NE Oregon Small Stream Trout

[entaras]

I'm going to be out in the Strawberry Mountain area for a long weekend, and was thinking about trying to fish a couple of the small creeks that run through there. My dad has talked about fishing some of them with grasshoppers when he was out with his grandparents bear hunting in the 50's. Does anybody have any experience with these streams, and what has worked for them? I have a new fly rod I haven't learned to use yet, so I was thinking about trying that out, but I don't know anything about fly pattern selection at all. Barring that I may bring some worms or try to catch some grasshoppers of my own. Thanks.

Read More

 

[mkwerx]

I'm going to be out in the Strawberry Mountain area for a long weekend, and was thinking about trying to fish a couple of the small creeks that run through there. My dad has talked about fishing some of them with grasshoppers when he was out with his grandparents bear hunting in the 50's. Does anybody have any experience with these streams, and what has worked for them? I have a new fly rod I haven't learned to use yet, so I was thinking about trying that out, but I don't know anything about fly pattern selection at all. Barring that I may bring some worms or try to catch some grasshoppers of my own. Thanks.

Hares Ear Nymph, Prince Nymph, small size Muddler Minnows, Woolly Buggers, and size 12 to 16 dry flies like Adams, Parachute Adams, Elk Hair Caddis, Deer Hair Caddis, Stimulator, or a Humpy (royal, yellow, or green variant) - the Muddler Minnow can imitate a baitfish or if you apply some floatant, it can imitate a grass hopper. Throw in a Dave's Hopper and a San Juan Worm and you have your worm and hopper baits covered. In most streams in Oregon you cannot fish with bait - real worms, real bugs, or even rubber imitations of such. Flies and artificial lures only allowed on most Oregon streams.

 

[entaras]

In most streams in Oregon you cannot fish with bait - real worms, real bugs, or even rubber imitations of such. Flies and artificial lures only allowed on most Oregon streams.

Ahh, you're right about that. Thanks for reminding me. The couple of streams I'm used to fishing normally have exceptions, and I didn't think past that. Thanks for the recommendations, too.

 

[mkwerx]

If you want to keep it super simple, there are 3 flies I'd recomend:

Natural, original Hares' Ear Nymph, weighted. Size 14 and size 12 (get say, 6 of each)

Adams original, size 14 and 12 get six of each.

Bead Head (or cone head) Woolly Bugger in size 8 and 10, get three each in olive and black

That's 2 and half dozen flies, they'll fit in a small fly box. Get a store bought knotless tapered leader - I like the Rio brand or the Sportsman's Warehouse store brand. Get the monofilament, NOT the flourocarbon - mono floats, flouro sinks. You don't want a sinking leader for dry flies, and the weighted flies will get thin tippet down easy enough. I would get a 7.5 foot, 4X leader. Then you grab 2 spools of mono tippet in size 4X and 5X - and tie 18 to 24 inches of tippet to the end of the leader using a triple surgeon's knot, or uni-to-uni knot. These are the two easier knots to learn vs a blood knot, unless you already can tie a blood knot. This is a good small stream leader for a 9 foot rod, which I'm betting you have. I like to keep my general purpose leaders the same rough length as my fly rod. I'll got longer or shorter for certain circumstances, but a rod-length leader is a great place to start, and this will be an easy casting leader.

Since you're a noob, here's another tip. Your leader will be kinky when you take it out of the package, or pull it off the reel spool. Take a small piece of leather or rubber - tire inner tube works great - and gently pull the leader thru this. Or you can buy a leader straightener for $5. You can also use your bare hands, but the leader straightener works a little better and is less likely to burn you. Pull a length thru to warm it up a bit, then hold it taught to stretch the kinks out. Repeat until you have gone all the way to the end of the tippet. This will make it cast WAY better.

In small streams you won't have to cast far, so don't worry about being a good caster. Half the time on a small stream I do more of a flip cast anyway, as its rare to cast more than double the length of the rod. Pick the pockets. Cast upstream, let the fly drift. Let the fly hang in the current for a moment before you flip it back upstream. Then try "swinging" the fly - you cast down stream at about a 45" angle to the current, keep the line semi-tight, and let it drift till its below you. Let the fly hang in the current a moment. Takes on swung flies are violent, you may break off if you're caught off guard. That's why I suggest buying a few extra flies

The trout won't be big, typically. 4-6 inches is average in small mountain streams. A 10 incher is really good, a 12+ is huge. They're not picky about pattern, the water moves so fast in most stretches they see "food" - they're not looking for arseholes, eyeballs, or any of that. Small stream trout eat literally anything. Presentation matters way more than pattern. The Hare's Ear is what I'd start with - unless you see adult winged bugs flying around, then try the Adams. If you have a run with a little depth to it, switch to the Woolly Bugger - this imitates a crawfish, a leech, or a minnow. Dead drift it, swing it, and then strip it back in 3-4 inch pulses in deeper runs or slow water.

Maybe take some photos of the trooots you catch and share with us

 

[Flymph]

I believe the crooked originates somewhere over there. Otherwise, any small stream with clear flowing water likely holds trout. A killer pattern is the "electric" copper johns, which uses blue wire. Any of the above mentioned patterns will do well. I'm also a big fan of wet flies, so spiders and flymph patterns will also work great.

 

[bbbass]

I live in small stream country. And I'm not a skilled dry fly fisher, nor a skilled nymph fisher.. so for me it's always been wet flies. Easy to fish and just about any pattern will do. I've never had much luck with an ant pattern, but these have always worked great for me and they are easy to tie at home (I've also used brown hackle):




Store bought:





In streams large enough to fish with spinners, I really like a small Mepps Aglia like this only in size 0 or 1: