Good News...Winter Fishing in The Klamath Basin

As of January 2016 ODFW has opened all Klamath Basin Streams that don't have special seasons spelled out in the special regulations area, This includes a incredible fishery...The Sprague River. The reason I am so excited is that the Sprague is tributary of the famed Williamson River and Holds a ton of the Williamson bound fish in the winter. That means that the prospect of swinging up a trophy Redband Trout now exist all year in the basin. Be careful though, as the Sprague runs through mostly private ground and trespassing would be easy to do if you don't know the area. I will be hitting the river hard as soon as it opens, ill post a report soon. until then enjoy some Sprague River scenery.

Stop your cabin fever and hit the river! 

Bramill

Home of the winter Redband!

The Cure for Cabin Fever!

Sprague River Scenery--Klamath Basin Style

The Rogue River in the Late Fall and Early Winter is a spectacular place to be. A Rogue River Fall/Winter Report.

The fish seem to be a tad late this year. November is always good on the Rogue, but this year it seems to be better than the past. it defiantly out fished October for us. If you still haven't satisfied your steelhead sweet tooth you might want to give the Rogue a try. At around 1000 cfs  at Dodge Bridge its running low and cold, but there are a bunch of fish. Typically I like to hit shallower runs, that are warmed by the sun early in the day, this time of year as that seems to be where the active fish are. Swing your intermediate heads, heavy tips, and big dark flies for best results. Try to present your fly as slow as you can and in the seam as long as you can. I swim my flies more this time of year than the traditional down and across. Of course, if your a nymph fisherman you will find fish everywhere.


The Rogue is a gem this time of year. there are days you can have a whole mile of river to yourself, fishing over a ton of steelhead and silvers. Fishing will hold steady until we see our first winter run fish sometime in late January.


The Winter Brutes will march up the river through out January till May. So there is a ton of fishing in front of us, Make plans to hit one of the best steelhead gems in Oregon -- Experience the drag ripping solitude of the Rogue.




The Rogue River...A pot of Gold

Fish On!

Solitude

Rogue Fish Food

Ted can handle a Spey Rod.

A little Rogue Love.

Look what river made #1

Check out what river made #1! and I would have to agree! Click on the link to see the top 10 Fly Fishing destinations  in Oregon.

This Wild Red Band is why!

A Week of Rogue River First- An October Steelhead Report

The week started off great, almost every boat had stung at least a few fish. Everyone was catching fish on the Rogue from Fishers Ferry to the Hatchery,but the sun came out and the fishing slowed. There are a TON of fish but the bright sun move the fish out of the riffles during the day and made us fish the deep water. Nymphs are really out fishing the swing as the fish have been inactive. The good News is there are a Ton of fish in the Upper Rogue and as soon as we get some weather the bight will take off. The weather looks promising, at the very least well get some overcast and match the conditions we had at the beginning of last week. When the Rain comes, you better be here. Until then fish the riffles before the sun hits the water. Once its overhead, put those sink tips on and swing the deep holes, and go with the old adage, bright day bright fly, dark day dark fly. Of course nymphs and eggs always work. Although this is the News most have been following about the Rogue, its not the coolest news from last week. The news I'm talking about is something that keeps me coming back trip after trip.

Last week I got to see huge smiles from people who were able to do many first. Here are some Pictures That celebrate some of those first.

David swinging for his first Rogue River Steelhead!

Rogue Steel!

Although David didn't get it on the swing, David got his first Steelhead. 

Love the Rogue!

Off to Fight Again!

Jim on his First Steelhead Fly Fishing trip. 

Heading out!

David S. resting after tearing it up on his first day behind a spey rod.


Dave S. caught on quick. Here he is about 10 minutes after his first cast from behind the 2 hander!

 

Even accidents work into epic nights on the Rogue River

      Last night, I was under strict instructions, "Gunner (our hyper lab) needs to get out." These orders are easy to follow as one of his favorite places is the Rogue River and there is a short float close to the house. So after picking up a good friend of mine TJ Orton we were on the river within minutes. The game plan was to push our way trough to the rock piles and spend the night swinging there. We came around the first turn and realized that "pushing was out of the question and dodging was more on tap," as there were quite a few people who had the same idea we had. The first boat I saw was a familiar red and green Hyde, Steve Eadie. Showing some river courtesy I try to pull behind them, but there was no room and I beat my boat against the rocks which brought a quick ,"Shush, were fishing here," from the veteran guide. I knew there was no way I was going to be able to get behind him so I made the decision to float over his water. Steve let me off the hook and told me ,"You don't have any other choice, but to go over our water." Everything seemed to mellow down, I was out of the rocks, and Steve gave me permission to go over his water, but there was one factor I didn't equate--and I should have know as I have been bit by the Gunner factor before. Gunner had been sitting behind me watching TJ's bobber-um I mean Indicator-as if it had wings and I had just shot it. his whimpering was of the same tune he has at the beginning of every duck season. I not only missed that tale tail sign, but I, like a idiot, inadvertently let one of his trigger words slip in a conversation with Steve as we passed. Gunner is like any other lab, except God added additional helping of hyper--making a what was a normal trigger in most dogs a hair trigger in Gunner. Ok never got to the K part when Gunner thought he was released. When the large yellow lab was in the air, I realized the error in my ways. Gunner landed smack dab in the middle of Steve's Clients water, then proceeded to thrash through what was left of Steve's untouched water. I felt like such a putts, but Steve seemed  just laugh it off. Sorry Steve, sometimes that dog has a mind of his own! Anyhow, I gathered Gunner, and embarrassly(is that a word) tried to get down the river as fast as I could. Around the next bend was John and his clients. This time I let past experience guide me and I pushed through as fast as I could, before Gunner could ruin all of his water also. 

      We finally made it to the destination. TJ is new to the swing game and was along to try to pick up tips...me, after a long week of teaching and watching other people fish, I was selfish and decided to Fish. I told TJ to go below me and I would watch his technique as we worked the run. TJ had it down...mostly... but like a ton of people I take down the river he settled with just the classic down and across. This technique works fine in shallower runs, but when your fishing the deeper buckets of the Rogue there are some other mends and tensions used to present your fly well. Knowing TJ's intentions of wanting to learn I decided to wade down and show him a few different techniques to get his fly down. On about the second cast with his rod, I got smacked so hard that I about lost his rod. The fish was heavy, real heavy. On his first run there was nothing I could do but hang on. The battle ensued for three more runs, one of which was Gunner induced as he investigated the large flopping thing in the water. A few minutes later we had the brown King in hand. He was dark, but had a ton of fight left in him as we snapped a couple of photos and let him go to create more of his kind.

     We have been hitting more and more of these guys while swinging for steel. there are more wild salmon in the Rogue now than I have ever seen. taking the dams out have helped provide a bunch of spawning ground for the return of the King. We weren't fishing over reds at all, heck we had a October Caddis Emerger on, but yet the run is so healthy this year we have had salmon hitting us in the normal steelhead lies. I for one am glad to see the large returns of these wild kings. It makes me feel like we are turning the tide and starting to realize that we can use the resources wiser. Thanks your Highness for a great reminder of this...even if it was on accident, and Thanks Steve, and John my dog can be a knuckle head at times.        

Max Digging the Fight

Fish on!

Gunner saying hi

Chinooks October Caddis...Who Knew?!

Max Isn't impressed

Seeing more and more of these guys smacking swinging steelhead flies

LTS Fly Fishing has a Epic 2015 line up

LTS has gone above and beyond! I am epically proud of the 6126 Explosive Light, as I had some input on its design, and its built for the state of Jefferson, but all of the new line up is amazing. The 7146 Across Light should come with its own launch pad as this thing is a rocket. If you didn't have a chance to get to the Rogue On the Fly event and cast some of the new LTS stuff you owe it to yourself to contact me and try it out. here is a cool video showcasing LTS.

https://youtu.be/edsnnrSGEpc

Rogue On The Fly

If your in the area come on down! here is the info http://www.ashlandflyshop.com/rogue-on-the-fly/ See you there!

Rogue River Report...let the Games Begin!

This nice August steelhead slammed a Rogue Recon!

The Rogue is swinging well when the flows aren't fluctuating from the dam. Try to catch it a couple days after the last change and the bite seems to pickup. The upper river (from fishers ferry up) has been a perfect temperature to keep the fish active. Swing your Scandis  with flies from 10's to 4's.We have been using intermediate scandis exclusively, if you haven't fished one yet, you need to.  We have been hitting them with Naturals and Purples, the Rogue Recon has been fishing extremely well, as well as my Punch in the Face. The river is flowing out of the dam at a cool 1500cfs and will soon drop I am betting. So get out there before it does. Wake the tailouts morning and evening...there are a ton of fish in the upper section. Aug/September is a great time to get on the river and wet wade... after the long summer its quickly becoming a yearly ritual, that invites fall. Come and experience the Rogue...it will leave you smiling.

Steelhead October Caddis always work!

Punch in the Face!

Wired Halloween!

Rogue Recon is always a winner!

Jarod's Rogue River Recon

A good buddy of mine got a purple heart in Afghanistan  while defending  our country. When he got back he took up spey fishing to help with his PTSD. During this time he would always send his fly in the run to do a little "Recon." So out of respect  for  what he went through for me I'm going to name this fly after him. Please check out Jarod's Rogue River Recon, soon there will be pictures with Jarod holding a fish he swung up with this fly....I just know it...Jarod this one's for you buddy...thanks for your service!

Jarod's Rogue River Recon

Start with a purple Schlappen

Add in wire rib.

Use holographic tensile for the body.

Make a chartreuse ball to hold the Schlappen's profile in the water. 

Wrap the Schlappen like any other hackle.

The you have it Jarod's Rogue River Recon

Jarod giving it a shot.

Time To Swing Southern Oregon Rivers...no better time to start hitting the Rogue and Williamson.

The Williamson river is a special place! With trout the size of steelhead its a great river to learn how to swing on. There are assorted runs that will teach you all the techniques of the proper swing. these fish love to chase flies and are super aggressive at the take! Once hooked, they usually take to the air and make several runs. I know its hard for steelheaders to get away from the freestones, but when you can swing over trout that think they are steelhead in the heat of the summer, why wouldn't you?

The Rogue River, as of July 29th, has 731 summer steelhead making it up to the hatchery! thats quite a few fish for this time of year so you should be able to find fish through out the whole river system. The upper river water temps are good, but I would still concentrate on the mornings and evenings. The river is running at 1500cfs out of the dam and the tributaries aren't adding much to the upper section. Its a perfect time to start waking the tailouts. I would stick to small natural intruders, my wired collection, and skaters. Remember anything below fishers ferry is closed at 2 pm.

LTS'S newest Spey rod, The Explosive Light, works great on these rivers. Its a 6126 of pure goodness and loves to throw light scandi's from 360-430 grains. the catapult tip not only makes short work effortless, it also protects the light tippets of summer. If you need more distance the tip will progress to powerful butt section and load the complete rod. The Explosive Light cast a skagit head as well as a scandi as it's action loads smoothly. This rod was born for steelhead!  We are running a summer run special on these rods. You will get a complete setup, plus a complete 4 hr instructional drift trip on the Rogue! Save yourself a season of frustration trying to figure out your kit, and how to use it effectively, with this package. After 4 hours on the Rogue, with your new rod in hand, you will be able to effectively fish any summer run steelhead you might run across. Save yourself time and money, jump into the Spey World with LTS.

Going Back!

Bent!

He thinks he's a Steelhead

The Complete Package

Arrows 

Although Not on the Spey, Swinging success!

Hello Mr. Brown 

Love Redsides!

After 15 minutes of instruction! Excellent Ross!

Trains make em" bite

Ross getting explosive!

Champion caster Donna O'Sullivan releases a large Redside!

Sweet! 

Causalities 

Fish Food