On March 6th - 10th I took a trip to Portland, OR to explore some west coast steelhead rivers. This was my first trip to the area and my plans are to make it an annual event.
On the 7th and 8th I went to the coastal rivers; Wilson, Trask, Kilchis, North Fork of the Nehalem, and the main branch of the Nehalem. On the 9th I tried different access points on the Sandy River.
The fishing was not great, but I did catch a 30" male, Sunday the 7th on the Wilson River on a stonefly nymph while indicator fishing. After that I tried both swinging flys on the spey rod and more indicator fishing with no success. The scenery is fantastic and the rivers beautiful, worth the trip alone. However, my Skagit spey casting needs a lot of work. This will be a on-going process that I can practice this summer.
While on the coastal rivers I visited Tillamook Sporting goods in Tillamook, OR. http://www.tillamooksportinggoods.com/ I picked up a couple of local fly patterns and chatted with the one of the shop owners who gave me a great local chat site for future information. Always fun to get to talk to the people who know what they are doing.
On Tuesday I shifted my efforts to The Sandy River. I did not catch anything there but saw some fish caught by a party bobber fishing with a guide from a drift boat. After hitting Oxbow Park I took a drive and fished around the old Marmot Dam area and finished the day at Dodge Park. While at Dodge Park and totally frustrated with my Skagit Casting I was given some pointers by Lonn Sweeney. He couldn't have come along at a better time as I was close to throwing the spey in a garbage can. Thanks Lonn! I hope to hook up with him the next time I'm in town.
My last morning the 10th, I tried a tail out near Dodge Park early in the morning. I saw several fish boil near some rocks but no strikes. I then visited The Fly Fishing Shop in Welches. http://www.flyfishusa.com/ I have bought several rods, fly line, assorted gear and many flies from them, so I wanted to check them out. Upon arriving I was greeted by one of the owners Mark Bachmann who set me straight on spey rods and recommended that my primary rod should be a Sage 8134-4 Z-AXIS. What he said made sense, so that rod along with one 7110-4 and a 8110-4 Z-AXIS Switch Rod, should set me up for future trips.
Anyone who has questions about west coast fly fishing for steelhead should give this fly shop a call. In my opinion they are the best. From gear, to the flies that work, to guiding on the Sandy River, they are the ones to go to.
So in a nutshell, I learned a lot, drove a lot, fished a little and will be back.
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