Sandy River Oregon Winter Chrome

[Smallies&Shad]

My midApril visit to the Sandy River, suburban Portland Oregon, resulted in 27 hours on the river, conservatively 7000 spey casts and steelhead fly swings and two chromer  takes that became two hookups, landings, pics and releases.  The fish of (only) 1000 casts?  Yeah, on a good day and mostly in my dreams.

First fish: a 15+ pound male.  He took 20+ minutes to land. So big he could only lumber at the surface, shake his head, whack his tail. No jumps. Five hard, knucklebuster runs. My guide had previously advised me to put a 480 grain SciAng Skagit Extreme on my Meiser 13.5 foot 5/6/7 weight rod (400-600 grain window) for this trip. I coupled this beer-can skagit head with the Airflow braided running line (never used it before and found that it coiled less and handled better than the Rio running lines I generally use). Twelve foot sink tip (cut back from an 8 weight 15 foot Orvis branded tip, probably close to 100 grains). In faster water, river left, I was roll casting at the dangle to bring the tip up, then quickly making a gentle, slow, 45-60 degree airborne-anchor single-spey so as to keep my fly both in the water and fishing as quickly and as much as possible. Larger, unweighted blue/black fly tied by my guide. After my grip-and-grin pic, this fish went wild (again), broke my tail grip, and shot away to midstream for the third time. I quickly retrieved my rod (always leave some line slack for these surprise moments). I reeled him back pronto, my guide unhooked it and, still feisty, the fish was released and off again like a rocket.

Second fish. A 9-11 pound female. Wading along, landed and photo (to be posted later) by myself - very challenging. Tackle: an 11.5 foot 8-weight Cabelas "switch" rod, 600 grain Rio Flight Skagit, a heavy MOW sink tip (2.5 foot float, 7.5 foot sink), Rio running line, Orvis Mach VI reel. Maybe 12 minutes from grab to landing, after two chromatic missile launches, each with 4-flex, tiring airborne gymnastics. Small, sparse unweighted steelhead fly, likely a size 6. Post revival she was perky at the release.

Both fish grabbed at the very end of the swings. I had the drag set way down and each fish zipped line at least 3 times from the reel before I raised the rod to set the hook. I quit for the day after each fish.  I fished 5 hours one day by myself with an AirFlow Delta multi-tip (not a skagit rig - so I make more airborne anchor casts and fewer sustained anchor casts) but got zero grabs. Cheers.

Smallies&Shad (ever grateful to Messrs. Davala & Bilotta for casting guidance)

[Jereme Thaxton]

Awesome fish!  I was curious how you did after we discussed your steelhead trip back at the Williamsport casting clinic, now I want to go!  15+ pound fish sure does feel good one the rod, way to go!

-Jereme

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[Smallies&Shad]

Thanks Jereme. That is a tall compliment after your truly monster striper photos.

Finally got a few of these Sandy River photos down to an allowable size. One pic shows the 9-11 pound female chromer that I had to land and photo alone. I have not yet seen an Oregon (spey) steelhead guide ever use or even carry a landing net. They mostly regard beaching a steelhead like they do netting them - bad form. So the aim is to identify the optimal calm water nearby, get her there, get her head pointed away from deep water, get on her side with her head out of the water, “tail” her, unhook and release. Oh, and photo her too. All with an 11 to 15 foot rod in hand that goes, well, wherever you can secure or pitch it in the landing chaos. Yep. Can be done.

But my most interesting photos were of some Sandy River Oregon shore seasonal stone art that had all happened in only the 3 weeks since the high waters abated. All these many dozens of stone “totems” were built by one senior Boomer Oregon woman, seriously new age and promoting harmony with home made signs posted along the park path. These ad hoc stone figures can show up anywhere from the US Pacific Northwest and north into Canada (Inuk Shuk?) - Native American and First Nation origins. Always four stones. One pic shows my Meiser 13 foot 9 inch rod there for size perspective. Also took some pics from the park above where the stone artist was walking her palate, picking out stones. Serious chrome karma.

Yes, way more totem than chrome pics.