THANK YOU NCKA!! And an Oregon update

Nice write up Clayman! Your living in fish paradise. From surf to sea all the species of fish you ever want to fish for in your front yard. Thank for posting the pics are just aMayesing. I want to move there.

Thanks Chris for the Oregon update. Glad to see you kicking butt. Enjoyed reading your write up and pictures.

Glad you are having fun and success with your new ventures.  Keep them coming.

Hopefully I will have a worthy report for you from your old water soon.

Thanks guys, it's refreshing to explore all these new places and fisheries.  I miss the mountain trout now and then, but honestly I'd beaten those guys to death and after finally catching that PB 29.25 incher last December, knew it was time to move on.  The steelhead in particular have really caught my fancy.  I loved steelhead in CA, but was always so far away from them.  Now, they're only a few minutes away.  Arguably the perfect gamefish: challenging, amazing fighters, big size, and they taste great!

That ratfish is DOPE!

The ratfish was such a trip!  They have that faint ammonia smell just like sharks, except their bodies are really soft and the skin is smooth.  The teeth are like rabbit teeth.  They don't fight worth a damn, he just came in like a wet sock.  I thought about keeping him, but I'm glad I didn't, as the reviews I read claim they're not worth the effort.

Only your location changed.  You are still killing it.

And the write up is still top notch too!  'glad you are enjoying the fisheries there, sounds like it's very healthy with lower pressure. 

Salmon are the big thing here, similar to CA.  They receive a lot of pressure in the fall.  But when it comes to steelhead, most guys head for the big rivers with hatcheries so they have a greater chance of catching a keeper.  I only fished the wild-only rivers, and rarely ever ran into another angler.  Even still, I caught three hatchery steelhead in those wild-only rivers!  So I really found no need to join the crowds on the hatchery rivers.  Basically every stream and river around here is un-dammed, and all support Chinook, coho, steelhead, and/or sea-run cutthroat trout.  It's really amazing and far different from the CA rivers.

Cool whistle/knife !!! Awesome Steelie pics. 10 outta 12 is a good percentage. I went 2 for 4 but it ain't 100% over the Russian is still high and muddy. Can you say "Summer Steel"

The wettest year on record doesn't bode well for fishable days on rivers like the Russian, so the fact you hooked four this season is impressive!  And you reminded me that I forgot to mention summer steel!  The Siletz River is less than an hour north of me, and receives a healthy run of summer steelhead.  Many of those fish are of hatchery origin too.  I'll be chasing those guys in another month or so.  Those bright summer-runs are excellent grill fish: full of fat, similar to spring-run Chinook  .

Great recap, Chris.  I've been stoked to follow your continued adventures in Oregon, and I still hope you'll make it to GS! 

Have a great season, man.  You're living it right.

Thanks Eric, man I WISH I could make it to GS, but it's just not in the cards this year.  This upcoming training is a huge career boost for me, so I'm reluctantly going to be an adult and give up a Gimme Shelter event.  Believe me, I didn't take the decision lightly.  But I look forward to seeing you this summer for some CA halibut huntin  .

Glad you are having fun and success with your new ventures.  Keep them coming.

Hopefully I will have a worthy report for you from your old water soon.

Thanks Bret.  Yeah, get on Almanor!  There should still be a plug bite for browns in the shallows.  By May, I'd switch over to jigging.  I imagine the smallmouth bite is going gangbusters up there right now.  Take a lot of photos and post em up!

Are you going to be at the Tillamook event in June?  NCKA Loose Screws will be represented by me, Hobie-Dave and Ghost.  We are arriving the Thursday before the event.

Martin

Are you going to be at the Tillamook event in June?  NCKA Loose Screws will be represented by me, Hobie-Dave and Ghost.  We are arriving the Thursday before the event.

Martin

I'll probably be there.  Would be great to see you guys!

Nice update Bro!
You have some great water up there!

badass!!
 you really are inspiring!

Thanks for the report and pictures from Oregon Chris.

I love following you on Facebook! Your pics are always AMEYSING!

That's a badass whistle! Thanks Chris for all the awesome reports.

Apparently Clayman has the unique ability to move to another state and crush it there also.

(No doubt due to putting in the time and paying close attention to conditions.)

Thanks for sharing all the adventures and those beautiful fish!

It's not significantly different from northern humboldt.  The skills transfer almost perfectly.  This is a square peg in a square hole, there was almost zero learning curve, and he just does what he always has done, which is completely crush it then tell a great story about it.

Thanks for the feedback guys.  Ever since the mid-2000s when I bought my first digital camera, I've loved documenting my fishing adventures and sharing the experience with fellow anglers like yourselves.  And I don't see much changing anytime soon.  I just plain LOVE to figure fish out and bring them in for a closer look!

Apparently Clayman has the unique ability to move to another state and crush it there also.

(No doubt due to putting in the time and paying close attention to conditions.)

Thanks for sharing all the adventures and those beautiful fish!

It's not significantly different from northern humboldt.  The skills transfer almost perfectly.  This is a square peg in a square hole, there was almost zero learning curve, and he just does what he always has done, which is completely crush it then tell a great story about it.

Truth.  I lived in Humboldt for six years (2004-2010), and that's where I really cut my teeth on rockfish and steelhead.  I've merely taken the skills I learned there and used them here.  So far, the biggest learning curve has been figuring out when each respective river is fishable after a given storm.  Most of the rivers around here originate from a sandstone geology, but a few are predominantly basalt, so the rate at which each river clears and drops is quite variable.  Only the biggest rivers have USGS gauges, so most of the time it was a guessing game when I'd drive to a river to fish on a given morning.  But what's nice is if I don't like the conditions in one river, it's only a short 10-minute drive to another river  .  I'm also working on figuring out the run timings, at least with steelhead: some rivers see the bulk of their runs in January, others in late March.  Arguably the biggest obstacle with steelhead fishing is the timing and ensuring you're there to intercept the fish on their migration, so I still need to work on perfecting that for my "local" rivers, the ones that I'll be fishing the most frequently.

Sea-run cutthroat and spring Chinook will have a learning curve, as I've never targeted either of them (landed a few incidental springers in CA targeting other species).  I guess fall Chinook too, though I was pretty comfortable with catching those in the Klamath/Trinity.  Coho in the local lakes (Siltcoos, Tahkenitch) will also be a new experience.  Pac halibut will be a new one as well, though it looks more tame compared to the other ones (put in the time with a big bait in deep water and eventually get a bite).

Awesome .... simply awesome ...