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I've been camped near the McKenzie since Monday and was able to hire a guide on short notice for half a day. Four hours floating in a nice drift boat and catching lots of nice trout. The weather has been a little on the hot side but the fish were still cooperative, and my guide was very good. It is a beautiful river, but bank access is very limited so a drift is the only real option.
I will be back.
Gary
TheMcKenzie is a special river and amazingly so considering it is so near a considerable population of folks downstream. You had a fine day on a lovely river.
Great river and great fishing. I have always enjoyed fishing the Mckenzie. Living in Bend it's hard to decide where to go Deschutes, Crooked,etc. Try to do the McKenzie once in a while.
any steelhead left? im planning on going down this weekend. the rain should help out a little bit.
I don't think there are any steelies there now. I was just getting a lot (about 25) of planter rainbows. My guide said he hasn't seen a redband in a very long time and the steelhead runs above the Leaburg dam are very small as are the chinook runs. May still be something happening below the dam. The water is crystal clear and the trout were very eager to take EHC's and stimulators. I had one of each about two feet apart and had three "doubles". The fish actually wanted me to strip the fly in so it was moving up current. Good luck.
Gary
thats cool. i was there a couple of weeks ago. i had one chrome in my sights and couldnt get him to take anything. the next day i went to the north umpqua at swift waters and saw one get landed.
......http://www.katu.com/outdoors/fishhunt/26985174.htmlQuote:
Originally Posted by Backcastwards
Doug
That is a cool article DShock. I like the idea of banning bait, but it will really bring out the folks who want to attack flyfishers as elitists. There is a 38 mile section on the North Umpqua that is fly only and people are offended.
By the way, those fish I caught on the McKenzie last week were ALL released without being touched by human hands. The guide had a gadget that removed the hook (no barb) by holding on to the line and the tool. You hold the fish up by the line and slide the tool down to the hook, while in the gape of the hook, pull around and DOWN on the line and the hook point will point down, and the fish falls to the water. You could make your own with a wire coat hanger and a wine bottle cork or...
Here is the page if you want to get one.
http://www.mckenzieguides.com/fishreleasetool.jpg
http://www.mckenzieguides.com/mckenz...ealexander.htm
Gary