Archive for the ‘Reports & Conditions’ Category

Hoh River Fog; Tony Moares

Two winters ago, a lifelong fishing buddy and I met up at his house in Seattle, Washington for a little catch up time and a fishing trip to the Olympic Peninsula. It was the middle of April and the winter steelhead should be in full swing.

Battling the rain to make a fire, we managed to warm our hands after a long cold day of swinging on the outstandingly beautiful Hoh River. The water had swelled the previous week and had come back into shape for our trip. We had done our research, talked to some experts, and had our ducks in a row; to say the least we were feeling pretty good about our chances…

Four days later we made our way onto the ferry back to Seattle, wet, confused, and without a fish story.

The next day we decided to head down to the Pike Place Market to find some gifts and chase some tail of a different sort. Making our way to the fish market I immediately noticed a large wild buck steelhead with a single red stripe down its side. Above his gaping mouth stuck in the ice was a sign posted “Wild Hoh River Steelhead”. The price was unbelievably low for what seemed like gold to me.

This fish had obviously been gill netted from the Hoh River within the past week or so. No wonder we didn’t have any luck.

Thanks to a number of bloggers and angry sport fisherman I would like to announce this!

From the Seattle Times:

Lynda V. Mapes

One thing you won’t find for sale here [The Pike Place Market] anymore is wild steelhead from the Olympic Peninsula.

Yokoyama [owner of the Pike Place Fish Market] and his staff recently announced on their blog they would no longer sell the delicacy, after a barrage of angry e-mails organized by steelhead sport anglers. In the process, the staff decided to review everything sold at the market, with a goal of going 100 percent sustainable.

Along the way, they stepped squarely into a long-running political fight between tribal and sport fisherman — and discovered that while it sounds simple, the word sustainable means many things to many people.

Yokoyama said he doesn’t believe the steelhead he sold were unsustainable, but he thinks having angry customers is.

“For us it was a matter of our customers and what they wanted. We had people who hated us for selling it,” Yokoyama said. “That’s not what we are about. We are committed to world peace. Just that fact that we were getting people upset in the world is not part of our vision as a company. As soon as that steelhead issue came up, it was a key to our intention, a trigger.”

For Yokoyama, a lifelong resident of the Puget Sound region, selling fish is just a small part of his market’s mission. Through team-building meetings, consensus goal-setting, and yes, their earsplitting call-and-response routine, the staff works as a synchronized unit.

Thanks to community outcry, next time my friend and I visit the Olympic Peninsula, maybe there will be a fish or two left in the river for us to exercise.

“It’s about time” Says Bob Quigley.

As summer approaches, those of us who are aware of the natural aquatic insect cycle will get the Salmonfly Fever…a natural response to what we know is coming; The Giant Salmonfly Hatch. This hatch is by far one of the largest and most prolific hatches of the early trout season. And best of all, the trout go stupid for them. In respect of the up-coming hatch I thought I would put together an entry dedicated to the Giant Salmonfly (Pteronarcys).
Taken by Stuart Warren

The Giant Salmonfly is the largest aquatic insect that we use here in Southern Oregon to catch trout. The nymph version is a large dark brown to black and is 25-50 mm (1-2 inches) in length. These insects are generally found in rocky riffles and moderate to fast moving runs. The great thing about the nymph stage of the Salmonfly is that they take two to four years to reach maturity, meaning that at any given time of the year, streams that are home to these insects will have a large variety sizes within its stream bottom or being swept down the stream (a go to pattern for most trout and steelhead anglers).

After the nymphs have reached their mature size, they begin to migrate towards the banks of the river in the late afternoon, and under the cover of darkness will crawl onto shore where the adult version will split the nymph shuck and spread its wings. The adult is 1.25-2 inches long, dark brown with a red-orange abdomen and four wings. Crawling onto nearby foliage, the adults begin to mate. During warm parts of the day, the adults will become active and take flight often losing control and ending up in the stream! Fish Food! The adults that make it, more specifically the females, will begin to dance over the water releasing their dark grey egg clusters back into the water to begin the cycle all over again.

http://www.worleybuggerflyco.com/insectidentifa/salmon_fly.htm

As fisherman, this is a very easy insect to imitate. There is a multitude of patterns out there that do a great job at imitating these. The patterns we carry here at the shop to imitate the nymph are the Tungstone Trout Retriever, the Rock ‘N Roller Stone, and the Biot Epoxy Stone to name a few. The adult stone is best imitated by a simple orange Stimulator, Rogue Stone (black or orange), Norm Woods Special, Foam Salmonfly, or the Chubby Chernobyl.

Mercer’s Biot Epoxy Stone                                  Foam Salmonfly

The Salmonfly hatch will begin here on the Rogue River in a couple weeks or even sooner depending on the weather. Other local streams that get a Salmonfly hatch are the Klamath River in Northern California, the Upper Sacramento River, the McCloud River, and the North Umpqua River.

Best Regards,

The Ashland Fly Shop

(541) 488-6454

Here it is the sixth day of May and we are still experiencing an outstanding winter steelhead year on the Rogue. One would normally say this time of year “Oh, those fish are too dark to mess with…” Well that is what I thought too until I ventured up to the Hatchery Run with a buddy and landed five, three of which were silver hens with rosey cheeks, and two single red striped males.
For those of you who have never caught a steelhead on a fly…there has never been a better opportunity! Hatchery fish are kegged’ up below the Hatchery in low, clear water and are grabbing just about anything. Flies that have been producing fish are the Hoh Bo Spey, Loop Leech, Tunstone Trout Retriever, Chart. Copper John, and King Prince .
Our fish counts are now 13,368 over Gold Ray Dam. It gets better; the fish are STILL coming over Gold Ray at approximately 125 a day! For those who enjoy Salmon fishing, the Spring Chinook are in the river in great numbers in the Lower Rogue and 1,000 over Gold Ray. Happy Fishing!

We are blessed in our area to be able to fish just about any day of the year and have a chance (however slight) of catching something! Here’s a few shots of us gettin after it. Enjoy!

Longshore goes long

Wish you were here? you could be..

Craig from Shasta Trout halfway through a Circle C

Overcrowding? Not in Feb... this is a Sunday

The Reward

A Trouter goes for Steel

With the recent precipitation here in Southern Oregon, the rivers have risen and drawn in the first batch of our winter steelhead. This time of year water conditions are fluctuating rapidly so make sure to call us here at the shop for a water conditions update.

During last weeks storm, some buddies and I headed to the mouth of the Rogue and Chetco. The first day we were there the rivers were blown out and too dirty to even bother swimming a fly through. By the next day the Checto dropped into fishable shape and so we hit it. Sadly enough we didn’t have any hook-ups but managed to find a large pod of fresh steelhead that were moving rapidly upstream. The fish are in the lower stretches of these two rivers. Go check it out.

Also make sure that you have a large variety of flies that range from small to large and dark to bright. Select your fly based on water temperature, clarity, and light conditions. Having a diverse selection of sink tips and split shot will also improve your ability to present your fly at the correct depth.

Happy Holidays. Go get em!

Stuart Warren

The Ashland Fly Shop

(541) 488-6454

As the holiday season slowly but surely creeps up on us, there is now a new and great reason to go fishing… escape the holiday madness! I was out last Saturday with Tom Randell from the Seattle area swinging for Steel on the Rogue with little success but a lot of pleasure. The weather was great and it was nice to fish in November in a T-Shirt. I would attach a picture but can’t get the computer to do what its told. I have, however, been able to post a few pictures on our Facebook page (http://www.facebook.com/pages/Ashland-OR/The-Ashland-Fly-Shop#/pages/Ashland-OR/The-Ashland-Fly-Shop/122699767130 ). If you are a Facebook person, join The Ashland Fly Shop fan club and check out our fun pictures.

      On to the fishing report. The Rogue as of 11/24/09 is running at 1,420 CFS at Dodge Bridge. Water temperatures are cold, but not too bad. The Mcleod Gaging station is reporting a water temperature of 44 degrees Farhenhite. Throughout the day, water temperatures have been warming by a degree or two in the mid-afternoon and cool by around 4 p.m. During this brief warming spell will be the best time to hook a steelhead; not saying that you wont hook one earlier or later than that. Flies that have been producing fish are the “Hoh Bo Spey”, the “Signature Guide Intruder”, “20 Incher”, “WMD Stone”, and Chartreuse “Copper Johns”.

     The Klamath has been the most productive steelhead fishery in the past few weeks. Irongate dam is releasing water at a modest 1,340 CFS. Water temperatures are not reported but I have been told that the water is cold. Not too cold to swing flies though. Tom fished it last Sunday; hooked 5, one of which was on the swing. Flies that produce fish on the Klamath near Irongate are “Hoh Bo Spey” in purple and orange, BH Assassin, Herniator, Agent Orange, and flashback pheasant tails (just to name a few).

     Trout fishing has closed on most of our rivers, lakes, and streams now but the Holy Waters on the Upper Rogue has been GREAT. For the past couple weeks, Blue Winged Olives, Slate Winged Olives, and Midges have been hatching starting around noon. As always on the Holy Waters, fish long leaders (12ft.) and light tippets (6x or smaller). If the fish just won’t come to the surface for you, don’t hesitate to swing a soft hackle or black wooly bugger. If you are agile and feel up to a challenge, try fishing the Keno stretch of the Klamath for some of the largest rainbows in pocket water that I have ever seen. Fish strong leaders (8lb. Maxima) with the Morrish Sculpin, a large stonefly nymph, or crawfish pattern.

 From both Will and myself, have a Happy Thanksgiving and good luck fishing.

Stuart Warren

Thanks to those who made it to the premier of “Where Hope Resides” and to both ‘Jahtrout’ and the ‘Native Fish Society’ for producing such an important video. For those who missed out, I recommend that you check it out at www.wherehoperesidesmovie.com. Also, thanks very much to ‘Tabu’ for catering the event; the nachos were out of this world (www.taburestaurant.com).
After a couple days of sun here in the Rogue Valley, the steelhead have started to open their mouths again for our flies. The river has fluctuated up and down a touch with last weeks rain and the water temperature has held fairly steady at 6.5 degrees C (still a little colder than we would like to see it). NOAA’s weather forecast for the next five days is for mixed rain and showers! Hopefully we will get a good amount of precipitation from this storm to raise the river levels and water temperatures.
As of the first of November, we have 5,446 steelhead over Gold Ray. The fish are out there and have been responding to dark wiggly patterns like the ‘Hoh Bo Spey’ or the ‘Signature Intruder’. As far as tips go, 15 feet of type 6 will do the trick in deep runs and type 3 for shallow runs. The fish have been fairly large so I recommend fishing 12 lb ‘Maxima’, or if you believe steelhead are leader shy a minimum of 10 lb.
Also, a few reports from numerous people, including Will and myself, that steelhead are either holding in shallow water and taking our flies on the third or fourth strip or they are following them in and striking when the fly tries to “get away”. If you are having the same experience, try letting your fly hang down longer at the bottom part of your swing (as long a 5-10 seconds in this cold water).
Hope all is well.

Stuart Warren
The Ashland Fly Shop
(541) 488-6454

As of October 24th, there are 5,233 steelhead over Gold Ray Dam here on the Upper Rogue River. The fish are around but have been VERY finicky; some days are great and some suck. There are a few reports of BIG fish being caught which has created the usual steelhead story…long days, cold legs, and the everlasting, rarely frequent enough reward of the pull from a big fish. Hang in there through the bad and sooner or later you will be rewarded.
While nymphing has been producing fish, I have found that swinging large patterns on a tip has been the most rewarding. Pick up the spey rod, grab a handful of ‘Hobo Speys’ and paint the river. I promise you will enjoy it.
Happy hunting, tight lines, and good luck.
Stuart

As of October 24th, there are 5,233 steelhead over Gold Ray Dam here on the Upper Rogue River. The fish are around but have been VERY finicky; some days are great and some suck. There are a few reports of BIG fish being caught which has created the usual steelhead story…long days, cold legs, and the everlasting, rarely frequent enough reward of the pull from a big fish. Hang in there through the bad and sooner or later you will be rewarded.
While nymphing has been producing fish, I have found that swinging large patterns on a tip has been the most rewarding. Pick up the spey rod, grab a handful of ‘Hobo Speys’ and paint the river. I promise you will enjoy it.
Happy hunting, tight lines, and good luck.
Stuart