Steelhead in the shadow of Eagle Rock

We set off from the boat ramp at Blue River around 9 am. I was rowing my two clients down the beautiful Mckenzie River in a drift boat. I knew trout fishing would be tough for several miles as the section we started in had not been planted with hatchery trout. They are much more willing to bite flies than their native counterparts. I had no plans of catching anything besides trout. We were above the Leaburg Dam, after all! Steelhead are typically stopped there and recycled back to Holden Creek bridge, around 6 miles downstream. Then they make the run again and hopefully are caught by anglers, that is after the hatchery has enough broodstock to collect the eggs for the following season.

Trout fishing proved slow, as expected, so we continued along at a fast pace. We did see some rising trout and had some action on dry flies. Watching a trout eat a dry fly is one of my favorite things! But the plan for lunch was to eat trout! And you can only keep hatchery rainbows marked by having their adipose fin removed. I believe that’s a fantastic practice because the wild fish remain healthy and in the river. The hatchery fish, which we don’t want to spawn and change the wild genetics, get eaten by us or the other river inhabitants. Ospreys and eagles, otters or minks, and the native bull trout love them also.

So we went downstream to water that would be more productive for hatchery rainbows. The river was extremely busy with other boaters and fishing guides that day. There are plenty of good lunch spots, but with several other boaters, I wanted to pick a spot for lunch quickly. And potentially have to keep floating for too long and skipping good water. The pressure was on to catch some nice fish for lunch and take advantage of only a few spots to stop!

I had taken both clients before, and I knew Milt loved to throw spoons for trout. Most days, I would just have fly fishing equipment with me, but I have other options depending on what the clients want to do. On this trip, we had the whole arsenal. I noticed most other guides were fly fishing. Fishing appeared slow for everyone we saw. It was time to try something else.

I poked Milt on the shoulder and handed him a trout-sized spinning rod with one of my favorite lures. Pictures will be blotted out, and no lures will be named; if I told you, I’d have to make you sign an NDA, etc. And Milt went to work! The large flat we were in was a great spot. Right away, the lure put a fish in the boat. I also slipped a plug out on Dan’s side while he continued to fish with flies. After a minute, the plug rod went off, and we had a fish on. I swapped rods with Dan and watched him reel in the small trout on the plug. In the crystal clear waters below the trout, with the pink plug in its mouth, Dan and I simultaneously saw a large shadow chasing the trout! Swipe and flash, swipe and flash! “Holy smokes,” I said, “did you see that?!”

After some more unintelligible grunts and groans of excitement, we released the small fish and were now hunting the big one!

Milt continued slinging the spoon, Dan ran the plug back out, and I was tying on a large egg-sucking leech to the trout fly rod. Usually in a scenario like this, a small trout being chased by a large one, you would see a very distinct yellow coloring to the fish. That’s a Bull trout! You can’t target those. But this fish was extremely silver! “That’s a steelhead,” I thought! With no time to figure out why he was up there, we just had to figure out how to catch him! I was looking down, trying to tie on the egg-sucking leech, when I heard Milt holler, “Ope, I got ‘em!” What a beautiful sound that was!

The steelhead seems to have some extra juice this year. On a six lb. test line, wrestling a 6lb pound fish, who is none too pleased with your existence, makes for quite the rodeo! Every jump is heart-pounding. The beauty and power they have is incredible. You want to enjoy the moment but are scared to death that the fish will break the line or throw the hook! After three acrobatic leaps and drag-screaming runs, we had the fish coming towards the boat. I had pulled the anchor earlier, and we were floating towards the fish. Holding my 20-inch trout net with a long handle, thankfully, I stared down the 26-inch fish! “Keep his head up!” I hollered at Milt. Thankfully, Milt is a seasoned angler who knew what I was thinking! We worked together and slipped him into the net, and then I shoveled him right into the boat before he could jump out! Here, we stood triumphantly, all according to plan. Not! One trout in the bag and a gorgeous steelhead on the boat floor. Luck and skill collided. And lunch was served!

We pulled into one of my favorite shore lunch spots, and I started cooking. I served fresh bread in a balsamic olive oil dip, steelhead and trout fried in butter, and a green salad with strawberries, feta, and a homemade vinaigrette. I topped it off with my wife’s famous chocolate chip cookies with salt flakes! The only thing we were missing was a nap!

After our soul-filling lunch, we started drifting down the afternoon stretch. Fishing proved to be excellent in the afternoon. Everything started working. Dan caught several on flies. Milt did excellent on lures. He even caught another steelhead! It was just an unbelievable day.

I’m thankful to have a Steelhead run again. What a surprise. This year, above the Willamette Falls, we have over 14,000 steelhead. Those fish spread out through the Santiam, Willamette, and McKenzie. Starting in 2017, the runs have been very low, averaging around 3000 yearly. Last year, only 698 had come over by mid-June. Steelhead fishermen say a good year is anything over 10,000 steelhead, with 20,000 being excellent.

Like seemingly all natural resource issues, it’s a vast and complex problem. Predators eat steelhead from egg to adult. Ocean conditions have also been very unfavorable to steelhead in recent years. The Corps of Engineers is cutting funding for hatchery steelhead smolts that would be planted in our neighboring river, the Willamette. Starting in 2025, there will be no more. Technically, the McKenzie is fine. But all things seem connected, leading to less fish over the falls for everyone to fish for. The Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife (ODFW) raises the smolts for us fisherpeople. They follow orders from the Corps of Engineers, directed by lawsuits more than science or biology. It reminds me we should be thankful for what we have. And fight for what we enjoy!

The salmon run this year has been lower than we hoped for. So we should all take advantage of the excellent steelhead runs! Permission granted to put off projects and go fishing!