My brother has gone winter steelhead fishing with a friend for years up in Washington and Oregon. It always sounded interesting, but there's only room for two fishermen in the guided drift boats that they use, so I just got to look at the pictures when they got back. This year his friend got sick at the last minute, so I got called in as the first substitute. This was at the end of February before all the "shelter in place" orders. I drove up to Medford to pick my brother up at the airport, and we drove the 90 miles from there to Roseburg for four days on the Umpqua. The weather forecast was partly cloudy with highs in the 50s and 60s, lows in the high 30s. Perfect fishing weather!
I've always heard how fickle steelhead fishing can be, so I started out with low expectations. I told my wife that I'd be happy if I caught at least one steelhead during the trip. Of course I was hoping for more, but my brother kept telling me that they're "fish of a thousand casts."
The first day we met up for breakfast with the guide and then headed up the north fork of the Umpqua. The guide said the water was already low and still dropping, so this would probably be our only chance at this section of river without significant additional rain. After a half hour drive from the restaurant and dropping my car at the take-out spot, we put the boat in down a steep trex ramp, climbed aboard, got a quick lesson in trying to distinguish the subtle difference between the tug-tug of bait bouncing along the bottom and the tug-tug of a bite, and off we went.
The first few hours we did a lot of casting and a little catching, but none of the right fish. We caught a few 10-12" rainbows and a couple of suckers, but no steelhead. After lunch we finally got some luck, and I caught my first steelhead, a 17-lb native. We ended the day with 3 steelhead, all natives. Apparently the guide was keeping track not only of the ones we caught, but also the ones we lost...he told us we went 3 for 7 that day. The next 3 days we went without breakfast and got early starts in the foggy dark on the main Umpqua. The weather kept getting better and better, and we ended up going 4 for 7, 4 for 8, and finally 8 for 8 on the last day. We kept filets from the two female hatchery fish that we caught. I've never eaten steelhead before.
I think I got spoiled on this trip with good fishing, great weather, and beautiful scenery. We saw a fox, a beaver, an otter, a couple of ospreys, and lots of bald eagles. I'm definitely going to give it another try next year.
More photos
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https://youtu.be/rx9Yw2QlkTE (https://youtu.be/rx9Yw2QlkTE)
https://youtu.be/-qpLvyF3KJk (https://youtu.be/-qpLvyF3KJk)
never been. looks like a blast!!!!!
Cool, nice to see your smiling face. You fish below the Winchester Dam?
Beautiful country and gorgeous fish!!
Congrats on the great success!
Quote from: Keta on March 24, 2020, 03:48:10 PM
Cool, nice to see your smiling face. You fish below the Winchester Dam?
The first day was above the dam...I think Lone Rock to Whistler's Bend. The other days from Forks down to Umpqua.
Thanks for sharing your pictures. You seem to have been there at the right time. Great fighting 🎣 fish for sure. The drift boat 🚣♀️ is the perfect setup for running the rivers. Great memories.🧜♂️
Quote from: scrinch on March 24, 2020, 04:12:30 PM
Quote from: Keta on March 24, 2020, 03:48:10 PM
Cool, nice to see your smiling face. You fish below the Winchester Dam?
The first day was above the dam...I think Lone Rock to Whistler's Bend. The other days from Forks down to Umpqua.
The N. Fork does not have many hatchery fish but is good fishing and some large fish. I fished the main river a few miles down from the forks and the S. Fork below Myrtle Creek, lots more hatchery fish in the S. Fork.
Looks like a great time !!
Thanks for the report, Rich --
Good photos and info.
Best,
Fred
Quote from: alantani on March 24, 2020, 03:45:55 PM
never been. looks like a blast!!!!!
One of the guys on the NLA trip, Kevin, is one of the top guides in NW Oregon and a friend of mine. I am sure he would be more than happy to take you on a trip. He also took first place in the 2019 OTC. Randy is also a good friend of Kevin's and we planned on fishing together this spring but things are not looking too good right now.
Great report Rich. It sounds like you guys really got dialed in, going 8 for 8 on your last day. Would you care to share what you learned? I have never been steelhead fishing but I hope to someday. Congratulations on those beautiful fish!
excellent !
happy to see all those natives too, that is good news from the river.
I spent a week fly-fishing the main river once, could see them hanging deep in the holes, couldn't sell them on anything in my flybox..
It's a gorgeous river though, was almost enough to be out fishing it. Almost.
Quote from: DougK on March 24, 2020, 08:14:02 PM
excellent !
happy to see all those natives too, that is good news from the river.
I spent a week fly-fishing the main river once, could see them hanging deep in the holes, couldn't sell them on anything in my flybox..
It's a gorgeous river though, was almost enough to be out fishing it. Almost.
The native fish in the N. Fork have been in good shape for years.
Quote from: Vintage Offshore Tackle on March 24, 2020, 06:39:51 PM
Great report Rich. It sounds like you guys really got dialed in, going 8 for 8 on your last day. Would you care to share what you learned? I have never been steelhead fishing but I hope to someday. Congratulations on those beautiful fish!
Thanks, Randy. With a total of 4 days steelhead fishing, I'm not the guy to be handing out wisdom (but I will anyway :) ). A strong and timely hook set seemed to be our biggest problem. Most of our losses were hook pulls during the fight with plenty of pressure on the fish. At the time we couldn't be sure why we were losing them. The last day I brought in a couple that had the hook buried only halfway to the barb, even after what I thought was a good strong hook set. One was even outside the mouth in the jawbone. So we probably lost those earlier fish because the hooks just didn't get fully set. And yes, the hooks were narrow gauge and sharp. The first day, as I was learning the difference between the feel of the a fish and the bottom, I felt a jerk, set the hook, and reeled in a small rock with the hook buried in it about 1/16 of an inch!
We also lost fish by being overeager and setting the hook too soon. There's a fine line between waiting long enough for the fish to get the bait fully in its mouth, but not so long for it to spit the bait back out!
Thank you Rich. You may have only four days of first-hand experience, but that's four days more than me, and you sure caught on fast! You wouldn't think of steelhead having a hard mouth. Most of the salmon guys say that the kings and silvers have soft mouths (but when you see the commercial trollers winching them in from a moving boat you have to wonder about that) and you would think that they would be similar. Congratulations again on the great trip and thanks for sharing it with everyone.
Randy
Lots of fun drift fishing. Drifting in the boat lets you see cool canyon country and drifting a rig along the bottom is some real finesse-focus-fun. The bumping of your weight against rocks vs. the faster lighter vibration of a strike is hard to get used to. I'll bet half of the Steelies I've hooked had the roe/spin n' glo/hook in their mouth several seconds before I new it.
The Umpqua is one of the more beautiful Rivers in Oregon. I liked the upper North Fork over any other river in the state I've fished. There's supposed to be good Smallmouth action in the lower South Fork and main stem---when? Don't know.
I've heard waiting for a Steelhead to bite also described as; "sometimes it's like watching the paint dry". Lot of times, yeah. You did well scrinch! It's really all about timing, sometimes down to the day. Great post!
this fish is in my bucket list
congrats for that great fishing trip buddy
Quote from: Gfish on March 24, 2020, 10:52:30 PM
Lots of fun drift fishing. Drifting in the boat lets you see cool canyon country and drifting a rig along the bottom is some real finesse-focus-fun. The bumping of your weight against rocks vs. the faster lighter vibration of a strike is hard to get used to. I'll bet half of the Steelies I've hooked had the roe/spin n' glo/hook in their mouth several seconds before I new it.
The Umpqua is one of the more beautiful Rivers in Oregon. I liked the upper North Fork over any other river in the state I've fished. There's supposed to be good Smallmouth action in the lower South Fork and main stem---when? Don't know.
I've heard waiting for a Steelhead to bite also described as; "sometimes it's like watching the paint dry". Lot of times, yeah. You did well scrinch! It's really all about timing, sometimes down to the day. Great post!
Thanks. I attribute the good luck to a really good and energetic guide. And lucky timing. We did catch one smallmouth at the confluence of the north and south forks. The guide said they usually don't bite much until May or later, I think I recall.
Quote from: steelfish on March 24, 2020, 11:22:40 PM
this fish is in my bucket list
congrats for that great fishing trip buddy
I know where they hide.
Quote from: Keta on March 24, 2020, 11:26:38 PM
Quote from: steelfish on March 24, 2020, 11:22:40 PM
this fish is in my bucket list
congrats for that great fishing trip buddy
I know where they hide.
Yay !! so tempting
Nice fish roomy !! Float fishing is a great way to fish a river; I have only done it a couple of times but its a blast especially when the weather is that good !!
Cheers:
Todd
You live in a good place to bank fish for them Todd, Ketchikan was too.
Lee : I don't chase steelhead much anymore. Its not nearly as good as it used to be here. They do little to no enhancement of steelhead, so fishing is very restricted. I have done my share in the past, just not in the last few years. I mostly fished from shore but I really liked drifting the few times I did it.
Cheers:
Todd
Quote from: scrinch on March 24, 2020, 08:50:39 PM
We also lost fish by being overeager and setting the hook too soon. There's a fine line between waiting long enough for the fish to get the bait fully in its mouth, but not so long for it to spit the bait back out!
Sounds like a situation I've been in a few times...but learning is part of the fun. Great fishin'! 8)
Quote from: Hardy Boy on March 25, 2020, 04:16:49 PM
Lee : I don't chase steelhead much anymore. Its not nearly as good as it used to be here. They do little to no enhancement of steelhead, so fishing is very restricted. I have done my share in the past, just not in the last few years. I mostly fished from shore but I really liked drifting the few times I did it.
Cheers:
Todd
I like side drifting too. Bummer about the numbers.
Like to try that someday.
Thanks for taking us along Rich, looks like a real learning curve, now theres a man that appreciates a good fish, just look @ the smile, yee haa, cheers Don.
I spent a great deal of time in Roseburg last July, just watching the Umpqua and wondering how the fishing was. Thanks for showing me. Next time I go I might just have to find a guide and try it myself.
Thanks for sharing. Looks like an incredible trip!