Fishing was good, weather was good, camaraderie was good, food was good but the catching was not good. That’s winter steelhead fly fishing!
Thanks to everyone for coming and making this a fun fish-a-long!
Jim Adams showing us the right way to spey cast & swing the fly slowly across the current. If there was a fish in there, he’d a caught it!
10 foot 5wt. 4 piece G. Loomis “Eastfork” rod with a 5/6 G. Loomis “Eastfork” reel loaded with a Rio “Grand” 5wt floating fly line.
This rod is a great all around outfit but is perfect for the Deschutes and lake fishing! Used just a few times. $250 or best offer.
9 foot 6 inch 8wt 4 piece G. Loomis Nativerun “Quinault” rod with a 7/8 “Eastfork” reel loaded with a Rio 8wt multi-tip floating/sinking line.
Really nice all around Steelhead/Salmon outfit. Used once. $275 or best offer.
These rods belong to a friend who took ill shortly after buying these outfits, they are both in new condition. Questions, let me know, thanks, Lane 503-706-7543 or lanehf@comcast.net
Joel La Follette of Royal Treatment Fly Shop will be CFF’s guest speaker Wednesday, January 25th.
Joel’s presentation is called Oregon Trout Trail; an exploration of Oregon’s native trout species that are a little off the beaten path, inspiring anglers to explore new places and break out of their comfort zone in search of adventure.
It will be a great presentation you won’t want to miss!
Meeting details: https://clackamasflyfishers.org/meetings-events/
http://www.royaltreatmentflyfishing.com/
A new year is upon and we have a great list of activities and speakers already in the works. We closed out the last year with a great December meeting. Our speaker was Rob Crandall of Water Time outfitters and he gave a great presentation about techniques for catching winter steelhead. In addition Phil Bartsch played Santa with every member receiving a sponsor gift certificate or a usable gift. We had a good turnout and all left in good cheer.
Looking at this month we have some neat things planned for you. First our speaker this. month is Joel Lafolette, from The Royal Treatment Fly Shop in West Linn, Oregon. Joel will be presenting a program he has been working on for months involving unique Trout fishing opportunities in the northwest. You do not want to miss this program.
Our next fish-a-long is potentially going to a neat outing on the Sandy River. Dave Kilhefner has graciously offered to let us fish for Steelhead from his property on the Sandy River. Lunch will be provided so be alert for additional details later this month. Of course things may have to change because of water conditions.
Fly tying will again kick off on Wednesday January 25th, 6:00 PM at the Royal Treatment Fly Shop. More details to follow.
Remember our sponsors by visiting their shops when you are in their area. Stop in and purchase something, book a trip, or just say hello and thank them for their support.
Gil Henderson
At our October, 2016 meeting Josh Linn gave us an informative presentation about steelhead fishing in the Columbia River basin. Josh is an experienced northwest steelhead fisherman, having guided on the John Day, Sandy, Clackamas, Klickitat, and Grande Ronde rivers. My ears perked up when he started describing a fly he had created that had become his go-to fly for winter steelhead. I later talked to him at The Royal Treatment Fly Shop and got some details about his creation and decided that it would be a good choice for our monthly fly tying night. I asked Josh what he called his fly and he said I could call it whatever I wanted because it didn’t have a name. So we’re calling it the Josh Linn Special.
I think that fishermen would be foolish to disregard tips, tricks, and advice from those that are more knowledgeable than we are. And like all of the people at The Royal Treatment Josh is very knowledgeable about all aspects of fly-fishing. And it’s safe to say that he catches more fish than most of us. (Of course he probably fishes more than most of us!) So when he says this fly produces fish I think we should at least give it a serious look.
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I got the recipe from Josh and found that it is a tube fly much like Brian Silvey’s Silveynator that we tied last year, but with a few other innovations. Josh ties them in numerous color combinations and usually with some weight. He likes them large when the water is cloudy and ties them smaller when the water is low and clear. One suggestion would be to tie them all on the large side and keep a pair of scissors available to trim the flies shorter as needed. And there is no reason to not use them for summer steelhead as well, such as on the Deschutes when the sun is on the water and you are using a sink tip when the fish are no longer looking up.
I tied up a few Josh Linn Specials and felt the need to test drive them on the Clackamas just after Christmas and was rewarded with my first winter steelhead of the season on the second day out on the water. Not a large fish but it was a nice frisky wild steelhead. The fly I used was actually one of the flies shown on this page. I’ll leave it to you to guess which one it was but they should all be productive.
The winter steelhead season is just getting underway so think about joining us at our next evening of fly tying when we will be tying up some Josh Linn Specials. The winter weather has played havoc with all of the club’s scheduled activities and Fly Tying Night has been moved to Wednesday, February 1st . We’ll be meeting at The Royal Treatment Fly Shop in West Linn at 6:00 pm. Hope to see you there!