Steelhead Fever

Finally a weekend without torrential rains, snow, or freezing temperatures. Time to go chase Steelhead. Paul and I started our day with breakfast at Camp 18, nestled in the heart of the Coast Range on Hwy 26. Here's a shot of Paul emerging after his Logger omelet, humming Steelhead Fever to the tune of Ted Nugent's "Cat Scratch Fever".



After breakfast we made our way to the North Fork of the Nehalem where we were pleased to see we had the river to ourselves. The flow was still pretty high from all the rain of the past week but the color was OK, sort of a hazy green. The gauge at the hatchery was at 40 inches, my experience is that mid-30s is far better. The hatchery posts an update on fish numbers and river level every day at 8 AM (503 368-5670), it's definitely worth checking before heading out. The first sign of fish was when we crossed the bridge that's about 1 mile up from the parking lot. We could see about 6 fish working a shallow trough along the bank, rolling and rooting around in the rocks and chasing each other back and forth. We both floated flies right through the pod but they had other things on their mind..... We then made our way up another 1/4 mile or so to a honey hole where I caught a bright native fish last year but the flow was too high so we pushed on. Next stop was a smooth stretch of deep water along a steep bank that was tucked in between heavy water both upstream and downstream. Paul took the first pass and then I moved in for a go. Finally my indicator stopped - no rock this time - I set the hook and it was off to the races. It was a bit of a circus, I'm trying to get the fish onto my reel, and at the same time I'm trying to get my camera out so Paul can get some action shots. Following is some great video he got in the heat of the action.





After the video-graphy Paul grabbed the net and expertly scooped him up for some photos. The first shot shows an example of the intricate fly pattern (Glo-bug) that stimulated the bite.






Paul measured him at just over 28 inches, but it was a native fish so we let him go. It would be a shame to deprive him of the opportunity to sow his wild oats on some nice gravel.

Unfortunately that was the only Steelhead of the day, though Paul did manage to get a nice Rainbow. Fortunately the native run is just getting started so there's still plenty of time to go back - I know Paul is itching to get back out there.