Winter Steelheading on the Oregon Coast

Once you've hooked a wild winter steelhead, you're ruined.  They live in some of the most spectacular places in the world, they fight like no other fish that you'll catch in fresh water, and they are as selective as just about anything you'll fish for.  Anyone who has caught a wild, coastal Steelhead will tell you that they act much more like a saltwater fish than a freshwater fish.

In our four short years living in Oregon, Cody and I spent more days than we should have exploring Oregon's countless coastal streams.  It seems that almost every piece of water, big or small that runs to the coast welcomes a run of winter steelhead.  I firmly believe that you could spend a lifetime steelhead fishing in Oregon, and there would be a handful of rivers that you didn't get a chance to explore.

This trip Cody and I focused on a couple of our favorite streams and fished them hard.  We started on a small piece of water that had been good to us in the past, and this trip it produced once again.  This small stream requires as much stealth as anywhere I've ever fished.  I've never been to New Zealand, but I would imagine the kind of "spot and stalk" method we employed there is very similar to the tactics used on the finicky trout of NZ.

After getting blanked on our first morning on the Oregon coast, we found what we were looking for just after lunch.  I caught a small, hot fish that spent a good portion of the fight cartwheeling through the air.  Shortly after this, Cody spotted and caught a nice fish, that put up a formidable battle.  We found a few more fish that day, but only the two could be coaxed into eating.

After landing a couple of fish, the pressure was off.  We discussed staying and fishing the small creek for another day, but decided on breaking out our  spey rods and targeting some fish on the swing.  With this in mind, we got up early on our second day and headed for the North Umpqua.  The North Umpqua is a beast.  Its slick bedrock bottom makes wading and effectively presenting a fly a huge challenge, but the draw of a massive winter fish keeps you coming back.  The Umpqua is also incredibly beautiful.  The relentless moisture that tests your dedication as an angler also makes for breathtaking scenery.  

Low water conditions on the Oregon coast have made it tough to find grabby fish.  We searched for water that wasn't too clear and found that green water that steelhead anglers dream about.  We fished hard for two days, and it felt like it was about to come together so many times.  The Umpqua isn't known to give up its steelhead easy, and on this trip it left us talking about what we're going to do differently next year.  We'll be back on the coast in a year's time armed with that insatiable hunger for a tug from a winter fish.  

Our Steelhead season is about to start in Stanley.  These are the counterparts of the winter fish that we were after, but they are spectacular fish in their own right.  If you want to learn more about fishing for Salmon River steelhead, swing by the shop!