Steelhead Green
Over the past few years, I've made a concerted effort to consistently put myself in places and moments that I want to experience. In that time span, those places have overwhelmingly been on rivers near mountains, coasts, and canyons that hold anadromous fish, particularly wild steelhead. Rivers that harbor Oncorhynchus mykiss are some of the most beautiful and pristine places on earth and there simply aren't many of those places, or fish, left. While I'm still relatively young and limber, I'd like to continue exploring those places with friends and hopefully shake hands with a few special fish.
Of course, my mentality has always been one of accomplishing the task on my own accord. On the difficulty spectrum, this means "swing, or go home". It has to be on a two handed rod, with a fly that I tied, in a run I picked out, all without the help of some paid influence in the form of a guide. There is a higher level of satisfaction that comes with accomplishing that goal and its way easier said than done. I've been fortunate to get wild summer run fish to hand on the North, Rogue, and Deschutes. On the other side of the coin, I've found the winter run to be an entirely different beast. I've had one wild handshake on the OP and a hatchery fish in Oregon. The lack of success hasn't deterred my efforts, it's only made them more eager. With that in mind, I returned to the coast for a third consecutive year with the hope of crossing a particular river off my list. This particular place is probably my favorite and its mostly kicked my ass. On this sojourn, the variability of winter reared its ugly head and provided a voluntary beatdown of epic proportions...
Phil "Little Knees" Kirkland
The idea for this trip was to pack light. In the past, I'd show up to the airport with a travel tube with four spey rods, at least 5 shooting heads per rod, and multiple George Costanza sized tip wallets. With a high level of fly anxiety, I'd also be carrying a copious amount of flies. Therefore, I made a concerted effort to curtail my boxes down to only two, which was still too many. I also purchased my first 6-piece travel rod in the the form of a CND Gravity Voyager 7127-6. After fishing it, I'm not sure I will ever buy another 4 piece spey rod. Since it fit perfectly in my checked bag, I eliminated the need for a travel tube on this trip. I also decided to ditch the water master raft because anything beyond a 2nd checked bag is outrageously expensive. With one checked bag, it made travel easier, was lighter on my wallet, and forced me to simplify my approach while swinging flies.
An after midnight tie...
Creature like...
My usual boxes pared down to two...
6-piece spey rods are the way...
My first "true" 7-weight spey rod...
After a long day of work, an uber to the airport, and two long flights, I finally arrived in Oregon where Phil picked me up at the airport. After a few hours of shut eye, we awoke a little past midnight to hit the road in an effort to make a first light pass over choice water. As usual, it was raining. Looking at the forecast, our intended location was calling for 1.5" of rain. That ended up being entirely inaccurate. Once we hit the Cascade Range, the deluge came and didn't let up for the next 24 hours.
We arrived to a rising river with a slight stain. Choice conditions albeit on the rise instead of on a drop. Phil could only fish the morning session before some remote work called him into town. We hit the good parts of a particular section of canyon water to no avail. The 500gr. Nextcast Core F1 was a joy to cast on the new rod and it stayed on my reel for almost the entire trip. The rain never relented and seemingly came in intense bursts with periodic episodes of hail. I felt like I fished the water really well, but I usually feel that way on this river.
The VR Quattro
Phil dropped me off at a famous launch site where I awaited the arrival of Austin and his raft. There was no service, it was pouring, and I was already soaked through with my current rain jacket. Phil left me with a few cold beers, some food, and the promise that Austin was 45 minutes away. It ended up being more like 2 hrs (haha). When he finally arrived, we geared up, and launched with supreme confidence and all the right vibes. Since the morning, the river had risen significantly and became more stained. Debris and logs were now floating downriver but we pushed off anyway. At the end of the float, I'd characterize the water as officially blown out.
Politics...
Post-launch optimism...
Almost blown out, soaked, cold, and rowing into heavy wind...
The rain never ended up relenting as Austin and I took out and headed into town to rendezvous with Phil and Luke Hatch. It was a steelhead reunion of sorts and it was good to be back. Over beers, spirits, and Luke tying flies, our eyes were affixed to the gauges of multiple rivers in the area. Our minds were filled with a steelheader's optimism that flows would hold on and we'd have a chance at fishing the next morning. We went to bed with hope and woke up crushed. The flows rose much higher than we had anticipated, including on our backup plans of B, C, and D. While the boys slept in, I went for a walk on the beach to enjoy some daytime vibes off the confines of the river. A rare opportunity on a steelheading trip...
A walk on the beach...
Austin's whip
Don't fall in.
Bushwhackers...
Heart in a tree next to a run...
It was late in the morning when we finally hit the road to get a visual. It was worse than anticipated as we realized that the next three days our Plan A was extinguished. We wanted to take a gander at another option so we grabbed gas station burritos, and some Horchata cold brew coffee, and made the drive to the put in. This particular river had a famous yellow lab named after it and I've always wanted to fish it. However, this too was blown and hadn't even crested on the gauge yet. We game planned and decided to drive far up the quickest clearing river in the system to maybe offer ourselves a chance. Thus, thats how we spent our day. Bushwhacking into the unknown and looking for a swingable section of water. We found a few, but the chances were slim to none. More often than not, we hiked into an area only to find zero chances of even stepping into the water. As a guide, Luke isn't one to abide by the Lord's work and is used to adapting techniques to put clients on fish in adverse conditions. He also is totally fine with not swinging flies. So, he brought a single hander and bobber with him on this day. Over a choice seam of calm water, he found one. It was cool.
Phil doing his thing...
Cutthroat...the steelheader's "bonus" fish...
Austin getting "dirty".
Luke on a "swingable" stretch.
A rare picture of myself...
We have liftoff...
Celebratory lunch...
Grundens makes some quality gear...
Retreating back to the coast, we headed to a local watering hole to get burgers and beers. Austin's burger came with the waxed paper separating the slices of cheese as a bonus. We got free pitchers of beer for that one, which we weren't complaining about.
The same river system was our target on day III. It was also every single other angler's targeted location on the entire Oregon coast. The lineup at the boat ramp was four boats deep, but the color of the water was the most "steelhead green" I had ever seen. It was goosebump inducing and empowering. The vibes were once again immaculate. On top of that, it wasn't raining and spring decided to pop. Literally, the banks turned green by the end of the day. Fishing wise, Phil and I took one boat while Luke and Austin were in another. Phil and I swung some beautiful runs that seemed like anything could happen on each cast. Cutthroat were caught. At the takeout, we cooked up some sausages and pre-made burritos and said goodbye to Luke. Then, we decided to float the same stretch again. Nothing happened although the gear guys caught a few.
That night we headed to a local watering hole that was advertising "Live People Tonight". A tradition of sorts on this trip, we were 3 of 5 customers in the entire place. I mistakenly ordered the clam chowder and clams dish, which they forget to prepare for me. Either the clams were bad, or in their haste to make my meal, something happened. The meal didn't sit well with me. Beat and tired, we headed to bed hoping for a final day fish.
I love sleeping with the windows open and hearing the sound of waves.
Spring popped.
and food poisoning.
We had about a half day of fishing remaining on this trip before I had to book it back to the airport to catch a flight. We were a little slow packing everything up in the morning and getting to the boat launch, but I think it worked out in our favor. There were so many boats at the launch we decided to change our game plan. We ended up putting in to float the lowest section down towards the tidewater. It worked out well because we jumped the majority of the boats (that eventually all jumped us) and gave us some solid chances at more "open" water. This section was unique due to the farmland it floated through and how tight the river became in certain sections. Conditions were absolutely prime with a dropping river, a lot of rain, and good clarity. The gear boats absolutely crushed it around us which was both disheartening and encouraging. I had two legit steelhead grabs that were soft takes. In both situations, I didn't manage to convince either fish to come back. That left me wondering if they would have been more aggressive without the traffic or if my fly choice, depth, swing speed, and angle wasn't to their liking. Austin and I both caught some larger cutthroat.
DIY steelhead trips are always difficult. On this one, mother nature threw at us a lot of variables that we managed to work around to put ourselves in positions for an opportunity. That is sometimes all you can ask for. Once again, it wasn't our time. I'll keep coming back though...
The gear crowd was crushing it all around us. One boat bemoaned "only" catching 8 because they were all wild and couldn't keep any. The guys literally looked like they were having a shit time. However, this father and son combo were having a blast. A cool moment to see...
All smiles just before the takeout...another trip about to come to a close.
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