Winter Steelhead Season

Well we have just started seeing Winter Steelhea enter the North Oregon Coastal Streams. Mid December is a good kickoff for the Winter Run of Steelhead on all Streams on the North Coast.

The runs are divided into three sections/terms. First Large numbers of hatchery fish averaging 5-9 pounds will enter from Now (mid-December) and continue to Mid-January. These fish are the keepers that are marked by fin clipping. They will provide great action and table far and can be caught in many ways from both the bank and from Drift boats.

All mehtods for catching the hatchery run are based upon water conditions and all methods and baits are excepted. My favorite is to drift fish small pieces of bait (eggs-Pautzke cured, snad shrimp and night crawlers to mention a few) through holding water and staging areas at the head and tailout of riffles.

You can also get these fish to strick out of anger fishing moving water and areas where they feel cornered with plugs, spinners and spoons. During low clear water Bobbers, jigs and Bobbers and bait are very effective because you can present a bait to them without first scaring them by a casted lead, boat position or wading to close to them. Remeber to float your offereing into them or at least where you think they are holding. After a succesful hook-up drink some coffee, rerig and give the fish an opportunity to seattle down.

During the middle part of the run (mid-January - February) you will see a decrease in Fresh hatchery fish. There will be a few early native/wild fish showing and they will be larger. There will be a large number of Spawned Steelhead moving back down river and they are very hungry!! This time frame is when you can if the conditions are right have 10 plus fish days with an occasional 20 fish day.

The Same methods are used all based upon water conditions. During this time is where we suggest taking a few spawned Steelhead males if still bright and in good condition for the smoker!

Native period of the winter run (late February-April) While not the time for the most action it is the time to catch the really big fish. We see Steelhead every winter over the 20 range. These runs are depressed and in most cases have not returned to previous years levels as of yet.

As a Professional Guide and a lover of Wild Steelhead I suggest changing your tactics during this time frame. First we all know that no Wild Steelhead can be retained on most Oregon Streams with a few exceptions in Southern Oregon. So with that in mind we encourage all Steelhead anglers to no longer use bait( eggs, Sand Shrimp, Worms, tuna balls etc.) to entice these winter fish. They are to importnat to lose even one during their spawning run.

Nothing is more frustrating then to see a native Steelhead bleeding after swallowing deep a bait of eggs side drifted or from a snad shrimp/eggs fished behind a diver. While all of these methods and baits are currently legal and effective, I encourage you to use many other methods and offerings to hook and land your great winter Steelhead, take their picture and measurements and return them savely to Spawn and hopefully make a return engagement as a twenty+ pound freight train.

Corkies,Jigs, yarn, rags, spinners, plugs, flyies, spin-glos, birdies, spoons are all effective and will catch fish. There are a great number of scents that will also help bring fish to your offering. Pautzke's Nectats along with Fire Cure mixed with water make great scents to put on your choosen artifical bait. Remember your helping a kid twenty years from now catch a big winter Steelhead.

News from the boat world. Perry's Fishing Adventures is excited and Pround to announce the soon to be delivered Clackamax to our inventory of fishing machine's. This new Bid, Safe and effective drift boat will bring many advantages to our trips.

The Fear no Rock Fiberglass boat will allow us to fish 3-4 anglers for Salmon and Steelhead without crowding or limiting the methods we can use. It Will allow us for example to have three to four anglers plus the guide to side drift, drift fish or pull plugs in any type of Steelhead holding water. It will allow us to carry equipment and passangers for winter fly fishing adventures like never before.

The boat is tough yet lighter then other "River Barges". Is not doubt warmer and quiter. It is much easier to row and slides over rocks in the shalloest of slots so you do not have to get out and push as much during low water conditions.

We will bring you more information and field test reports for this new piece of equipment. The Clackamax is just another great Salmon, Steelhead and Trout drift boat fishing machine from Clackacraft!

Make sure you visit our web site to book your 2007 Salmon, Steelhead and Sturgeon fishing trips. 2006 was a very busy year for us and we look forward to a great 2007 making your fishing adventures and dreams come true. With our becomeing member of team GI Joe's, partnerships with several travel agents and lodging facilities we are growing daily. Make sure if you have specific times for your fishing trips this year to book early.

Special Thanks to Team GI Joe's for asking us to join them in 2006. All of our guests will recieve discount coupons from GI Joe's good at all Joe's throughout the Northwest when they take a trip with us in 2007. In addition if you want to buy a gift Certificate for the holidays, special occasion, retirement or birthday. Just go into ANY JOE'S and purchase a Team Joe's Trip Certificate in any dollar amount and we take it just like cash.

Quantum again has been great to use bring continued quality fishing equipment to use for our guests to use. Without a doubt they have the best equipment for the money for serious Salmon, Steelhead and Sturgeon fishermen. They also have a great selection of offshore equipment for Halibut and Tuna. The Coldwater rods have preformed awesome as well as the Bluerunner reels and Cabo reels. If your a beginner or avid angler in the North West you will not be sorry when using Quantum's Performance Tuned products.

Pautzke's Fire Cure, Nectatr and Gel/liquid Krill are staples of our business. We use it in all of our fishery's. We also soak down an old sock with it and put in our crab pots. From Salmon to trout. Sturgeon to Steelhead Pautzke's can and will make the difference on those tough bite days on the water! Thanks again for everything your company has done bringing great products to us.

We also want to mention these other fine products we used this past year. Flat-fish, fatso's, Spinners and all the products from Yakama Bait Company and Wordon's Lures. P-Line, Ande Line and Berkley Lines along with Calcutta leader material. Gamakasu hooks performed great again. Beckmen nets. North River Boats, Yamaha Motors, Performance Marine for great service. Sturgeon Paul's for fish processing. Brad's line of fishing products wiggles, wobblers and spinners. Coast's LED line of flashlights from the tackle box light to the head lamp I use these tools and love them. My whole family uses these great safety tools.

Tight Lines and never hesitate to call us with questions regarding your fishing, trip information, current conditions and fishing reports.

Take a Kid fishing in 2007

Val Perry
Perry's Fishing Adventures
web site: www.fishingwithval.com
email: fishingwithval@msn.com

866-738-6991
503-440-5281