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.

Early Chrome!

Lance Watkins With Some Coastal Chromers!

Dave Virnig's Chrome On The Swung Fly!

Mike Davis With A Shiny One!

Once again, we have started our winter season off with a bang. This is the second year in a row my "holiday break" was cut short because our winter fish showed up in force in mid December. I saw double digit fishing several days in the closing month of the year. On December 30th Ross and Mike Davis had 11 fish by 10:30 am. Not a bad way to close 2009! We started the New Year off with high water and the first days of 2010 were tough but as the water dropped we were greeted with the kind of fishing we hope for. Lance Watkins just finished a 2 day trip with me hooking 14 brand new chromers.

It is obvious my "daily reports" will not quite be so daily again this season. My plan is to get to my updates at least once a week. I will be fishing everyday (water permitting) so we'll see!

The big news for my business is I am currently working on a DVD project with Jeff Mishler who just completed the Skagit Master DVD with Ed Ward. We are hoping to feature some new age steelhead tutorials with some cutting edge fishing catching action. We hope to release it this fall. Keep your eyes out!

BUSY SEASON!

I am sorry it has been such a long time since I have posted a new report on my web site. I have been very busy guiding everyday this summer and spend nearly all of my "off-water" time with my family. I have also taken a different approach to my reports. When I first started posting a daily report on my web site, it was a tool for me to keep my clients attached to my business by getting them to visit my web site each day to check out the new pics. Many of my regulars would go into the office each morning and pull up my report to see what I had done the day before. They could sit, have a cup of coffee and get their daily dose of fish porn before they started their days work. It was great - I was able to share my success and keep my clients wanting more. Well, it turned out before long, I had a couple hundred people a day checking out my daily report (many of which had no interest in ever booking a guide trip). I was finding that my reports began hurting me more than helping me. It was amazing how a string of good reports on the North Umpqua would really bring the crowds. So, given the date of my last post, it is more than obvious I have given up on posting a true "daily" report. Just know that if it takes me another couple months to post my next report, we are out on the water catching fish. Start getting worried if I have the time to post my daily reports again. That means fishing and business is poor and I am home on the couch.

Anyway, here is an update on what has transpired over the first half of our summer fall season. Our dam counts on the North Umpqua are very low and will prove to be about half of the ten year average when things are all added up at the end of the season. I would say for the most part, our fishing suffered because of these low counts. Most days we still had enough success to keep smiles on people's faces but we had to work harder to do it. We did have a few periods where the fishing was excellent. At times, the angling pressure would fall off and we would have the river to ourselves. Our fishing would then get good and we enjoyed better than average success. I had several days with Robert Wissmar (Wiz) over the span of his week where he brought 6 or more fish to the dry. I also had a memorable day with "Super Dave" Laurance where we brought 10 fish to the dry - Dave landed a couple of real beauties that day!

As of last week, I finished up my summer/fall season on the North Umpqua. We have closed up the NU house and moved back down to Medford. I will spend the remainder of my fall on the Rogue where I will fish through Thanksgiving. The dam counts on the Rogue have been more encouraging and have already provided us with better fishing than last year. I have not only seen some excellent daily tallies but we've also had some good success with the dry. This last week we saw some rain which dealt us an unsettled river and tougher fishing. This will prove to be a good thing. As our river falls back into shape, we will have some new fish up the crick and the old ones will be shuffled and grabby again. This week should be very good!!!

For those of you interested, I still have a few Nov dates open. I also still have a guide working for me up on the North Umpqua if any of you are interested in a late season NU trip. The "Secret Season" on the North can be an enjoyable experience. To experience the river without the "hustle and bustle" of prime time can be something special. The fall colors are in full swing and some of the late season fall fish can prove to be the biggest of the season. There were some awfully big fish in the fish ladder at the dam the other day when I stopped by on my way South.

I have posted a few pics to give you just a small taste of what we enjoyed this summer on both the North Umpqua and Rogue. Enjoy!

Good fishing, Scott

It's That Time Of Year Again!

I can't believe we are already talking about summer steelhead again. I actually started tying dries at my bench last night to get ahead of the game for the coming months. Generally, we will see our first fishable numbers of summer steelhead on the Willamette System. I have already heard of good reports from the Clackamas. We are still a couple weeks away from having enough fish over Willamette Falls to see consistent fishing up above Eugene where I concentrate my guiding efforts. I would definitely expect the water between Dexter and town to be fishing well by the first of June. I am keeping a close eye on the counts. When I feel things look promising, I have a list of people waiting for the call. If you would like to get in on some of this early season action, get a hold of me to get on the list.

As far as our North Umpqua summer fishing, depending on our water conditions, we usually don't get too excited until the end of June. Most years we are in full swing by the 4th of July. If you have not experienced this fabled fishery, put it on your "bucket list." Not only is the scenery unmatched, it is one of the best places in the world to consistently bring wild steelhead to the dry. In all my travels, our fish on the North are probably the most surface orientated steelhead I have swung a fly for. Experiencing the savage take of a steelhead in one of the North's classic tail-outs is truly the pinnacle of the sport.

I thought I would include a couple more pics I had laying about from a trip I had with Jerry Schaffer and Steve Nichalson this winter. As anxious as I am to get out and throw some dries in a t-shirt, I never get tired of holding the beautiful fish we see each winter. There is just nothing quite like them. Each of these fish were evidence of that!