Steelhead fishing the Rogue

With temperatures on friday in the 30's and occational rain, sleet, and snow showers, some might argue the merits of spending a day floating the Rogue River in search of steelhead right now. The fish numbers haven't been that remarkable this year (5417 fish as of 10/31) and local fishing reports are not overly enthusiastic either. Still, my good friend Neil Selbicky and I thought it the opportune time to get on the river.

We put on a few miles upstream from TouVelle State Park and fished that section pretty extensively, both from the boat and wading at times. We tried some plugs, but mainly drifted flies. Things were pretty slow until later in the afternoon when I changed my fly over to a large black Muddy Buddy... honestly I thought it was going to be a bit over the top. With water temperatures already a few degrees below 50, as a general rule, single egg patters and more traditional flies (golden stones, hares ears, copper johns, etc) are a better bet than a giant leech pattern. However, over the next hour I hooked three fish, one of which we managed to land... a nice hatchery male measuring about 22''. I guess it goes to show it never hurts to tie on something different once in a while.

If you're interested in getting out on the Rogue to chase some steelhead and need a capable and friendly guide Neil Selbicky's services are for hire and I'd highly recommend him. He's a hell of a fisherman and can usually provide a picture for every fish story he tells. We're planning another trip for this week, and I'm greatly looking forward to it.

Until the next adventure...

McGregor Park, Rogue River

Yesterday was my first day teaching with Salmon Watch... it was a great experience and I'm looking forward to the rest of the season! It's an educational program through The Freshwater Trust and locally, The Jefferson Nature Center.

Yesterday the program was being taught at McGregor Park, on the Rogue River. but I arrived early to do some exploring. I drove past the turn off for McGregor and the fish hatchery and continued over the bridge and took the next right which follows Butte Creek. A short distance up the road was another bridge crossing the creek. From the bridge I saw salmon building redds and swimming upstream...pretty cool. Unfortunately, photographing this was difficult. I then went up to the Hatchery for a look around.

The Cole M. Rivers Hatchery is located at the base of Lost Creek Dam on the Rogue River. The hatchery is 153 river miles from the ocean and consists of 87 raceways, 26 circular ponds, six adult holding ponds and two rainbow brood ponds. Cole Rivers is the largest hatchery on the west coast, annually rearing 3.7 million spring Chinook, Coho, steelhead and rainbow trout. Visitors are welcome to tour the hatchery daily from 7:30 a.m. until dusk. Dusk is also a great time to fish the "Holy Water", that being the section of river from the Hatchery upstream to the Dam. I've caught some very nice trout there over the years but make sure to dress warm...the water comes off the bottom of the dam and it's cold even when it's 100 degrees in the shade.

Until the next adventure...