Steelhead Sunday!

If you've read  any of my past entries, you know that I haven't been doing much fishing lately.  My hand hasn't healed as well as I had hoped it would, and it's still very sore.  However, last Sunday I decided that I needed to get out.  Destination: the good ole' Necanicum River.

I met a buddy in the Klootchy Creek Parking lot at 6:30 and we started hiking in the dark.  Once we got to our spot, we still had to do a tough crossing.  I'm tall enough that it wasn't too bad, plus the water was low enough, but I was still a little nervous.  I always am whenever I'm in over my knees in fast-moving water.

Once we got to the other bank, we were greeted with about 100 yards of prime steelhead water, and most importantly, NO PEOPLE!  We had our entire stretch of river all to our selves.  Excited for a good day on the water, I cast my bobber setup into the water and hoped for the best.

Quick detour--for those who don't know how a sliding bobber setup works or how it's rigged, here's a little bobber fishing for steelhead 101 lesson for you:  The following is a pretty accurate illustration of how I prefer to bobber fish:

I personally prefer braid line when I bobber fish.  You can get stronger, thinner line, it doesn't stretch so it makes a hookset easier, it floats, and your bobber stop seems to "stick" to it more than mono.  So from top to bottom you have a bobber stop (you can tie these yourself but I prefer to buy them.  They are less than 2 bucks for a dozen), bead (this is to keep your bobber from slipping over the top of your stop), bobber (I prefer Beau Macs, and for a small stream like the Necanicum I wouldn't go bigger than 1/2 oz.  I was using 3/8 oz on Sunday), another bead (this is to protect your bobber from the sharp metal swivel), barrel swivel, leader (I prefer Seaguar, and I usually use 8-12 lb test for steelhead), weight (usually split shot), and finally your jig or bait.

Side note--make sure the weight under your bobber matches the weight rating on the side.  For example, if you're using a 1/2 oz bobber and a 1/8oz jig, you need an additional 3/8 oz of splitshot to make it balance.

I was using jigs under my bobber, and my favorite jig of all time is the Nightmare Jig.  Here's a picture of the nightmare pattern:

This jig is deadly when the water is clear, but it seems to work pretty well in almost any condition.  The pink, white and black combination does well in nearly any color of water.

Anyhow, back to fishing.  After a couple hours and a couple subtle bounces of my bobber, which I wasn't sure if it was my jig catching on the bottom or subtle strikes, my bobber took a deep dip downward.  I quickly set the hook, but was too late.  "Tommy!"  I yelled at my friend.  "I think I just had a strike!"

As he walked over to see what all the commotion was about, I ran my bobber through the exact same slot.  This time there was no mistaking the quick dive my bobber took...FISH ON!

Strangely, this fish seemed to have no spirit.  I could tell it was a fish and not a stick, but I was just reeling it in with very little fight.  I told Tommy that I thought I had a small trout on, and just then the steelhead finally decided to make a fight out of it.  She went airborn, and Tommy exclaimed "That's no trout!"

Now the fight was on.  She took 2 more jumps and several nice runs.  Every time I got her close to shore, she took one look at us, got scared, and headed back out again.  Finally on the 4th or 5th time Tommy was able to tail her.  WOOHOO!  She was fin clipped, and nice and shiny.  I quickly bonked and bled her, then posed for this picture:

First Steelhead of the year!  I was happy to say the least.

After I had my fun, Tommy ran his bobber in the same place.  Bobber down!  After a short fight, he had landed a pretty little native buck on a pink and yellow worm.  Sorry, I don't have any pictures of Tommy's fish, but I guarentee he was a beauty although small.

After a few hours we decided to head to a different spot.  After dropping the fish off in my cooler, we went to another really good stretch of steelhead water.  From here Tommy showed me a method I hadn't seen before.  It's hard to describe (partly because I'm still not 100% sure how he did it) but it was basically back-bouncing a spinner.  Sure enough, after a couple casts, Tommy had a beauty of a steelhead on his line.  It was a great battle, full of long runs.  At one point, he had the fish on the bank and was ready to bonk and bleed him, and the steelhead took 1 big flop back into the water and kept fighting.  Feisty fish to say the least!

Here's a video of the fight, taken by yours truly:

After this, the rain really picked up so we decided to call it a day.  And what a fun day it was!

Once I got home I weighed and measured the fish, and she came out to 25.5 inches long and 7lbs.  I filleted her, brined her in a homemade concoction, and put her on the smoker.  I haven't tried any yet, but this is how she turned out:

So glad to finally be fishing again.  Tight lines!

Broken Bones and Bad Weather

Well, another lame non-fishing post.

Like I mentioned 2 weeks ago, I've still got the broken bone in my hand and it's not getting better. It's so frustrating and annoying. Next week I'm going in for another x-ray to see if it's healing. If no progress is being made I may have to move on to plan B: the dreaded cast. I'm hoping I won't have to resort to that though.

Also, the 26th and 27th didn't happen either. I was all set to do a float on the Trask River, but the water was just so clear and low that fish weren't getting caught. It would have been a fun boat ride without many fishing opportunities.

On a side note--the Oregon Ducks are the 2012 Rose Bowl champions, and yours truly was down in Pasadena soaking up the 80 degree sun as well as savor the sweet taste of victory! GO DUCKS!!

Still No Fishing, and a Little Bad News

I've been so busy with basketball, Duck Games, and the Holidays that I've still had no time to fish.  In fact, It's been a full month since the last time I got out on the water.  That should change on 12/26 and 12/27.  I've got those days off from work and hope to target some winter Steelhead those days.

Also, I've got some bad news.  Turns out I broke a bone in my left hand.  This isn't my X-Ray, but I've circled the place where the break is.  Luckily no surgery is needed, but I'm not sure how it will affect my fishing.  I guess I'll find out in a couple weeks.

Tight Lines!

Sorry for the Lack of Posts!

It's tough to have a fishing blog when you haven't been doing much fishing lately, and that's been my situation.  Lots of Duck games, and the rivers have been pretty blown out lately.

Whenever my basement floods, it usually means that the rivers are high and unfishable, and that was the case last week.  Wet basement...yep...rivers are in flood stage.  In particular, the Necanicum breached its banks and spilled water over HWY 101.

Here's something interesting...up in Washington a river that flooded over the road actually had salmon swimming across the highway.  The one front and center looks like a colored up chum to me:

Anyhow, I'll be getting out a little more as the college football season winds down.  The Ducks host UCLA on Friday for the Pac-12 Championship, and that's the last home game of the year.  We are planning on going to Pasadena for the Rose Bowl if the Ducks win the Pac-12, but other than that, my weekends will finally be open...just in time for winter steel!  Until then, tight lines!

Salmon Success!

I drove west to my favorite little Coastal river, the good ol' Necanicum, in search of some salmon.  I was hoping that the rain we had earlier in the week would push some salmon further upriver, and I was not disappointed.  Although the Necanicum doesn't have monitored river levels, some other coastal streams around there too, and they were all up, so I figured that all the rivers would be producing.

Here's a shot of the river.  If you read my summer posts, you might remember these rocks all being exposed and this hole being extremely shallow (not even really a hole anymore).  This was not the case.  As you can see, the water is still very clear, but definitely fishable.

Here's another shot of the river, from above a steep dropoff.  You can see how beautiful of a day it was.  The hole I started fishing is at the far end of the picture:

I found a spot to access the river, hiked down, and waded across.  As I hiked upriver, I passed this enormous salmon head.  Looked like a big hen to me.  I didn't get very close because it was stinky, but snapped a quick picture.   Hopefully she had a chance to spawn and pass some of those "big fish genes" on to future generations of salmon.  I was also happy to see that fish had started making their way upriver to where I was headed.

After passing the fish head, I hiked another quarter mile upriver, passing a father and son catching frogs.  They confirmed that there were fish in the river, and gave me some pointers on where to fish.  They directed me to the hole that I already intended on fishing, but I graciously accepted their "advice" and settled into a spot that I had a feeling would hold a few fish.

I just got a new bobber rod, a 9.5 foot IM8 model that I picked up from Dicks.  I had already tied up my setup the night before, so I strung on a big, gooey glob of cured roe and cast a few times.  After 20 minutes and a half dozen casts, my bobber suddenly stopped drifting downriver.  In fact, it just stopped.  It didn't go down or change direction, but I set the hook just in case.  Good thing...FISH ON!  He immediately dove to the deepest part of the hole and started peeling line off as he headed downriver.  A spectacular fight ensued, and I thought I had on a monster until I caught a glimpse of him and saw he was on the small side.  But what fun to land!  15 minutes and several long runs later, and I had him tired enough to bring to the bank.  When I got him close, I saw that he was a chinook, and a little bronze, but he was a clipped hatchery fish, and hatchery fish get the club.  I bonked him and took this picture:

After snapping the picture, I quickly cut his gills and bled him out.  **WARNING**  If fish blood turns your stomach, you may want to skip this next picture.

After bleeding him, I sat down and had a light lunch while I let the hole reset.  Nothing better than relaxing after fighting a chinook!

After waiting for about 10 minutes while I enjoyed my snack, I strung on another glob of eggs and started fishing the same spot.   After about 30 minutes, my bobber suddenly changed direction and started heading upriver.  This could only mean 1 thing...ANOTHER FISH ON!  I set the hook and prepared to battle this one.  He swam into the best possible place (for me): a deep pool with no outlet.  Once the rain comes, it will go all the way through, but right now the water is still shallow and the pool leads to nowhere.  I let him swim back and forth, turning his head each time he got close to the edge, and let him tire himself out against my drag.  10 minutes later, I brought this native coho to my feet:

Crummy picture, I know, but he was a native coho and I wanted to release him as carefully and gently as possible.  In case you didn't know, you can't keep native coho on the Necanicum, but even if you could I would have released him anyway.  He was pretty dark and wouldn't have provided very good meat.

After releasing him, I took anther break and let the hole relax a little more.  I proceeded to fish it with the same bobber and eggs setup until 3 guys showed up and started fishing my hole as well.  They were nice guys, but I started feeling a little crowded and took off.  The rest of my day was uneventful...I fished another 4 or 5 spots with no success, and then drove home.  Still I was happy!  2 salmon caught in the first hour makes for a great day of fishing no matter what happens after that.  I headed back to the car and enjoyed a cold beer while I packed up my gear and got ready to head out:

After that, I drove to Seaside to clean and gut the fish.  I wanted to save the guts to use as crab bait for a future coastal trip.  After packing up everything and getting ready to head home it was dark out, and I snapped this shot of a beautiful sunset over the Pacific Ocean:

When I got home, I was pleased to see how well the fish cut.  I was worried that him being a little dark would produce some light orange, not so great fillets, but he cut a nice deep pink color:

Pardon the poor filleting job.  I mistakenly left my fillet knife in Seaside, and had to cut this fish up with a kitchen knife.  So my fillets were a little jagged.  No matter, I brined them in a salt/brown sugar/soy sauce/garlic/cayenne pepper mixture for 24 hours, dried them last night, and as I type this they are sitting on my smoker.  I figure they are about 90 minutes away from being ready.  I can't wait!  They look pretty good, if I do say so myself :)

I'm trying to figure out when I'll be fishing next.  Hopefully I'll have another successful report for you in the next week or two.  Until then, tight lines!

A Few Blogs, Websites, and Forums That I Like

I thought I would give you some links to some websites and blogs that I read frequently.

First off, the Oregon Fishing Forum.  This is a great, friendly site with a lot of good information.  I've met a couple people on here that have become fishing buddies.  I'm not a super frequent poster but I do share my comments from time to time.

http://www.oregonfishingforum.com/

Another forum that I am only a lurker on, but still has a lot of great information, is iFish.  This site has been in existance for over a decade, and can be a bit overwhelming on the sheer volume of posts and information, so my suggestion for navigating it would be this: decide on the body of water you plan on fishing and search for that name.  Depending on the size and popularity of the stream you intend to be on, there may be hundreds of posts or only a few.  Find a post that is roughly the same date as the day you plan on fishing, and see what is working.

For example, if I want to fish the Nehalem River on November 22nd, 2011, I would search "Nehalem."  This would likely bring up hundreds (or even thousands) of posts.  Search and find someone who posted a report on 11/22/10, or 11/22/09, or even 11/22/01.  Or anywhere in mid to late November for that matter.  Most likely what worked then will work for you now.

http://www.ifish.net/board/forumdisplay.php?f=9

Here are a few blogs that I enjoy reading:

My buddy Brad's blog, the Riverkeeper.  Brad primarily fishes Alaska and the Northwest corner of Oregon, but has been known to venture east in search of desolate trout streams.

http://riverkeeper1.blogspot.com/

Steven down in Southern Oregon is a fish slayer, and he fishes the bigger rivers down there like the Rogue and Umpqua.  He also writes a quality blog with a lot of good fish porn.  One of these days I really need to drive down there and test those Southern Oregon waters.

http://www.southernoregonfishingreports.com/

Shane is another Southern Oregon fisher, but he's gone AWOL the past few months.  Maybe because the NBA season is in limbo?  (Shane is a big Blazer fan like me)  Shane...Shane??? Where are you????

http://oregonshane.wordpress.com/

Phillip lives in South Africa, about as far from Oregon as one can get, yet the fish he catches look strangely similar to the ones that we have down here.  Moreover, the techniques he uses are also strikingly similar.  I guess that even when we are far away from each other, we really aren't all that far...

http://drakensview.blogspot.com/

The Hopper Juan is another good blog for any fly fishing junkie.  (I'm not at the point where I can call myself a junkie quite yet, but maybe some day)  He is in Colorado and targets trout in those high mountain waters.

http://hopperjuan.blogspot.com/

The River Damsel is another high mountain fly fisher living in Salt Lake City, Utah.  She writes an amazing blog full of great pictures.

http://www.theriverdamsel.com/

Dustin's Fly Box is a good blog for tying patterns and other ideas on making your own flies.  Unfortunately, I haven't started tying my own flies quite yet, so I haven't been reading it much.  Still, for you fly people, there's a lot of good info on this one

http://dustinsflybox.blogspot.com/

Here's the link to a great online flyshop.  Phillip is great with advice if you tell him what you will be targeting and what body of water you will be on.  Furthermore, the flies are excellent and cheap...only 50 cents!  Plus, if you are lucky you can find them when they are having a sale and flies are even cheaper.  I highly recommend this online flyshop to anyone who doesn't tie their own flies yet.  In fact, even if you do tie your own, Phillip has tools and materials for sale as well.

http://www.streamflies.com/

Don at River City Fly shop sold me my first fly rod, and I've been hooked ever since.  He also has the largest supply of fly tying materials I've ever seen.  Plus he's super friendly and helpful to someone like myself who's just getting started.  He was kind enough to throw in free fly line, backing, and a nice assortment of flies to get me started.  If you are in the Portland area and are looking for a fly shop, River City Fly is your place!

http://www.rivercityfly.com/

And finally, one of my favorite sites, Cabellas.  I have spent many a lunch break surfing this site, creating wishlists, and drooling over their products.

http://www.cabelas.com/

On Saturday I'm heading out to the North Coast to do a little salmon fishing, and maybe even get into one of those elusive searuns I've been trying so hard to catch.  A full report will come next week.  Until then, tight lines!

Weekend Recap

On Friday 9/30 I left work early and headed west, back to (you guessed it) the Necanicum River.

I'm torn on fishing the Necanicum this time of year.  The reason is because the Campbell Group opens the gates to its privately owned timberland that runs along the river, so any hunter and fisherman can drive to any spot that they want.

So here's the dilema: on one hand I can drive my vehicle to within 50 yards of a good fishing spot.  If that place isn't producing, I can drive a mile or 2 and go to a different spot.  So the opportunity to cover a lot of ground quickly is nice.

On the other hand, there are now a lot more people.  It isn't surprising that there are fewer people when the gate is closed, but it still amazes me that a certain spot that might have 1 other person when the gate is locked will suddenly have a dozen people fishing it when it's open.  Of course, not everyone is courteous, and there are arguments between combat fishers, as well as garbage and bait containers littering the banks of an otherwise beautiful coastal stream.

Furthermore, there's always the fear of a stray bullet finding me while I'm fishing.  This timberland is prime coastal elk hunting grounds, and every hour or so you can hear the sound of a shotgun going off, indicating that someone nearby has bagged themselves a buck.  For this reason, I always fish in bright orange during elk season.  I know that it may scare the fish away, but it also keeps me feeling safer.

Don't get me wrong, I have nothing against hunters in the least.  Personally I don't hunt (although I have in the past) and it's mostly because I really don't like the gamey taste of elk and deer meat, and I don't see a point in killing something that I'm not going to use. (same goes for fishing, no reason to kill a fish that you're not going to eat, or at least use to catch something to eat, like using Shad for crab bait)

Anyhow, back to the subject at hand.  I pulled into Klootchy Creek Park on Friday afternoon to do a little fly fishing, and hopefully find some of the searun cutts that have been eluding me thus far this season.  A brief recap: I fished for about 4 hours, both topwater and below the surface, and tried about a dozen different flies, and all I had to show for it were roughly ten small trout that I quickly released.  No signs of any salmon yet.  Not much more to say on this, but here's a couple pictures of the little trout:

Saturday was the day I was planning on targeting the tidewater in search of a coho or king.  After sleeping in a little longer than I planned, I headed down and fished the area below the 12th street bridge, throwing a wide variety of blue fox spinners in all sizes and colors, but no luck.  The entire time I was down there, I saw one fish roll.  Frustrated, I headed back and watched the epic conclusion to the Arkansas / Texas A&M Game while I ate lunch.  Here's a pic of the overcast weather overshadowing the lower tidewater area:

Afterward, I headed over to the Avenue G Bridge, where I heard of some Seaside locals having some luck.  I prepared myself for a tough crowd: I have heard that some people are very territorial of this area and aren't very welcoming to outsiders like myself.  However, everyone there was nothing but friendly and nice, and I had several pleasant conversations with people who lived nearby.  Unfortunately, although a few fish were jumping, nobody caught a single thing.  Here's a shot of the Avenue G Bridge and the nice deep slack tidewater that the salmon love to hang out in while they wait for the next rain to push them upriver:

Finally it was time for dinner and the sun was getting ready to set, so I headed back, empty-handed.  So no salmon on this trip.  I think that I'm a week or so too early, but unfortunately I won't be heading back for a while.  Too much going on.

One silver lining to the weekend: the Crabbing was RED HOT!  I managed to catch 18 keepers, and I also threw back several legal males that were too soft, along with the usual countless numbers of females and undersized males.  I gave most of them away to family and friends but kept a couple for myself and they were delicious!

On Saturday morning I'm going to try and hit a different coastal stream, a little south of the Necanicum.  I haven't decided which one quite yet, but if/when I go, I'll make sure to have a full report.  In the meantime, tight lines!