Northwest Steelhead

[John H]

I spent some days in Oregon and Washington fishing for steelhead. Rivers were blown out in January and dropped throughout February and were getting pretty low when I was there. Fish were caught for sure but they do not jump in the boat. If you want winter steelhead you have to put some time in whether that is driving or putting in a lot of river days and a lot of casts. Someone said to me it does not seem worth it. It is hard to defend that it is worth it based on the grabs per hour or whatever metric you want to use but if you want to do it this is what we have now so do it or don't. I try to look at the overall trip and do some things other than fishing so I am not grinding for a grab all day everyday. Have a great trip and remember the good fishing moments and you will go back. On this trip I spent about half my days fishing which seemed about right for me.

Good times in the Northwest.

http://i.imgur.com/da3LTCs.jpg (https://imgur.com/da3LTCs)
Nice tributary stream in Oregon.

http://i.imgur.com/uffh1Vw.jpg (https://imgur.com/uffh1Vw)
Parking the boat.

http://i.imgur.com/A7Zlk8j.jpg (https://imgur.com/A7Zlk8j)
Getting the anchor set.

http://i.imgur.com/2EAi50z.jpg (https://imgur.com/2EAi50z)
A Sagemobile sighting

http://i.imgur.com/M3ypEKh.jpg (https://imgur.com/M3ypEKh)
Nice color.

http://i.imgur.com/9IFAXMj.jpg (https://imgur.com/9IFAXMj)
Chromey one.

http://i.imgur.com/t3lMXui.jpg (https://imgur.com/t3lMXui)
Big shoulders.

http://i.imgur.com/TLs0Bxn.jpg (https://imgur.com/TLs0Bxn)
Beautiful fish.

http://i.imgur.com/aLPurV1.jpg (https://imgur.com/aLPurV1)
This one is ready to get gone.

http://i.imgur.com/D2eYrow.jpg (https://imgur.com/D2eYrow)
I look pretty happy about this fish.

http://i.imgur.com/wkiQs26.jpg (https://imgur.com/wkiQs26)
Some hiking on the Oregon coast. I was able to hike to the top of this cliff and look down. A little scary.

http://i.imgur.com/0y4iJhi.jpg (https://imgur.com/0y4iJhi)
A waterfall on the beach at low tide.

http://i.imgur.com/ULfyIS2.jpg (https://imgur.com/ULfyIS2)
Yard deer. Cute but they will eat about anything you plant.

http://i.imgur.com/qHD9UTh.jpg (https://imgur.com/qHD9UTh)
Razor clams are tasty. I got these two days.

http://i.imgur.com/qwaZj3f.jpg (https://imgur.com/qwaZj3f)
Biking the logging roads in the coast range.

http://i.imgur.com/AovwOaS.jpg (https://imgur.com/AovwOaS)
Launching the raft at a beaver slide.

http://i.imgur.com/6E5Divi.jpg (https://imgur.com/6E5Divi)
An Oregon buck that wants to get back to spawning.

http://i.imgur.com/jgmmSDc.jpg (https://imgur.com/jgmmSDc)
Keeping them wet in Washington.

http://i.imgur.com/LHyHDCH.jpg (https://imgur.com/LHyHDCH)
A thick tail on this hen.

http://i.imgur.com/RQO6its.jpg (https://imgur.com/RQO6its)
Hipster eats in Portland. A biscuit with fried chicken, bacon, lots of gravy and a slice of cheese.

[Bill Kiene semi-retired]

Amazing post and pictures John......

I guess it is still all out there just waiting for us to show up? The wild Pacific Northwest of America.

[JasonB]

Another awesome post! Looks like a great trip in all sorts of ways. Love your photos too.

[Mr T]

Bill always says it and this proves it- I need to retire and get out before its too late.

Thanks John for the report!

[BumpBailey]

Awesome post John. Looked like a very successful steelhead trip and yes, you look real happy in the one photo!

[BS]

As always John, Thank You for sharing your photos of the beautiful area you visited. :cool::cool:

And a special Thank You for your fish handling while taking photos of your treasures. :cool::cool::cool::cool::cool:

Good job John !!!


Bob

[tdrfishoot]

I always thoroughly enjoy your posts and pics. Thank you!
Tim

[John H]

I am glad you guys like the post. I carry the camera or cameras around a lot waiting for something good to shoot. If you are out there long enough something good usually comes along you just need to make sure you know it when you see it. You also need a fishing buddy that can shoot your fish and knows how to handle fish so you can get a shot of what he catches. Team effort for sure. Every time you see me or my hands in a picture I did not take the shot.

The Sagemobile was interesting. Apparently that guy gets paid to drive around and fish and chat it up on social media. There is probably more to it than that but it sounds like a pretty good gig. I am giving him some publicity which is exactly what he wanted so I guess their strategy is working.

The other interesting thing we saw that day was a couple of boats doing a shoot for a raincoat company. They had three guys with cameras in one boat following another boat with a guide and a famous Swedish pike fisherman. I don't know who the famous Swedish guy was but I am guessing everyone in Sweden does. They had a shot list and the last shot they needed was a picture of the famous Swedish guy holding a fish. This was their third day out and the first two days they had not gotten a fish so I expect whoever was in charge was a little nervous. To be sure they got a fish they broke out the plug rods. When they got their plug fish they had a drone in the air and the fish jumped and almost hit the drone. They got their shot and went home happy. Funny stuff. I had the idea of trading them some fish shots for some raincoats but it did not work out.

Hunker down and stay healthy. It might take a while to get through this but there will be good fishing on the other side.

[Larry S]

John,
Quite a story about the raincoat folks.
Our north coast is a national treasure.
Thanks again!
Larry S
Sun Diego

[hwchubb]

Fabulous shots as always, John! Especially the non-fish shots, because they don’t make me as jealous as the fish shots do...

You realize you could put together a pretty fine “Fishing the Pacific Time Zone” coffee table book just with what you have posted here over the years, right?

[avidangler]

I know that beaver slide, it's one of my favorite drifts of all time! Great pics, I miss the PNW!

[John H]

Chubb - I like that book title. I might have to steal it someday.

Avid - You know your slides and that is a nice drift. Lots of pockets for the fish to hide in. Two of the fish in the post were caught on that drift. I have tried to fish that area the last couple of years but the low water made it challenging. I am not giving up though.

[TaylerW]

Always making me homesick. Miss living less than an hour from that slide. Two winters ago put the drift boat in at the confluence of the forks. Not recommended. One of the scariest drops I've ever ran in a hard boat.