing have been exceptional. I have included shots of a couple fish Super Dave and Mitch ended Sunday's trip on. I also attached a photo of one of Bill's fish from today's trip. The rain is pounding down as I write. Hopefully, it will raise our rivers and shuffle the cards. We need to get our fish moving again.

OINK!!!!

DAVE FREDERICKS WITH HIS 37"X19"

Once again, the fishing started off fast and furious but was short lived. The river looked perfect this morning but unfortunately, it was not full of fish. The 3rd and last fish we landed this morning was around 10:00. Fortunately, we ended our catching on Dave's 18 pounder. Our big fish are in! It was the third exceptional fish I have seen caught in the last several days. It was raining when I left so who knows where we will be tomorrow.


I also wanted to add a pic of a beautiful fish George Maybee caught on his first cast his second day!

HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY!

Look at what Lance Watkins got his wife for Valentine's day!

Lance and I thought we would be the only guys foolish enough to leave our wives and go fishing on Valentine's Day. We were sure we would have the river to ourselves. Unfortunately, that wasn't the case. Ultimately, I am not sure that the pressure really mattered. It rained on us all day and the river was rising from the mornings start. The fishing started off with a bang. We had 3 before we knew it and then things came to a screeching halt once the river began rising hard. I am expecting great fishing tomorrow as the river drops.

SLOWED A BIT

George Maybee with 3 from today!

Things have slowed down a bit from the double digit fishing we were seeing over the last couple weeks. We are still seeing some fish but it is not what we are used to seeing. We are supposed to see some weather over the next couple days and that should shake things up a bit. We need some water to get our fish back on the move. I got into a good bite late this afternoon with George Maybee and I have included a few of the pics from that session. Back with George again tomorrow.

GREAT DAY!

Our fishing remains good! We were back into double digits again today after a couple days of working for 3 or 4. Long time friends/clients Dan and Ev had 14 today - including one double. The river just dropped into perfect shape today after the last rain and it was stuffed full of brand new fish. Just about every fish we saw today was right out of the salt.

Our fishing has just been damn good this year! I have seen more double digits days already this year than I saw all last year including 3 in a row last week. We have seen some exceptional fish as well. I have had several fish in the upper to mid teens and one fish pushing 20 pounds. I hope to post a whole slug of pictures from the last week tomorrow.

TRY THIS ONE ON FOR SIZE!

Couple shots of Scott's slab of chrome!

Can't take a picture of a mirror!

Scott with another beautiful chrome buck!

We have just been hit with a big blast of weather that will slow our fishing down for the next day or so. I hated to see the rain because I was seeing some of the best fishing I have seen all month last week. My last two groups will definitely be high lights of my winter. I just finished up a couple days with Josh Frazier (owner of Leland's Fly Fishing Outfitters) and his buddy Thys Heynecker. They ended their trip 18 for 22!!! Photos to come. Before that I was with ex-pro baller Scott Hatteburg and Mike Davis. We finished up their 2 day trip with a fish that hit the 20 pound mark. Scott is already featured as the title photo of my web site with another giant he got a couple years ago. Needless to say, the fish seem to like Scott. Check back for some great photos from Josh and Thys's trip.

MORE CHROME!

Pacific River Council's John Kober swung one up on the coast



Dave Fredericks with 3 shiny ones!

Our fishing has slowed a bit the last week with our screwy weather. We are still catching fish each day but my regulars are having to work harder than they are accustomed to. Dave Fredericks just ended his 4 day trip with 3 today. One of them came on his last cast. We literally took the hook out of his 3rd fish, shook hands, and put the boat on the trailer. Great way to end! Our weather is supposed to settle this week so, if things goes as predicted, we will be back into them good by the weekend. Check back in for more pics of shiny fish.