North Fork Nehalem Mid- February

Fished the NF Nehalem, an Oregon Coastal stream, yesterday with the water low and clear.  There are a lot of fish around and we saw plenty of fish hiding in the deep spots.  A good amount of the fish we saw were darker fish but we did see a fair amount of chrome bright fish still.  With water conditions so low and clear our approach had to be spot on.  We enjoyed a beautiful day with clear skies, sun and some fun steelhead action.  With conditions like this don't forget to scale down your fly size and use flourocarbon leaders.

An interesting thing happened yesterday as we prepared the raft to launch.  A helicopter on a trailer pulled into the NF Nehelem hatchery.  It then proceeded to fire up and take off from the hatchery.  We later learned that the ODFW was operating an elk population study in the hills nearby.  We guessed that with the dusting of snow on the mountains the elk would be much easier to spot.

Stack mending to a specific slot produced this fish on the edge of fast water.

Good luck on the water.  Come join us some time www.watertimeoutfitters.com  See our other NF Nehalem trips info Click here for more NF Nehalem info

Steelhead Fly Fishing: The Tug is the Drug

Record Steelhead Run- NF Nehalem

We've been catching a lot of fish this year, so we know its been good but now we know how good.  The NF Nehalem hatchery is reporting a record run of winter steelhead for the 2011/2012 run.  So far to the hatchery they have received 3060 steelhead.  That is the all time best return for any year on the NF.  Why is that such a great number?  Remember the NF is a small body of water.  Also, add in that there may have been at least half that number in harvested fish.  I know we've harvested a good number this year.

NF Nehalem Video - 2012   http://youtu.be/mpu5V2kexHk

In addition to good returns to the hatchery, it appears that the wild steelhead run which tend to return later to the system have had a good early showing.  Just recently there were 4 wild fish landed on the disabled platform at the hatchery.  We have caught wild fish on nearly every trip as well.  That bodes well for the later, prime time for wild fish. 

We hope this record run translates to other steelhead returns on our other favorite rivers and often when its good for one batch of steelhead in the ocean, its good for the whole region. 

For more info on fishing the NF Nehalem see our other blog posts or visit: www.watertimeoutfitters.com See our Steelhead fly fishing decal and T-shirt : The Tug is the Drug

NF Nehalem Report

We've had our share of high water in the last week.  The good news is when rivers drop into shape there should be lots of steelhead to catch.  Todays hatchery report for the NF Nehalem reveals that they worked the trap yesterday to find 642 steelhead have arrived into the trap at the hatchery most with-in the last few days.  118 of those fish have been recycled downstream to run the river again.

As the water drops fishing should be very good!

www.watertimeoutfitters.com  See our new Steelhead Decal and T-shirt: The Tug is the Drug

North Fork Nehalem Winter Steelhead Report

The last 8 days has been very busy for Water Time Outfitters.  Each day we've been working the emerald green waters of the NF Nehalem River. We fished our hearts out, enjoyed exciting whitewater rafting and then relaxed in the warm cabin each night right on the water.  This week the stars have aligned, prayers have been answered and a few lucky anglers have been winning the "steelhead lotto".  In other words fishing has been epic!

The river started out being muddy and high- 83" the week before.  By Sunday the water was down around 56" and dropping.  It was high but a nice green color.  Monday the river was very busy with the New Years holiday crowd.  Water level was around 50".  Through the week we had levels from 44-50" with showers, clouds and rain.  The sun even made an appearance on Sunday a week later when the water temp was at 44 degrees. 

With the water high, dropping, clearing and warm combined with a lack of rain earlier in the month of December we had a pile of fish swimming by each day.  The hatchery trap was full and you could see hundreds of steelhead which came into the trap the first few days of the year. 

Fighting a chrome bright steelhead is a great way to start the year and this trip some of our begining anglers even got to tire their arms wrestling fish.  A highlight for us was our group from Arizona with 7 year old Xeng landing 2 chrome steelhead.  This kid was a "black belt" steelhead angler under 4' tall!  The other fantastic thing we saw this week was a lot of wild fish being caught.  That bodes well for our wild run which is strongest in Feb/Mar. 

Here are a few pics of our fishing from the week.  Special thanks to all our great customers who joined us on the NF.

If you'd like to see your face in a picture similar to the ones below call Rob or Gil at Water Time Outfitters.  www.watertimeoutfitters.com  503-704-6449

John Huntsman with a dandy swung fly Steelhead he caught on his #5 weight spey rod with a 10' sink tip.

John Huntsman Pics

                                                                 More Misc Pics

                            Warm and by the fire each night, great especially on those rainy days!

NF Nehalem and Alsea River 2012 Fish Tracking

Anglers can keep radio-tagged steelhead on Alsea, North Fork Nehalem

As part of a study of winter steelhead on the Alsea and North Fork Nehalem rivers, the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife will allow anglers who catch a radio-tagged hatchery winter steelhead to keep the fish.

Statewide regulations prohibit the keeping of radio-tagged fish so that scientists can continue to collect data.

But Ryan Couture, the department’s manager at the Oregon Hatchery Research Center, said that the temporary rule change is designed to encourage anglers to turn in radio tags from any fish they catch.

While the temporary rule is aimed at the Alsea and the North Fork Nehalem rivers where tagging will occur, it also will apply to other streams in the Northwest Zone to allow anglers to catch and keep radio-tagged fish and for the department to recover tags from fish that may relocate into nearby basins.

“A key piece of information we hope to collect is where the fish was caught,” Couture said. “Once we have that information, the tag is no longer useful in that fish. We can, however, reuse that radio tag ...”

The fish are easily identified by a 6-inch long antenna coming out of the mouth.
Anglers who catch a radio-tagged fish should record the date and location of the catch and call one of the following Fish and Wildlife offices to record that data and arrange to return the tag:
•Oregon Hatchery Research Center (541) 487-5510

•Alsea Hatchery (541) 487-7240

•Nehalem Hatchery (503) 368-5670
•Fish and Wildlife’s Newport Office (541) 265-8306
•The department office in Tillamook (503) 842-2741.

The radio tags are being used to trace the movement and timing of adult winter steelhead returning to the Alsea and North Fork Nehalem.

Beginning early this winter, and continuing through spring 2012, the location and behavior of the radio-tagged fish will be tracked using several fixed and handheld receivers along the river.
The data collected will help determine if a new strategy for releasing hatchery steelhead smolts is working to help make returning adult fish more available to anglers.

“Hatchery steelhead on the Alsea River have a reputation for moving very quickly up the river directly to the hatchery,” Couture said. “We want to see if releasing the smolts lower in the river will help slow them down and give anglers a better chance to catch them.”

Fish and Wildlife also is looking for volunteers to help catch the fish to be tagged on the Alsea.

To volunteer, contact Ryan Couture at (541) 487-5510.

In order to encourage anglers to return tags to ODFW, two sport groups are sponsoring drawings that will award prizes to anglers who return tags.

The Alsea Sportsman’s Association will award two $50 gift certificates to a local sporting goods stores to two anglers whose names are drawn from Alsea River tag returns.

Angler’s returning radio tags from the North Fork Nehalem will be eligible to win one of the popular fish prints from the Association of Northwest Steelheaders.

“The idea is not to target tagged fished, but to help ODFW recover some expensive radio tags that could be reused,” said Ty Wyatt of the association.

Winter Steelhead Workshops

Want to catch steelhead on the Trask, Wilson, Clackamas, NF Nehalem, Neccanicum River or Eagle Creek?

These workshops are designed to get walk in fly anglers comfortable with a variety of spots and techniques that will put them into fish on the Oregon's best coastal rivers.

Here is how it works. We start at the crack of 9:00 am at a designated location near the water with coffee and donuts. We’ll review maps that will give you at least a dozen productive steelhead runs that you can drive and walk to often these are spots we personally fish. With coffee in hand we’ll discuss the maps in detail.

Then when we’ve reached proper caffeine level we’ll grab a bunch of gear and head out to fish a few spots. At this time we cover: fishing techniques, fishing strategy, fly selection and more. This is also time to talk about lines, rods and rigging. We’ll have plenty of spey rods and nearly 20 fly lines for you to try out and get a feel for different systems. We will have ½ dozen spey rods and switch rods for you to try out and different lines to try on your own rod. If you need some basic spey casting lessons there is usually time for that as well.

If we actually catch a fish it will be by accident. The purpose of this workshop is to give you the tools you need to find, read, and properly fish good steelhead water the actual fishing will be secondary.

Around 1pm we’ll break for a hungry man’s lunch and then head on to some more spots with steelhead water you’ll want to drool on!

Classes offered:

Dec 17th - Clackamas and Eagle creek - meeting site Royal Treatment Fly Shop

Jan 6th -NF Nehalem River and Neccanicum R- meets at our river cabin

Jan 28 - Trask, Wilson and Kilches River class - meeting site to be determined

Need flies?  Royal Treatment Fly shop has a special package of winter steelhead flies for you:
Click here to see a recommeded selection of flies
Workshop cost is $100 including meals and is limited to 8 anglers. Call 503-704-6449 to reserve your spot.