Upper Mckenzie fly fishing

This past weekend was “opening day” for trout in the Mckenzie.  It’s a bit of a misnomer since the river is open catch and release year round but it isn’t stocked until just before retention of hatchery fish becomes legal.  So it is really the planter trout harvest opener.  We fished the upper river above [...]

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Mckenzie River Wooden Boat Festival this Saturday

The Mckenzie River drift boat is our region’s (Mckenzie/Willamette Valley) most profound contribution to fishing.  It is the perfect boat for fishing big western whitewater rivers.  Come celebrate that legacy at the Mckenzie River Wooden Boat Festival scheduled this Saturday at Eagle Rock Lodge on the Mckenzie River:

Not only will there be historic boats but there [...]

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Mckenzie flyfishing and the incongruous blizzard of April 20, 2008

Ok, it wasn’t a blizzard but still was a seasonal regression and shock to my system when I awoke for the Mckenzie-Upper Willamette Trout Unlimited outing on Sunday morning and found my truck and boat looking like this:

Snow.  On April 20.  This might be normal in some places but for us it is the latest [...]

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Fly Rod and Reel Reports: Dam Stupid

In this months Fly Rod and Reel publication, Ted Williams writes about the Snake River dams. I could only dream of writing it up this well. Here are some excerpts:
At least in the United States, the age of big dams is over. But the age of removing obsolete, resource- and money-draining dams is barely underway; [...]

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Breaking News: All candidates support inaction on Snake River

The Idaho Statesman reported yesterday on the the responses it received from the leading presidential candidates on the four lower Snake River Dams. From the article:
“Sen. McCain supports preserving the role of the Snake River dams first, for energy security, and second because of climate change,” said Crystal Benton, a campaign spokeswoman. “Electric power from [...]

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Lower Mckenzie Spring Flyfishing

Forget daffodils, budding and flowering trees, March Browns, sunny days, big heavy downpours or runny noses.  Don’t even think about Pawtucket Phil.  The surest sign that spring has arrived in the southern Willamette Valley is that Shelly is in my driftboat:

There you have it folks. Conclusive evidence that it is spring.
We fished (I fished she [...]

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Middle Fork Willamette Flyfishing

The Middle Fork Willamette fished pretty well this weeked considering the adverse conditions, big pushy off-color water.  The heat was melting snow and the free-flowing North Fork was pumping water into the system, more and more as the day went on.  We put in at the lower end of Oakridge, the first put in upstream of the [...]

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Words of Encouragement

Sometimes it can be tough blogging or working on conservation issues since they can be controversial and really set some people off who are invested in the status quo.  These people sometimes insult you or your intelligence or work full time to discredit you but today on  popular fishing message board I was reminded of [...]

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Conservation Groups Hope to Reform 1872 Mining Law

The recent spike in the price of minerals is leading to a resurgence in interest in mining public lands in the west.  Anglers and hunters are concerned that increased mining could lead to widepread environmental degradation of the areas that they love and for good reason; more than 50% of America’s blue ribbon trout waters and [...]

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Hatches, trout and conflict (but not in that order) on the Midddle Fork

Update: The guide with whom I had the conflict tracked me down and called today and apologized.  A real stand-up move on his part. 
On Sunday, I drifted the Middle Fork of the Willamette with Trout Unlimited Chapter 678 VP Todd Mullen.  The weather alternated between blustery, overcast and pouring and sunny and warm.  Typical Oregon [...]

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