Connect

Photobucket Photobucket Photobucket

Contact

Mark Stangeland - NUFlyGuide
RiverFlyGuide@gmail.com
(541)728-1867
It's steelheading time. Don't miss out on the action.
Reserve your trip today!
Photobucket

On The Surface

Posted by Mark Saturday, July 28, 2012 0 comments


 
The dry fly skitters across the pool. Then a huge boil and full body rise of a large steelhead breaks the stillness of the glassy tail out. The fish fully missed the fly but he has now given away his precise location."Did you see that"? my dude says,hardly able to contain his excitement.  "Yes! That was the target species" I say jokingly. "I told ya it would stop your heart"    "You were not kidding! he says trying to regain his composure.

We rest the fish for a minute or two and he sends the skater back out for another drift through the same lie.Nothing doing. I tell him to shorten up his line and step a couple stems back up. I tie on a small purple wet fly and he starts through again slowly lengthening line to reach the lie of the fish that rose. He makes several great drifts in the zone and no fishy. I grab his line and change flies again tying on a tiny little skater and have him start in again, 20-25 feet higher than where the fish is laying. I want to make sure we are well above the fish and slowly work the little skater down to him. This extra distance also allows the fish to calm down and the fisherman also to settle down and make good casts. It allows the fisherman to get in the grove again working his way into the fish and not throwing the first cast out to the spot on a bad cast and blowing the fish out of there. Shortening up also allows for the possibility that the fish was actually holding up much higher than he showed himself at. Fish will sometimes turn and follow a fly down 10 or more feet and then rise on it. I want to make sure all our bases are covered. This process also allows for the fact that another fish may have moved into this area of holding water or that for some reason you did not get a drift that enticed the fish in that area. This  last scenario was what we found and was a good lesson for me to step back up and shorten up and recover old ground again when working a risen fish.

He starts back in with the baby skater and on the second cast another fish rises to the fly. This is well short of the first rise and is obviously another fish, it was easy to see this fish was smaller. He sends the baby skater out again and nada. I change the fly to a purple muddler and we replay the chess game. He casts,he swings, I change flies multiple times and he covers both lies and neither fish will commit to the eat. After 40 minutes or so and much excitement we wind up and go to another spot, knowing full well we gave the fish all we could.

You don't win them all,but seeing an angler that is new to the river light up when he see's a steelhead come to the surface after his dry fly offering was satisfying indeed.

This game we play with these fish is an obsession. Sometimes they get the upper hand but it's all about the process. What we see on the surface and what really goes on underneath can be two totally different things. True in fishing and true in life.

Joe Walsh says it well in the song The Confessor:
If you look at your reflection in the bottom of a well what you see is only on the surface If you try to see the meaning hidden underneath the measure of the depth can be deceiving
The bottom has a rocky reputation
 
You can feel it in the distance the deeper down you stare From up above it's hard to see, but you know it when you're there On the bottom words are shallow - on the surface talk is cheap You can only judge the distance by the company you keep


Good fishing

Mark

| | edit post

Stay dry my friends!

Posted by Mark Tuesday, July 17, 2012 0 comments





Be safe out there this year!


| | edit post

Umpqua Wild Winter Kill proposals are back

Posted by Mark Sunday, July 8, 2012 10 comments



Yes friends and neighbors, there are again multiple proposals for the killing of wild fish in the Umpqua drainage. So we had a good run of fish in 2012 and the powers that be are entertaining ideas on killing wild fish again. This is LUDICROUS and short sighted on so many levels. Hard to wrap my mind around the thinking of the state to even entertain these.
The last time there was a kill policy in place the census checkers figured that there were 4,000 wild winter fish killed in one season. In this day and age where wild fish are at an all time low, that kind of killing is not sustainable.This is a big deal people. We need to rally once again and get on the bus to save one of the last healthy populations of winter steelhead anywhere. We need to show up in force when the public forum in Salem is held. As was the case last time, advocates for catch and release showed up and the guys that made the proposals did not. The fish won that round but it's round two now. If we get signatures and pack the meeting hall at the public forum we will win again.

Tony Wratney has started this petition which opposes the many kill proposals on the docket and seeks to retain the current zero kill policy that is in place now.

Sign Here: UMPQUA WILD FISH NO KILL PETITION  Donate to the petition site if you choose but please note it is possible to sign the petition without donating.

To view the Southwest zone proposals and see what they are and who is proposing them go to :UMPQUA WILD FISH KILL PROPOSALS

The SW Zone is on page 36. Once again, the vocal minority is trying to put one over on the fish. By proposing many different scenarios they figure one will get through and the slaughter of wild fish will continue.


P.S.
The ODFW public meeting packet ( http://www.dfw.state.or.us/resources...18-2012_dt.pdf ) states the best ways to get involved:

1. Write a letter. All letters will be forwarded to The Fish and Wildlife Commission as part of the public record.

Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife, Angling Regulations
3406 Cherry Avenue NE
Salem, OR 97303.

2.  Testify at a commission meeting.

 It looks like there will be two commission meetings before the rule changes become final. August 3rd in Salem and September 7th in Hermiston.

Please sign the petition above and pass it along to whoever you can.

Thanks

Mark

| | edit post

America The Beautiful

Posted by Mark Monday, July 2, 2012 3 comments




















 
O beautiful for spacious skies,
For amber waves of grain,
For purple mountain majesties
Above the fruited plain!
America! America!
God shed his grace on thee
And crown thy good with brotherhood
From sea to shining sea!

O beautiful for pilgrim feet
Whose stern impassioned stress
A thoroughfare of freedom beat
Across the wilderness!
America! America!
God mend thine every flaw,
Confirm thy soul in self-control,
Thy liberty in law!

O beautiful for heroes proved
In liberating strife.
Who more than self their country loved
And mercy more than life!
America! America!
May God thy gold refine
Till all success be nobleness
And every gain divine!

O beautiful for patriot dream
That sees beyond the years
Thine alabaster cities gleam
Undimmed by human tears!
America! America!
God shed his grace on thee
And crown thy good with brotherhood
From sea to shining sea!

O beautiful for halcyon skies,
For amber waves of grain,
For purple mountain majesties
Above the enameled plain!
America! America!
God shed his grace on thee
Till souls wax fair as earth and air
And music-hearted sea!

O beautiful for pilgrims feet,
Whose stem impassioned stress
A thoroughfare for freedom beat
Across the wilderness!
America! America!
God shed his grace on thee
Till paths be wrought through
wilds of thought
By pilgrim foot and knee!

O beautiful for glory-tale
Of liberating strife
When once and twice,
for man's avail
Men lavished precious life!
America! America!
God shed his grace on thee
Till selfish gain no longer stain
The banner of the free!

O beautiful for patriot dream
That sees beyond the years
Thine alabaster cities gleam
Undimmed by human tears!
America! America!
God shed his grace on thee
Till nobler men keep once again
Thy whiter jubilee!

Amen

| | edit post

Ghost Fish

Posted by Mark Thursday, June 7, 2012 4 comments


Steamboat Creek, the goal of the elusive early summer high water steelhead.

Misty Mountain Hop


I am alone on the river. Not a soul dares to ply her waters today. It is early yes but I have caught fish earlier in years past. It is always a gamble.It feels good to be on the river again.There might even actually be an outside chance of hooking a fish. My hopes are never high though at this early date.The knowledge that I might encounter a fish always linger in the back of my mind.The water levels looked good all week, high but good.Each night after work I was checking the levels and anticipating the small window I would have at the end of the week to fish a little. That time was now. As I drove the river upstream, I made note of  each and every run and dreamed of the time when they would actually be fish able. A lot of water was coming down the river, in response to rain and snow melt up higher in the drainage. The flat levels of the beginning of the week had taken a significant turn now as Steamboat Creek went from 300 to over 1000 cfs. Normal summer spots were not an option so I decided to try some winter spots.

 I strung up an 11'7wt switch rod with a Rio Steelhead line that I have been fishing as a single hander, tied a new leader and put a 1/0 GBS on the end of it. As I made my way through the first run I quickly got into the rhythm of the cast and step. The rod felt like an old long lost friend. Single hand casting was the way I was brought up on this river almost 30 years ago and a method that I still employ the majority of time in the summer. The rods and lines have changed a little but the casting is still the same. These switch rods are powerful tools in capable hands,today mine were semi capable. The roll casting ability of these rods is incredible in tight spaces. They also overhead cast like a dream. I will say that you need some serious arm strength to swing these around all day single handed. It usually takes a month or two before my arm is up to the task and by mid season I have the right forearm of Popeye. The lightness of the set up is refreshing. I balance the rod with a 3 3/4 Bougle and this seems to be a great combo.

After 15 minutes or so,the roll casts are coming better for me now.I still instinctively reach for the bottom handle occasionally as the muscle memory from a long winter of throwing a 7136 with Skagit and sink tips remains. I shake it off and work on my timing, snap T-ing the floating line and traditional fly upstream of me, making a killer D loop leaving just the leader and fly anchored. The forward stroke stops high sending the fly out to 80+ feet. The feeling is rewarding. The line rolls out,compacting and tightening in an awesome wedge as I flick my wrist at the end of the stroke,increasing line speed in tandem with a haul. A double hauled roll cast is a cast every single hand caster should know. Live it, learn it, make it your friend. You will be happy you have it in your tool bag. The fly is fishing well and even in this higher flow I somehow start to think of what it would feel like to hook a fish right now. Clarity is good and the water temp is 50 degrees. The fly swings. I cast and step, mend and follow. It becomes automatic I am in the groove. I finish out the run with nothing more than a couple of smolts that eagerly grab the fly as it swings into the shallows. The barb less hook easily shakes free with some slack and they are on their way.

The water is definitely up. I decide to try and fish the Confluence run where Steamboat Creek meets the North Umpqua. I may be the the first to walk this beach this year. There are no human tracks and except for the road right behind me I feel like I am in the wilds of BC. I feel as if I am the first person to ever fish this run, it just had that fresh kind of feel to it. Familiar in a way but mysterious as well. It seemed new, not the same run I have fished a thousand times before. I walk down the bank and stare off into the distance, letting the sounds,smells and visuals overpower my senses. I am home. It is good.

Snapping out of my dreamworld I attend to the more pressing issue of, can I get out in the run where I so desperately want to be without drowning?This is not a wade I would recommend for anyone at these levels. I was having trouble recommending it to myself. The good thing is,I have done it so many times now that I know the rocks and the path, but even that changes as winter flows scour and deposit rock and gravel. I know the water levels and I know my wading ability. Today I look and assess the scene. It looks sketchy as all get out. It is a long wade out to the submerged bar and it gets quite bossy in the middle. Right about the place where you can't turn around. It is a commitment no doubt. The pull of the unknown and unseen Ghost Fish is overwhelming.I decide to go for it. The last 20 feet before the bar rises up is where the deepest part of the wade is. If any of the friendly basketball sized rocks that you are looking for have shifted over the winter you can be over your waders in a hurry. I start in and am almost immediately a foot from the top of my waders. I hurry on making large steps and make some good progress. I hesitate just before the point of no return and scan with my Polaroids to get some sort of sense of where the bottom is. The water is a bit off color from the increased flow and I see nothing definitive.Somewhat blindly I plunge ahead, checking my wader tops again before committing fully to this last section of a somewhat crazy attempt. My feet find purchase in the deepest part and I airwalk the last few yards, breathing a sigh of relief as I start to walk up the submerged mid river bar and get myself into reasonable depth water once again. Whew! I still have to get back but I will worry about that later.

With the water flow and clarity what it is,I think better of using the 7110 and opt instead for the 7136 stick with a skagit/sink tip setup and a lightly weighted black and purple creation. This set up will at least allow me to show it to a fish. Perhaps long enough to get one to go.A car slowly drives over the bridge straining to see the idiot in the middle of the river. Fishermen no doubt by their keen interest in actually seeing someone out in these winter like flows.They continue on and then cross the Mott Bridge stopping to marvel again at how in the heck I got where I was. I can just hear them in the car saying " What is that guy doing out there?" "You can't get out there in this flow!" and on and on.

The interesting thing is that at 300 cfs like it was earlier in the week, Steamboat Creek is not flowing enough to swing a fly with any pace. It stalls out. As the water bumps, the early fish run straight here and as those flows increase, they bolt up the creek and are essentially out of play for the rest of the year. Once up the creek they are protected as there is no fishing. They end up in the Big Bend Pool where Lee watches over them diligently.These are the Ghost Fish, these early fish of days gone by, their ancient genes telling them to go in these flows. Very few people see these fish that ascend on the high water. Many of them slip through this very pool before ever seeing a fly in the entire fly water. These early fish can be large. These early fish can hit like a train and leave you quivering as they take you to school, and test knots,lines and rods to their limit. This is the fish I risked a swim for and have waded out to find. Here balanced on this submerged precipice of rock,the current pushes me around at will. I struggle to find solid footing as I pull line off my trusty Daiwa 812. I start in short as fish can hold on the slope just off where I am standing. The sink tip takes the fly down into the off colored water disappearing  from view in an instant. The fly swings sweetly and slowly through the run as I pay out more line. I carefully and methodically cover all the known holding lies as my line lengthens. I am casting to the other bank, between and under tree limbs. One cast hits a limb on the other side and hangs up in it momentarily, I tug gently on it as it thankfully falls back to the water and continues to search for the Ghost Fish that may be passing this way. I step down the bar, buffeted by the current. I feel confident all of the sudden, you know,that feeling that comes when you feel like something might just happen. My line and fly are now swinging through the heart and soul of this run, this Ghost Fish super highway. The flag has dropped and the race is on for them. Who knows how many fish have slipped up and away just in the time I have been fishing here. I continue to swing my fly..........

The take comes without warning but is not violent like I was bracing for. It was a light pluck followed by a slooooooow tightening of the line. A very typical cold water winter take. This water was 50 degrees. I let the fish take a little more line off the reel and then pinched the line to the cork and lifted sharply. As I lifted the rod into what felt like a heavy fish everything went into slow motion. An enormous buck comes tail walking out of the water in a display that would make Flipper jealous. This is a Ghost Fish and I have found him at the very last possible moment before he escapes up the creek. He is bright as snow in the fading evening light. He is large and in charge and I stare dumbfounded as I watch him go through his aerial maneuvers. Again and again he jumps, swapping ends in the air and clearing the water 4-5ft at a time.

I try to get him in close a couple times but have trouble in the over waist deep water. I decide to head for the shore and see if I can land him there. The wade back did not get any easier while I was out there and now the difficulty is compounded by the fact that I have an angry fish that wants to go the other way. I point the rod back at the fish keeping tension with my finger on the line and cork but ready to let him take line as well. I plow back through the trench towing the fish along behind, occasionally the reel barks as he peel line off in protest of the shallow bar where I just stood which he now finds his belly rubbing on. I struggle the last steps to the bank and now face my quarry with renewed vigor. I am in the shallows no and I can better fight the fish from this position. I get him in after another couple minutes and grab the leader. He slides across the water and I think I can tail him. Now that I can see him up close I see just how amazing this fish is. This fish is PERFECT! Not a scale out of place, and just translucent. One of the biggest summer fish I have seen in a long time. Never have I seen one so bright and pristine. I am in awe of this powerful creature that I have matched wits with. I am holding the leader at the tip of the sink tip, about 3ft from the fish. He then finds another gear and digs in. In seconds I am holding onto a fish at the end of a short piece of line that is just going mental. He thrashes the surface and jumps powerfully time and again me feebly trying to subdue him and hang on.And then, just as fast, it is over. He is gone.

 I look Heavenward and thank God for what has just happened. I thank God for these magnificent fish and this river that he has created.I thank God that I am alive. I thank God for my family,and friends and the many blessings in my life.

  1 Timothy 4:4-Everything that God has created is good; nothing is to be rejected, but everything is to be received with a prayer of thanks.

 Who knew Thanksgiving would come so early this year?

Good fishing

| | edit post

It's Time

Posted by Mark Monday, June 4, 2012 3 comments



I can feel it. I can taste it. I can smell it in the air. I can see it in the trees as they put on their summer leaves and change from the skeletons of winter that they once were. It's summer and it's time to begin the chase once again. The water is high and the fish are few but they are there. And they are hot! The early season fish are some of my favorite and you tend to see backing a lot. Many of the early fish are never seen, just felt.Like a bolt of lightning they hit and run, then they are gone just as fast. These early fish are very aggressive to the fly as they have not seen any offerings yet. They hit with wild abandon chasing the fly across the pool for yards, tracking it like a heat seeking missile. These early North Umpqua wild summer run fish are simply amazing!

There was a time in the not so distant past when the North Umpqua had fresh fish coming in during every month of the year. The line between winter,spring,summer and fall was blurred. Genetically unique strains of fish had adapted to different specific tributaries and they all had slightly different run timings. Over the years, the friends that I fish with and I have made note of several different types of these historic fish that still persist, late spring fish and late fall fish being the two main categories we see most. In both cases you know when you have caught one of these fish by the distinct look and time of the year you see them. This is especially notable in fall when all of the sudden you hook a dime bright fish in late October or November when every other fish in the ditch has fall colors. It's striking, and you begin to realize it is just another creature altogether. Same with these blindingly bright and ballistic late spring fish.They are just a different breed. You just know when you are attached to one. It resonates up the line, through the rod and into your very core. I can't explain it, it just is what it is.....awesome!

These late spring/early summer fish are what remains of genetic strain that is all but gone. Their genes passed down from fish reared in tributaries that were devestated by logging and the road building and the destruction that followed. Human progress and greed slowly took their toll. But somehow they hang on. They are resilient, and very special.

It is my hope that in the near future, restoration of some of these historic spawning grounds will take place and we can again see more of the genetic diversity that this river was known for. I would like to see the state and Feds sink a couple million into Canton Creek, Boulder Creek, Copeland Creek,and every other viable tributary instead of the hatchery clone factory that gets all the money now.

We might be amazed at what happens.


Good fishing

| | edit post

Young Gun Goes Dry

Posted by Mark Monday, May 28, 2012 0 comments

  A recent trip to an undisclosed location provided action on large dry flies.K2 finally actually got to feel one on the end of a rod and listen to the Bougle scream. Yes these trout can spin a Hardy too! I have found that the 11 7wt switch rod is really a great tool for small people to cast and they can do so without a lot of arm strength. This rod, one of my steelhead setups, is slowly being taken from me by my son. He get's it and I am so proud to sit back and watch the light bulb go on. My daughter is also picking up the rod as well and has that smooth stroke of her mom's casting already.

Smiles all around as K2 puts the wood on a feisty dry fly eatin trout 
( Let go of the handle when it starts spinning son!)

A nice first trout for the boy.....he's wrecked!!!  (note the eyes rolled back into his head and the glazed look of a dry fly fisherman in post fish euphoria)

| | edit post
Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...

Enjoy

For since the creation of the world his invisible attributes – his eternal power and divine nature – have been clearly seen, because they are understood through what has been made. So people are without excuse.(Rom 1:20)

Explore