Fly Fishing Bargains Of The Week

Recent warm Pacific storms have put most Oregon rivers over their banks.  While many are unfishable at the moment there have been windows of opportunity when the rivers drop to certain levels.  Obviously if a river is running swiftly through the streamside vegetation it is going to be very difficult to find a place to fish.  But if the river is at a level where calmer water is reachable beyond the vegetation, fishing is not only possible, but can be extremely productive.  High, fast water tends to condense fish populations because there is less water flowing  at comfortable speeds.  Often the best

water speeds occur right against the shore line where the fish are easiest to cast to.  During periods of high water there is a lot of bed-load-shift on the bottom and sides of the river channel.  Along

with the movement of gravels and soils many aquatic trout food organisms are washed down the river. This is called catastrophic drift. The superabundance of food can put trout on the bite. As a river rises the soft parts of the bottom sift first.  Weed beds and the soft silts that support them tear loose from the stream bed.  This is the prime habitat for leeches and aquatic worms.  As the water continues to rise and the velocity increases the smaller gravels start to move.  Some of these gravel can contain the eggs of salmon that spawned when the river was at its lowest.  These gravels also

contain many aquatic invertebrates such as mayfly and stone fly nymphs, caddis and crane fly larvae.  Large stonefly nymphs are a good bite for even the largest river trout.  Try fishing a heavily weighted stonefly nymph on a dropper with an egg fly.  This kind of rig is often referred to as "steak & eggs".  Or replace the egg with a worm...sounds pretty basic.  Who can deny that both worms and eggs catch trout in high water.  Now you can use your fly rod, avoiding the mess and turn your catch loose unharmed, if you wish.

Egg Flies
Millions of salmon spawn in the rivers of the Pacific Northwest, British Columbia, Alaska and the Great Lakes Region.  These eggs become the food for many species of game fish. 
Egg flies are very important for catching fish on many rivers. 

A little darker than Peachy King and a little lighter than Golden Nugget. 

This is the natural color of a fresh trout egg.

This bright color is easy for fish to see.

One-Day Winter Steelhead Fly Fishing Schools
Take a pontoon boat ride down the Sandy River with: 
Mark Bachmann and Josh Linn.

Watch an expert guide as he fishes and discloses the secrets and proven methods that put fish on the beach. Get a lot of hands-on help so that you too can be productive.
Arrive back at The Fly Fishing Shop at 6:00pm.
What our customers say.  
A report on a Steelhead School.
First come, first served.
Deposits are payments in full.
Deposits are non-refundable unless water/weather conditions prohibit class.  SEE CLASS POLICY

June 25 - July 2, Timing is for prime dorado fishing!