Oregon Steelhead

Spence and I finally made the trek out to visit my brother and his fiance outside of Portland, Oregon. Within a hour and a half drive, we were able to be on the Pacific coast or on Mt. Hood - what an amazing part of the country.  Of course no expedition to Oregon would be complete without packing the switch rod to wet a line on some of the famed winter steelhead waters.

  These rivers are some of the most beautiful I have ever seen and the excitement to fish them felt like I was 10 years old again on the first day of trout.  I tried to temper my excitement with the full realization this wasn't going to be a double digit Lake Erie trib outing.  If I was lucky enough to just hook into one wild fish, I was going to be happy. 

I got to fish with my buddy Levi from JMU and he took me out on the Hood River to fish a couple hours in the evening. Levi gave me a few local flies to use and I hooked into one fish that turned out to be my one and only steelie for the trip.  He wasn't quite the big dime-bright chromer I had in mind....but he was a big difference between the ol skunk-a-roo.  Plus he was wild, so I was pumped. 

...picking on the little fish again

I spent the next day and half getting rained and snowed on at the Sandy and Clackamas Rivers.  It's never too reassuring when your the only goofy bastard out there, but you can't catch a fish staring at rain gages on the Internet.  These were big waters and much bigger than any steelhead water I was used to fishing.  This was also my first time swinging flies for steelhead.  My prep included a 5 minute Snap T spey casting demo, courtesy of YouTube, before heading to the river for a little on- the-job training.  Needless to say, it wasn't quite as graceful as the guy in the video and I spent the first morning bracing to self spey myself on each cast.  Eventually I got the timing down and was able to throw a respectable loop (according to my wife sitting in the car.)  I will admit, too, that casting that sink tip on the switch rod was more work than I anticipated.  At the end of day 2, my upper back felt like I has just army crawled all the way to Oregon from PA.    I was wet, frozen and I made about a thousand casts without a tug...but I loved every second of it and I cant wait to go back (with a spey rod.)

Spring Forward 2012- Loyalhanna Creek, Ligonier, PA

Spring may be a couple weeks away, but when you get 65 degree weather and add an hour of daylight, it's Spring in my book!  Cooper and I started the day with some training, getting a few retrieves under his belt and doing a fine job on his steadiness and marking.  We have a lot of work to do in the off season, but it's going to be fun!

Afterwards, we hit the good 'ol Loyalhanna a few miles away to see if we could bring a trout to net.  There was a decent stonefly hatch going off which made me smile even before I wet a line.  I took a few fish in a couple hours and all on my Black&Gold Prince Steeler Nymph.  I am convinced these were all holdovers or previous stockies, because the fish were keying on the black nymph.  I threw a smorgasbord of San Juans, Green Weenies, and Eggs too, but didn't get a take.  Apparently, they just stocked the stream, but I dont think these new fish were feeding yet or even knew what a stonefly was (at least that is what I am telling myself.)

 

One benefit of Cooper's training is he'll sit steady as a rock while I fish a section of  stream and not budge until he's called.  But he does give quite the warning bark to anyone that approaches our vicinity.  I will admit, this is sometimes pretty nice for keeping the space invaders away that love to crowd you after you land a couple fish (maybe I should take him to Erie steelheading?!)

Cooper swimming up to the next section of stream we fished.

I don't make it out to the Loyalhanna much anymore, but I have some great memories fishing there,  Laurel Hill,  and 4 Mile Run years ago with my Dad and brother.  It was great to return to my old stomping grounds on a sunny March day.  I'm counting down the days until I get to chase the ultimate wild fish in Oregon next week.