Rogue River Steelhead are coming out to play!

The Rogue Is fishing well if your willing to get your flies down. Other than a few shallow runs, I have switched to skagits. The river is in its annual cooling stage and the fish are becoming more and more like winter steelhead. Of course Nymphs are fishing well. Stick to stoneflies up front, and match the hatch behind. Don't be afraid to throw the small stuff. 

Swinging is becoming more technical, you have to hit the slots and keep your fly in the fishes face as long as you can. I like fishing big flies this time of year, mostly blue and black.  I continue to use these techniques until the river starts to rage again in the spring, but don't be afraid to throw the scandi back on when the sun warms a run enough that you to see fish activity. Even with the colder water, I have caught several fish in the top half of the water column when conditions are right. 

If you're close to the Rogue, get out there! There are a ton of fish!   

Steve's first Steelhead ever!

Tammy with a freshy

Tammy is a fish Magnet!

Another nice fish!

Bob getting into the action!

Pile of LTS Rods! what a great time testing some new

Southern Oregon Is on Fire-- Rogue River Holy Water, and Williamson River Report.

Rogue River Salmonfly Hatch

 

Bob hit the dry fly world with a storm. It took him a couple of fish before one came to the bank, but it didn't take him long before he was able to see a beautiful trout up close and personal.  Good job Bob, your fishing like a pro. The Rogue River Salmon Fly Hatch continues to impress.

 

 

Williamson River Report

From Good Friend and Great Guide Brent Hublitz

"Wow! What an opening weekend on the Williamson. The water is low, clear, and the fishing is better than fantastic. I ran trips the last three days and there are more than enough fish to have some fun (large one’s too.) Swinging leech patterns on a slow sinking intermediate line has been the most productive technique. I will post some pictures of this weekend in the next day or two, but for now it’s time to go get some rest."

 

Salmon Fly Hatch and the Rogue River equal Fat Trout! Holy Waters for sure!

I love watching huge trout go bonkers over dry flies. Predators of the first degree: just their ferocity gets my heart pumping, but watching a 20 inch monster of the deep flash your multiple times in a fifteen foot drift is an adrenaline overload!  Now do this over and over and by the end of the day you’ll be an adrenaline soaked mess that is smiling ear to ear. Welcome to the Salmon Fly Hatch on the Rogue River my friends.

Pulling Hard

This fish was burping from being such a salmon fly glutton!

This Salmon Fly has good taste!

A place to relax.

Another Great Rod From LTS

When a certain rod matches you its pure Magic! That is what I am finding with the LTS rods. I'm not sure what they are made out of, but they are nothing short of amazing in my book. Donna, from www.fishon-sports.com let me play with yet another LTS....The Most striking of all them...the 1309-4 Across! Check out my review below!

Rogue Up River Kings

Ok, if any of you have followed me for a while you know that I have a passion that I haven't filled yet. After 43 years on God's green earth, I have yet to hook and land a up river, Rogue River Springer on a fly. I have hooked them, mostly by accident,  but I haven't even came close to landing one yet. Part of the reason for this is that I haven't had enough practice.  Part of the reason I haven't had enough practice is that my average hook up, to year, ratio is .0008 to one. Part of the reason for such a low hook up rate is that I think my fly is fishing where the salmon hold, about .053 seconds out of every 8 hours on the river, due to the high spring run off associated to these jems of the northwest.

This year is different,  2014 will be the year this passion will be filled, because I have came up secret weapon number 57.  With olé 57 I have a hypothesis to prove, but if I learned anything from 2 to 56, and kindergarten, it's that you have to keep your fly down...maybe I have the kindergarten lesson backwards...anyhow if you are going to catch a Chinook you have to be on the bottom. That's where olé 57 comes into the picture.  Olé 57 is a fly I would like to call Slowfish...kinda named after the lure with the exact opposite name...The Slowfish will get down.

The Slowfish is as big as my hand and made out of materials that allows it to be casted with something slightly less than a crane, but I guarantee it will get down.

Like all my other secret weapons I have yet ti iron all the details out--like will graphite hold up to the strain of  a Mack truck, as studies have shown that is the equivalent resistance that this fly will place on any rod: And if so how much of the river will it take with it. I am also a bit leery of packing the rod that this beast will require, as I'm afraid that much graphite whipping around in the atmosphere might alter the signals from the GPS satellites, sending our Air Force to attack Fiji instead Afghanistan- I kinda like Fiji!

Anyhow wish me luck, and don't let this secret leak to any of the Chinooks you know....Nate

What's that? You want to know about secret weapon number 1. Oh we don't talk about that around here. It's mere mention, creates hate and discontent around my house, as we haven't been able to handle our house cat since...even to wash the Chartreuse dye out.

So,  go ahead and copy this pattern if your man enough. 

Secret No.57 the Fly Known as Slowfish!

AirFlo Rage Give Away!

We are just 250 visits away from Giving away a Airflo Rage (in the weight you request). So if you haven't  done so yet, go to my  website and use the link to my email and send me a message. I will put your message into a raffle. If you visit the site, make sure you get credit for it and send me a email. I will not use the emails for a mass email, or sell them to anyone, and I will delete the folder they are in after the drawing. If you like to keep up with whats going on, on the Rogue, Williamson, and other Southern Oregon waters you can follow  My Blog , just click on the "follow me" button on the top right and you will get a notification when my blog updates. If you want a Rage line, take the few seconds and shoot me a email...you never know you might be the winner.

Go with the Flo

Could Be Yours




 

The Next Generation!

I love the fact that my boys still want to go fishing with me. I think the future of our Sport, Rivers, and Fish are in there hands. I am proud of all three of my boys, and would like you meet them. They aren't only the future of On The Fly Guide Service they are the people that will carry its values forward. I am pleased to introduce:

Aaron 

Aaron is the oldest of my three son's which means that he has been eating all the boat snacks longest. He is the most patient of all my boys. When he was little he would hunt the whole river, hitting every lie until he would catch a fish, then he would stay there the rest of the day. I couldn't get him to move as he thought that was the only place to catch a fish in the whole river.

Aaron with a couple nice Wood River Red Bands

Gage

Gage Is my middle son. He is probably the least patient of my sons. If its not moving fast he is. He covers water like a freight train! Often passing up all, but the most aggressive fish in the run--his excuse is those other fish don't fight anyhow. Gage is a natural with a two hander, although I had a heck of a time teaching him (father son thing). It wasn't until Mark Bauchman spent some time with him until he really started kicking some line out. If your swinging behind Gage, don't worry he wont hog the hole- but he may get all the tail walkers.

Wood River... Ya

Gage attacking a classic Rogue River Run!

Chase

Chase is the youngest of my sons. He is never to be outdone by his older brothers. He is fishes wise beyond his years. Always calculating, he watches his brothers and learns from their victories and mistakes. Chase usually bats clean up--catching fish the other two have missed. You can bet if Chase is fishing a certain lie he'll have a reason. 

Chase with a nice Rogue River Steelhead.

 As you can see, On The Fly Guide Service and our sport is in good hands, and you can bet I am a proud Papa.

Snow, Christmas Lights, Rogue River Steelhead, and the Jacket that Keeps me in the game.

The Rogue Valley has been covered with the most snow that I have seen in years. It caused a cancellation of a trip on Friday as my clients tried to get back North before the bulk of the weather hit. I can't blame them as the news was calling for 2-5 inches of snow on the valley floor. 6-8 inches was more like it. The day off provided some time for some Christmas shopping (yuk), much needed time with Misty, and a snowball fight with the boys!  But, after the way swinging flies on the Rogue has been, I was itching to get on the River--its not very often you can fish the Rogue with snow on its banks.  First though,  I had honey do's to get done. Ya that's right, even guides have honey do's that need to be done before they can go fishing.

After some online Christmas shopping and getting the Christmas lights hung, the dogs and I were off to the river. We made it through the gate and noticed that there were only one set of tracks to the river bar, and they looked like a some from a kid that was playing around, so I had the river all to myself. I needed all the help I could get, when I got to the river I noticed steam rising from its emerald waters. I started at the top and swung my way through the three buckets the Modoc contains. I spent a good couple hours making my way through the buckets, spending the majority of the time in the second as its the top producer for me. No dice, and it was starting to get dark so I moved down river to the last little bucket. The ice in my guides made it nearly impossible to cast, but I managed to keep my fly in fishy water. I about gave up hope when sudden pause came into my swing then a light tug. I almost wrote it off as bottom, but I knew there was no way it was as I have swung hundreds of flies, at all different river levels, and have never have touched
 the bottom. I stripped in the Skagit Intermediate head and re-casted, making sure to get the exact same drift. The line paused again, but this time I felt the heft of a fish. I dropped my tip, paused a second, then pulled strait back. The rod came to a stop against angry, Rogue Steel! Weight turned to Powerful throbs, then to drag ripping fury! I was taken by surprise as it has been over ten hookups since I connected with a Native Rogue fish. I let the beast run until it hit the tailout leading to ledges below. I knew that if the fish made it over the riffle there was no way I could wade to it from my side of the river so I applied some pressure to the the palming rim, but it was more than the 10 lb fluorocarbon tippet could handle as it parted like a rifle shot. This fish made a couple congratulatory jumps, and returned to the emerald depths.

The sun went to bed, I loaded the dogs and we enjoyed the beauty of the snow as we made our way home. As I unloaded the dogs and the gear my neighbor made a comment to the loss sanity that was involved to wade hip deep in the middle of a river and swing flies on a day such as this. I smiled and put the rod and waders away. I thought to myself, there is no way I could have stayed out that long without my wool base layer and down jacket.

I spent several months researching the perfect insulating outerwear for fishing and hunting. I wanted the packable lite weight of down, but was afraid of it around the water. Down is only insulating when it is fluffy and dry as that's how it holds air. Once it gets wet it loses it's loft, and all of its insulating qualities--this could spell disaster on the river as I am around rain and water all winter long. Sometimes miles away from the warmth of the pickup. I thought I would have to live with the heft and bulk of pirma-loaf until I ran across a company that specializes in light weight extreme weather clothing Kuiu.  Kuiu ultralight cloathing allows me to stay warm on the river, with peace of mind, through their innovative product: Supper Down.

Kuiu Super Down Jacket

This Jacket is light weight, packable, and safe. It isn't your normal down jacket as its down has been treated with a special loft keeping, molecular waterproofing. This waterproofing has worked great. Although the jacket is considered as a insulating layer and is meant to be worn under a shell in wet weather, I have found its water resistant properties to be a asset when I dunk a arm releasing fish or retrieving the occasional fly. Check out Super Down in the Video below.

I have found this Jacket to do all that's claimed. If your looking for a down jacket that can give you a little peace of mind check out Kuiu. Here are some pictures of me testing mine and the beauty if the Rogue in winter dress.

Down Touvelle Rd.

One track and I!

Getting to the River!

Putting Kuiu through its paces!

Swinging the Second Bucket.

That fly has accounted for the last ten hookups for us.

Steam coming off the River! I guess it does that at 20 degrees.

The Lights are up! Still Have to fix the cross!

Proud Papa!

What happens when the lady of the house goes shopping and leaves the boys at home on a day off? We go to the Rogue and swing some flies. We loaded up the rods and headed to the top of the river to try out a couple of new patterns that I wanted to fish. I took Gage to the top of the run, tied on my prototype fly, and pointed out the rocks to pay attention to. Gage, rolled his eyes and told me,"Dad I know, I'm not a little kid anymore." I thought, ya kid, I would listen if I were you. But, I smiled at Gage, and headed to the next run below. I about made it to my run when I heard, "Dad, Fish On!" I looked up river and sure enough Gage had a nice fish making a good run. By the time I got back up the river he had the nice hatchery fish subdued. "Griller Dad, I told  you I know where they are." Gage said when I got there. I took some pictures and congratulated him nonchalantly, but I couldn't be prouder as my son has turned into a steelheader, he is reading his own water and catching fish out of it. He went on to hook and a hog just a bit further down the run. I tied on a "prototype" and hooked a couple of my own but they didn't get me near as excited as Gage's! To say I am a proud papa is a understatement.

Locked and Loaded!

Swinging "his" water

Gage with a well read fish!

Following suit!

A couple for the grill!

 

The Rogue River Spey Fishing Is Back on!

Last week consisted of praying for Rain!--the Rogue slowed the last couple weeks. The Rain finally came, the River grabbed some color, and best of all, the Steelhead started biting again. I had some new lines to try out so I hit the river at about 3:30 this afternoon leaving me just a couple of hours to get my two new Tfo's dialed in! I started through the run with the TFO 4/5 126 4 DC. I lined it with a 330 grn Airflo Skandi compact, which was a tad on the heavy side, but I slowed the rod enough to let it do its thing. I tipped the head with a intermediate polly and  about 3 foot of 0x tippet. I placed two prince Nymphs and dead drifted them in The greased line fashion of old. Even though the the flies bounced their way through the run the fish waited until they started to swing before he slammed them! The little Spey Rod did well, and 15 minutes later the 5 lb buck was in my hands. I loved casting the little rod, but Im going to buy a 300 grain scandi for touch and go casting.

I really wanted to catch a fish on both rods as it was the first time they were out, and I knew it would put some serious Steelhead Mojo on them, if they hit fish. The next rod to Fish was the TFO TF 6/7 130 4 DC. This is the absolute best rod I have casted and fished, in a long time. I lined it with a 480 Airflo Skagit Intermediate and 10' of T7. The line swung slow and hung just off the bottom. This presentation brought a huge strike that jerked line off the reel. I felt the weight of the fish, but was unable to get a solid hookset. I fished until dark and had a couple small taps, but left the river with a huge Grin. I love the rods, with a little more fine tuning they will become at the top of my list of great rods.

Two Hours and a few fish,  it sounds like the bite is back on boys--lets make up for some Lost Time.

Nice Little Buck

The 4wt Spey  Rod did a great job on this Rogue River Steelhead !

6wt Swinging the Rogue!

The Rogue Is getting some color!

Dang Kings!

One of the best places to catch Steelhead on the Upper Rogue River is behind the Salmon Redds, but this can be tricky at times because the salmon that haven't spawned yet will hold in the same water, and after being in the river for a few months they get persnickety. This, bright for this time of year, salmon went 20 feet to slam this fly before Bob could get it out of his way a second time. Normally we strait line em ' but this salmon was bright enough I thought, I might be able to get our flies back...I was wrong!

I know this isn't fly fishing, but you have to admit that the Rogue River and its Fish are cool!

And yes Im doing NOTHING today, which is nice as the River gets crowded on the weekend!

The Rogue River is rolling.

I was allowed to be a part of a family fishing trip yesterday--being a part of these memories is what makes guiding so much fun.

One of the things Nathan and Don will talk about for ever is Nathan's First steelhead. We were drifting flies through the run when Nathan's line paused and looked as if it was hung on the bottom. He started to take up slack and I said " looks like you got the bottom." As Nathan pulled the slack in, it looked like he had snagged the bottom up river, I started to say, "yep, its the bottom," but before I could get "Bottom," out of my mouth a nice male steelhead makes a rocket jump, pulling Nathan's line out of the water with it. I could see a mix of joy, and controlled panic on Nathan's face as he followed my instructions as to how to fight the fish on the switch rod. 6 crazy jumps, a couple good runs, and about 10 minutes later Nathan was able to put his hands on the Rogue River Brute--His First Steelhead Ever!

The day ended well. There were six clients spread over 3 boats, drifting different sections of river that were over 30 miles apart, and all 6 scored a steelhead--some multiple fish--two of which caught their first steelhead. This is almost unheard of in the steelhead world, but not on the Rogue River! Have I mentioned lately how much of a blessing it is for me to be able to guide such a river system?!? What a Great Day, with Great People, On a Great River!!

The Rogue River has runs that go for ever!

Classic Rogue River Steelhead Water!

Don's Nice  Rogue River Hen Steelhead

Nathan's First Steelhead--He will never forget the Rogue River after this one!

Its the most wonderful time of the year!

No, not Santa! Fall! It means Summer Steelhead on the Rogue River, and October Caddis! A combonation that can be some of the most fun you'll have. Orange seems to be the theme of fall, and the fish often agree, as they find swung pumpkin flies hard to resist. Here are some top producers for the Upper Rogue River.

Gotta Love October! Match the October Caddis Hatch on the Rogue River!

Halloween Fly-- A top Rogue River Producer for rainy days.

Why they eat them!!! October Caddis bring Rogue Steel to the bank!

A Great Day for Spey--Rogue River Style

I started the day off at the annual Two hands at Touvelle event. What a great time, I got to cast the newest and the greatest. I also got to try out a Airflo Rage for the first time...Wow, What a great dry line. There is something cool about being able to just grab a rod and go cast it, it close to being in steelhead heaven. While there, I met a cool young man named Kellen who was testing rods 3 at a time--my kind of guy.  As the gathering wore down I knew that I had to get on the water so I drove to the river, knowing that I was in for a good day. Within three cast I got a tug, and a few later I was hooked up. I was all alone until I noticed a young man make his way to the beach. A few minutes later I noticed he was hooked up and having a hard time beaching the fish by himself so I made my way up river to help him out. Once I got there, I realized it was non-other than Kellen! I tailed the nice hen for him and we both admired the nice fish.

With Smile on his face Kellen Said "Everyone says you have to have a bobber and a Nymph to catch steelhead on the Rogue, Why is that?"

I laughed, and answered, "I don't know, we didn't even know what a indicator was when I swung flies here as a kid." We both went back to swinging the run--Kellen ended the evening 2 for 2 and I followed 1 for 3,  missing grabs in between fish--not bad for a couple of hours. 

We were the only two people within sight on a Saturday night- just us, the ducks, and steelhead -Have I ever mentioned I love the Upper Rogue in fall.

Going Back

Nice Little Male

Kellen with his nice Rogue River Steelhead