Rogue River and Southern Oregon Fly Fishing Guide: August 2015

Thursday, August 27, 2015

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!

Thursday, August 6, 2015

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.

Monday, August 3, 2015

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.