Steelhead Report

The beautiful North Umpqua

The fishing remains about the same, though the rivers are really showing fall. We did get some rain that bumped up both the Rogue and the North. The rain on the North seemed to move the fish that we had in the system out, I have yet to see any sign that we are going to get some fish to replace those that left. The freshet on the Rogue however has seemed to bring in at least a few new fish into the upper Rogue.

We've been getting fish every day on the Rogue our best day being 3 for 5, this buck was one of those. Although the fishing on the North has been a bit slow we have still seen some good action.

I experienced something I had never had happened with Tim Howland. We were swinging a sink-tip through a run when it happened, we got the big pull. Tim lifted a bit early on it, the rod bowed to the fish and then nothing, we'd lost him. Our hearts sank, Tim looked at me and I knew he knew want he did. The fly still swinging through got hit again, this time the fish stuck. In the amount of time this took place I am positive it was the same fish. I have never had one come back after being stung.

 A few weeks ago I got to do a little fun fishing with friend Ryan Peterson( www.thebigpull.wordpress.com ) down on the Trinity River in Northern California. Here are a couple of pics......

Steelhead Report

The rivers are starting to show a few signs of fall. Chinook are starting to turn the gravels, the leaves are starting to turn and I saw a few october caddis erraticly dipping here and there on the river. Both the Rogue and North Umpqua are starting to fish better and should continue on that track as we get into fall even more.

In two days with Dirk and his buddies Todd and Dave we rose five fish, not hooking any due to pre-mature jerkulation. That is an easy thing to do, none of these guys ever fish dries for steelhead before, and when you see a fish erupt on your fly you tend to get a little excited. A few fish were really shy about coming to the fly, we had one come to three different flies. Dirk did the right thing, he never flinched, the fish was just a player. Players are a lot of fun but it also makes you scratch your head a bit.

Rogue water is dropping and the runs are looking better with each drop. The fishing in the upper river is doing ok. Did a lower float with Craig and Sue Zarling, hoping to find some on there way up. The water looked great but at the end of a long day of swinging we came up empty. I really thought we would see a few fish that day. That's steelheading though, we rolled the dice, some days you get some days you don't.

On a lighter note: