So the ice age here in southern Oregon finally lifted and the warm rains came. The short rivers of the coast began to rise. In hopes that this fisrt true flush would bring in a wave of fresh steelhead, I drove through the night.

This buck had started to color, so he is not chrome for Christmas, but I'll definetly take him.  This buck measured 33" and fought like hell, I had to follow him down what I think would be classified as a class 5 rapid, or I'd definetly would be puckered up going down it in the raft. Landed him a small piece of calm water so couldn't really get a good pic of him.

Will be on the coast for about a week after the family gatherings and hope to post a cool compilation of the trip. A few pics from recent trips.

Hope everyone has a great holiday.

Wow, we've seen some pretty awesome fish as of late on the North Umpqua. I think I caught the smallest summer-run this year I'd seen on the North, maybe 23" in late July and our fish seemed smaller this year. But, the bigger fish we see returning late seem to be a bit bigger.

 This hen did everything you want one to do , 7 or 8 jumps a little backing and just no giving up. After we landed her we were obviously pretty happy and ready for cocktail hour, but being a steelheader you don't give it up after a good fish. We stepped back out and made the same cast and got rewarded.

 Thankyou Sandra for a great memory.

Spent Halloween with Grant Gardner on the North, Grant fished the river once before, back in 1984, I was four years old. It took him 25 years to come back, mostly because of the stories he'd heard about how tough this river is. Well, Grant you waited the perfect amount of time.

 Stopped by the fish ladder on my way home and although few, there are still some really nice fish headed upstream.

Down south on the Rogue the fishing is up and down. We'll have a really good day and the next it will taper off. The counts over Gold Rey dam seem to be improvng. We could really use some rain to get these fish moving and more excited.