Oregon Coast Steelhead- March

Rain is slamming the coast today… looks like we are going to be blown out tomorrow.  Perhaps later in the week will be good.  Lots of big chrome wild fish coming in.  We are getting them on our favorite N. Coast rivers when water levels cooperate.  High winds lately have put three new trees on one of our favorite floats in the last few days making navigation tricky.  Always interesting this time of year!  Good luck on the water and be safe!

Rivers of Mud- Big Rains Hit the Oregon Coast

Big rains have hit the Oregon coast and the river ups and downs have some folks a bit dizzy.  We've been working on the North Coast of Oregon chasing winter steelhead.  This week we were hit with a big front that caused rivers to sharply rise.  Fishing has been good but when fish can't see your fly your out of luck.  Looking forward to the next drop as we head into the weekend.  Rivers should be dropping and clearing as we head into next week.

Wilson River graph near Tillamook

Rowing out the boats in the mud

High water brings in the fish and as it drops and clears fishing should be good.  Here are a few fish from earlier in the week.

Oregon's Clackamas River & A Steelhead for Jim

A great day on the water with Joel La Follette of Royal Treatment Fly shop and Jim Drew.  A beautiful sunny day in March, great water conditions and some feisty steelhead.  What could be better?  This trip we caught both winter/spring run stock of steelhead and the early Skamania run summer steelhead.  We were using spey rods with sink tips and some specially tied flies by Rob Crandall.

See more fishing opportunities on the Clackamas river near Portland, OR at: www.watertimeoutfitters.com

Fishing Report - end of March

Lots going on with this time of year for Steelhead fishing.  It's that crazy time of year where the weather can't make up it's mind if it is going to be winter or spring.  Just yesterday we saw snow on the morning drive, sun, rain, hail, wind, sun and more snow on the drive home.  Ok, dress up in the gortex, thermals and let's got there is so much to do!  Trout fishing is just around the corner and people are already starting to talk about salmon flies.  While fishing the coast we have been seeing March Browns and actually a large stone flapping on the water before us yesterday.

Coastal steelhead:  It's been a bit slower than last year in most cases but consistent fishing since January.  We've seen a lot of low water this year and have finally received a few blasts of rain.  Each blast of rain we see some new fish arrive and breath a sigh of relief as we row the boat through more "normal" water levels for this time of year.  (Earlier in the season backs were sore as we wrestled the boats with  more "rock rowing" than anyone should have to do in a "rain forest").  Wild fish are the norm in most of our Oregon North Coast spots with hatchery fish showing on the Wilson and Nestucca.  We have a few more weeks on the Wilson, Trask and Nestucca before thing drop off.  The NF will close at the end of March.

What we've missed in a lack of numbers of fish has sure been offset by the massive size of steelhead returning this year.  I have personally seen 5 fish in the 20 plus pound range in the last 2 months and saw one swim under my boat the was truly the largest I have ever seen in real life- way over 20!!.

Clackamas River:  Rain has definitely helped encourage fish to sneak up the Clack and fishing has been improving.  We have a mix of wild, broodstock hatchery fish and some early summer runs showing in the Clackamas.  These fish will spread out through the system from the mouth of the river to Rivermill dam.  This season is just hitting stride and I will be out there most every day in the sled or drift boat plying the waters.
Here is a fish that was caught by author Don Roberts on tuesday.

Deschutes:  Trout fishing will be full swing by May with the salmon fly hatch expected perhaps a bit early than the early arrival of the last few years if we are lack luster on our snow pack.  We'll see how the remainder of spring goes.  At this point it looks like we will sneak around a big run off and have more agreeable water levels for the famous salmon fly hatch.  Look for things to break loose the second week of May around Maupin and then work upriver from there.  For right now, expect a few BWO's mid-day and some March browns to be popping.

See more fishing info on our website or other blog entries: www.watertimeoutfitters.com 

2012 Winter Steelhead One For The Books?

Hello fellow steelheaders,

What an amazing season of Winter Steelhead fishing thus far!!!  December began with no rain and severely low clear water.  I did my secret rain dance at the holidays and boy did I ever over shoot the goal.  While there has been a lot of water this January there have been absolutely fantastic opportunities with possibly my best catch numbers ever.  Remember that small streams like the Kilchis, NF Nehalem, Eagle Creek and others clear very quickly.  These streams typically fish best when larger streams are still off color and too high to fish.  For those of you wondering what to do this weekend, other than watch superbowl commercials, you may consider heading to the Oregon Coast.  Rivers like the Wilson and Trask will be at fishable conditions.  These rivers have rarely been fishable in January and are loaded full of chrome Steelhead right now!!!

Saturday I taught a Winter Steelhead class in Tillamook.  Those who attended got a lot of great information about the area rivers and were shown a few of my favorite sweet spots.  Two class participants joined me for a half day on Sunday.  It is alway a treat for me to guide anglers into their first ever Winter Steelhead.  Brett got things started with this beautiful chromer.

Not to be out done, Eric added a few more as we managed to hook 7 with 4 magnificent fish to hand.

For those of you who attended this class, all of these fish were caught on the Trask River in the area I told you was the transition zone.

Good luck to all and I look forward to fishing with you soon,

Gil Muhleman

Water Time Outfitters

541-419-7778