The Rogue is still producing steelhead.

There are a good number of fish in the upper Rogue. Of course nymphs will always work...stick with big stones at the top and a egg pattern below. Once the sun warms the water enough to get the bug activity up you might switch to a smaller nymph below.

Swinging has been bringing some results as well. I like to find the water the sun hits first.  Then swing it low and slow, using up to a 5 foot fluorocarbon leader to keep my tips away from fish in the clear water the Rogue is experiencing now. I match the color of fly to conditions.  I have been fishing my wired flies.

The Rogue is fishing well, but I predict it will explode in the next month as we get spring rains, so get out there.

Why fish wired flies?

 

The slight tug told me there was a fish in the emerald depths, but the abrupt slack left me burning for a better setup. I was around 14 at the time, and just as enthused about steelhead as I am today, but the fish came way harder back then then they do now. Just the gear alone made a day on the river exhausting to a 120lb 14 year old. Spending the day throwing a honey yellow 9wt Lamiglas was enough to tear off anyone’s arm, but add some mono and lead core and your just asking for trouble. Standing in the river was just as bad in those days--I could never afford the fancy new neoprene waders so I was stuck with the good ole heat sapping latex Sealdri's. To lose a steelhead back then proved to be far more disappointing than today to say the least. We never caught many, so to lose one meant weeks’ worth of work, and more than 1000 cast. I almost gave the sport up completely until a good friend of mine introduced me to a book titled Dry Line Steelhead and Other Subjects written by Bill McMillan. This book was a revelation for me, and my buddy Jim Newton, as we were looking for any way to stop throwing the old chuck and duck. It just made sense to use a floating line, long leader, and heavy fly, but the hooks we relied on to plunge feathered offering through the chilled currents were so thick and dull that hooksets became a major issue; So much so, that I searched for another way.  

The Wired Flies became the answer to my epic fly journey. I could fish a regular wired hook, taking advantages of its sharp needle like point, yet maintain the weight and profile I knew would induce a strike. I tried the whole dubbing and chenille over led wire bit, but I lost the profile I was used to—so back to the drawing board. The search for the Holy Grail of patterns, ended for me when I started making my bodies out of wire. I discovered it by accident. I had run out of lead wire, so I wrapped the biggest copper wire I could find on the hook then decided it looked too good to cover. I almost forgot about the fly until a boat in front of me was saying fish on copper colored hot shots. As luck would have it the wired copper fly I had tied that spring was the only fly I had of that color, so I tied it on halfheartedly, and fished it.  Within a few minutes I was hooked up.

I was only after the weight inducing aspect of the wire, but after using them for years I found wired body flies to have a several qualities that I never banked on.

1.       They allowed me to fish several different depths. With one fly, I could cover the whole run from top to bottom. Half hitch the head and the fly would skate, throw a couple of mends on top of it and it will dead drift the bottom.  Throw less aggressive mends and you can swim it through your favorite mid strata lie.

2.       They are extremely durable, a property that comes in handy when you have hit the mother load, or have been bouncing your offering across the stone ridden steelhead seams.  

3.       With all the wire colors out there you can cover any fishing condition known to man.

The next time you sit down to tie some steelhead patterns, whip out some Uni and give it a try, I bet you ask yourself why you didn’t fish wired flies before.

Great profile with all the weight you need

My wired flies have progressed a long ways from the first copper that hit my box.

Fish are a bit easier to come by nowadays.

The Rogue--Spey is still in the Game!

With the low, cold, water the Rogue has become more technical. There are a ton of Fish in the upper section, and we are still picking up fish Swinging with tips. Once the rain hits you had better be there!
Bring your tips, large, and dark flies. Normal years we would have turn to nymphs to keep things rolling, but with the advent of intermediate Skagits, and some good ole greased line steelheading, we are still in the game with our Spey Rods as the weather cools the water below 45 f.

Enjoy some pictures of  last weeks action.

Rogue Color and Spey Rods! What more could you want?

Those men from Iceland can cast!

A good smoke.

Enjoying the day.

Showing the boys what a D-loop looks like.

Nice Setup

Fish On!

That Wild Steelhead Is Camera shy!

A week full of Rogue River Spey! Tug is the Drug!

The Upper Rogue River is full of fish, and I am blessed enough to be spending these fall days on the river. The water is staying under 45 deg f most days making swinging tough, but we are still picking up fish. This is the first year I have had more Spey fisherman than nymph fishermen in the boat, and I'm Loving it. Sure swinging brings less fish, but the fish it does bring are the Alpha Monsters Of the Run..the ones that were aggressive enough to slam the Intruder of their underwater world. If you haven't caught steel on the swing, you need to. Experience the pure aggression of this fine river predator, once you do, you'll be tempted to throw away your nymph gear, and spend the rest of the time searching for the TUG.



Good Coffee, Great Line!



A whole Pile Of Spey...put me in coach!

 



The most demanding clients yet!


But we made them happy!

Waiting for battle


A week full of loops like this!

Been there, Done that, Wanna go Back!!!!!!!

I spent two years in this magical place, if you like Salmon, Steelhead, and Trout you need to go!

"The Kodiak Project" trailer - by LDR Media | Fly Fishing Movie from The Fly Fishing Film Tour on Vimeo.

Operation Echo!

The last couple of weeks have been a whirlwind of spey fishing. I won a trip from Mark Bachmann, and a Echo TR7130 rod from the Fly Fishing Shop in Welches. I knew it was going to be a hard trip when I spent the majority of my time traveling from Southern Oregon in the rain, but I didn't fully grasp the severity of the precipitation until I saw the White River dumping its chocolate flows into the already swollen Deschutes. Gage, my son. and I didn't let it get us down as we reminded ourselves--we are going fishing with Mark Bachmann. we pulled up to the Macks canyon ramp and found the blue Alumaweld patiently waiting  as we were 15 minutes late--the Access road kicked our butts. I had fished the Deschutes as teen for redsides, but I nearly forgot how beautiful the canyon was. Mark, expertly, took us through several rapids and explained some the the sights along the way. The trip down river was full of everything eastern Oregon can offer. Huge open vistas that contained a ton of wildlife for the trained eye. Patty, Marks copilot, navigator, and wife, had an eagle eye as she pointed out  herds of Big Horn Sheep that were invisible to the rest of us. After 30 minutes of absolute beauty the boat cruised into camp, to a pillow soft landing. To tell you the truth I wished the ride could have gone on longer as I was captivated by the beauty of it all. We off loaded the gear, were given the grand tour of the camp, then were told to grab lunch before we headed out. The sandwiches were so good they almost made me forget why I was here, until Mark said, "Nate , Ill take you and Gage a up the River and see if we can get a steelhead on that new rod." 

The wind was relentless, and the water darkening by the hour but there were several small pockets behind ledges that Mark pointed out . I had a heck of a time with the Skandi line in the monsoonal winds, as I hardly ever fish a full floater on the Rogue, and haven't Played with a Skandi of ages, but I did manage to get some fishable cast out. I swung the whole run, and Gage followed. About half way through I heard a Whoop upstream, Gage missed a massive take--partially my fault because I had for got to tell him to let the fish have the fly for a bit before setting the hook. Disappointment was painted on his face, but I could also tell that he had been hit by the swinging bug. I think Mark could tell also as he spent a bunch of time refining techniques that I had already tried to teach my teenage son--its funny how much better teens will listen to someone else's instruction during this time of their life. Mark had Gage fishing effectively in just a few minutes, something I have tried to do for several trips. We fished the rest of the evening with no avail as the river was so out of shape that you couldn't see your foot in knee deep water. 

I tried to fish the next morning, but really it was just casting practice. I wanted to catch a fish on the new rod so bad that I spent half the morning swinging a huge leach in the chocolate milk the Deschutes had turned into. 

At 11:00 I gave up and told Mark I would Fish the rod on the Rogue when I got home, maybe I could even get a fish picture with it. We loaded up all the gear, and enjoyed the ride back up the canyon. I wish I had time to stay until the river dropped as I know we would have been into fish. Mark is a Great Guide, full of knowledge,  and fun to fish with. Patty Knows how to keep the camp comfortable and was full of great conversation, as well as an excellent cook. 

The outdoors are never fully predictable, and as a guide I see that all the time. I have seen the bite turn completely off in under a hour. We have gone from catching loads of huge fish one minute to nothing for days at a time. Sometimes the river just gives you lemons. That's what happened to us, but we never felt it because of the expert hospitality of our host. There was never a dull moment. The lack of fish-able conditions just allowed us to visit more, I probably learned more on this trip about fishing, conservation, and life in general than I would have if the fishing had been good. Mark and Patty were dealt lemons which they made the best lemonade from--this is a true testament to their character, and experience. If you want to enjoy the Deschutes you owe it to yourself to Give The Fly Fishing Shop a call and take one of their camp trips, if you do I guarantee you will be talking about it for years--fish or not. 

It had been almost a week, and I hadn't been able to fish for myself to fulfill my promise to Mark, to get a picture of a steelhead caught on "The Fly Fishing Shop Rod," But yesterday my sons and I were able to sneak down the river to a spot I knew would lend itself to the skandi line--we don't fish full floaters much, as the Rogue differs in structure to the Deschutes. The holding water is more pool like, but we shot to a run I knew might work below Tou Velle. With the full floater I still felt like I wasn't covering the water well, so I put a fast sinking poly leader on the skandi compact, but between it, and my bunny leach, the poor line was over powered. Wanting to keep things in "Deschutes" fashion, I decided to try the Airflo Rage I had bought for the trip, from The Fly Fishing Shop, and it worked. The heaver tip turned the fly over even know I was pushing it past its designed intentions as a full floater, but true to my word, I wanted to Catch a fish "Deschutes" style--even if I cheated with the addition of the  fast sinking poly leader. I worked through the riffle until a smashing grab almost caught me by surprise. The boys hooped as they saw the whole thing unfold before their eyes.  The Wild Hen made several screaming runs and finally came to the beach. I took a picture of the fine fish, we admired its beautify and released it. So after a week I finally got to put my Fly Fishing Shop Rod to the test and it performed well. Echo Makes a Fine product and this rod is no exception, pared with a Airflo 480 Skandi, or a 510 Airflo Rage this rod casted like a dream. Thanks Mark, Patty, The Fly Fishing Shop, and Echo Rods you have made memories that Gage and I will never forget.            

Beautiful Place and Comfort!

I just couldn't get over the Canyon!

She was raging!

What a great view to fish by!

Switched to the Rage on the Rogue River.

Our own beautiful views on the Rogue River

Nice Rogue River Spey Caught Hen, Deschutes River Style...well almost.

"The Fly Fishing Shop Rod" as Ive Named it--  Echo 7130.

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!