The Oconto River - Wisconsin

The Oconto river is, I guess, my home river. I live in Green Bay and the Oconto is only a 20-30 minute drive depending on which water I want to fish. There is about 15 miles of river that anadromous fish can travel on the Oconto. The river enters Green Bay at the town of Oconto and the fish can travel up to the dam at Stiles.

The Oconto used to be a fairly good steelhead river, never great in my time, but in recent years steelhead fishing on the Oconto has gone down the crapper. Lake run Brown Trout fishing has, however, steadily improved each season for a while now. It has become nearly common place to go out and get a couple of trout in a days fishing and now we even have guides working out of Tightlines Fly Shop in De Pere, WI.

There is a good amount of water to fish up and down the river's length. The gradient of the river is pretty tame, and there are no rapids, but there is the occasional riffle and pool. The river is a good size for two handed rods and swinging flies will catch you fish.

Clearwater River

The Clearwater River has its head waters in the Bitterroot and Clearwater mountain ranges. The river produces a run of summer steelhead that are the largest in the United States. Unfortunately these large steelhead that were once wild and prolific, now struggle as primarily hatchery reared fish. In addition to the loss of the wild giants, there is a popular catch and kill fishery on the river for the giant hatchery fish. Though despite these issues, the Clearwater is one of my favorite rivers ( my most favorite is only an hour from it) and for good reason.

I have fished the Clearwater several times. I first fished the Clearwater in 2001 in mid-September. I travelled out there with three friends from Milwaukee and we met another friend out there. On that trip we fished a few runs between Lewiston and Cherry lane. Over the following years I have been able to expand the range of water that I fish on the river. In fact on my last trip My friend BR and I fished nearly 30 different runs.

A great thing about the Clearwater is that it has both obvious runs, and runs that are hidden and must be discovered. There is currently no book or map of the river that gives a fly angler a yellow brick road to the steelhead, nor could there be. Experience is the key to success and difference between success (catching fish) and failure (not) is razor thin. Clearwater steelhead are hard to come by even for the true experts of the river system, but it is the difficulty of catching a fish that makes it so valuable. A fish in a week is all right.

Of course any trip to the Clearwater must include several stops at The Red Shed fly shop in Peck, ID less than a mile off the river between Lenore and Orofino. Poppy owns and runs the shop, which is a shop uniquely dedicated to Two handed/Spey fishing. Poppy not only carries the standards such as Sage, GLoomis, Rio, Airflo, etc., but also alot of the less common equipment such as Guideline, Hardy, Molin, Sarcione, and many, many more.

Flies for the Clearwater are often considered small. I have spoken to several river experts and I have heard the same thing over and over again "This is a small fly river". Now I remember that used to be what everyone said about the Deschutes, and everyone was wrong. Well, I have hooked and landed fish on the Clearwater on flies as small a #7 but I also landed my last Clearwater steelhead on a #1/0 General Practitioner tied in black. With this said It is probably best to focus your fishing on smaller flies and use big flies as something different.

Clearwater steelhead can grow very large, as big as 20-30lbs, these big fish are known as "B" run, there is also a smaller group of fish known as "A" run steelhead these fish run 4-10lbs. this mix of fish makes tackle an interesting choice. The river is large and there are many runs that will fish with a 100' plus of line out of the guides, and you can hook fish out that far, you can also get them in closer as well, but a big cast is fun to make so why not.

I like to fish with either my 13'3" rod with a Scandinavian shooting head, or I like to fish a longer rod with a 65' - 95' head line such as the Nextcast 75' or the Scientic Anglers XLT, as for rod size I have fished up to a 9wt but I think the new 7wt rods can make the A runs fun and the B runs manageable. So the three rods I will call out as awesome: the first is a Burkheimer 7133-3 (my favorite rod, for all steelhead angling), Next is the Thomas & Thomas DH1409-5 (easy for travel and very versatile), and last is the G Loomis 15' 7/8wt Greaseline (this rod is awesome, it fits the bill)

The Cleawater river is big and the scenery changes as the it descends toward it's meeting with the Snake, 463 miles from the ocean. The river goes from a high gradient mountain forest to an arid expanse of rolling hills.

St. Jean River - Quebec

In late September of 2008, My friend Rusty and I, after attending a convention in Ottawa, On. made a fourteen hour drive east along the great water of the St. Lawrence River to the tip of the Gaspe Peninsula. We were here to close out the season in the low waters of the York and St. Jean rivers fishing for the Atlantic Salmon that had taken up residence through out the summer.

We spent days 1 and 3 fishing on the York river, which we liked and Days 2 and 4 on the St. Jean which we loved. While it was easy to spot fish in the the waters of the York, The St. Jean had a water that was so clear that it almost seamed like a thicker version of air.

We only ended up fishing one pool on the St. Jean, The Bluff pool, as there were not fish scattered through out the river system, but rather all grouped together in a few certain pools, and bluff was one of them.

Bluff, as the name suggests, has a large bluff that comes down into the river. From the bluff you can look down at the fish that have packed into the run, in this case 80-100 salmon. there was a hen sitting far back in the pool. our guide told us that she weighed around 50lbs and had been sitting in that exact spot since the beginning of July.

Rusty and I fished two days on the St. Jean and it was by far the most enjoyable water for us. On our first day Rusty hooked and lost a decent salmon on a Laxa Blue #6, and I may have had a grab but nothing was for sure. We could see fish both lying in the run and jumping. the weather was warm, which was great since we froze the day before on the York.

Our guide coached us to really slow down and be methodical with these fall salmon. He had us take two casts from each position and then to only take one small step. He also was adement that we not use a cast such as the Snap-t with our spey rods and really wanted us to stick with single speys. His advise proved to work on the St. Jean and I should probably slow down on other waters as well.

On our next day, we went without our guide and got to the water right at daybreak. I went through the run first as I was still without a fish and Rusty had landed a big Cock on the keg pool of the York's 9th Sector. I was just stepping into the spot where rusty had hooked up two days before, when I felt my #8 Blue Charm get grabbed and some line was jerked of the reel, then it was gone. I was bummed but excited that we got an early grab.

I went through again after Rusty and then as Rusty was starting on his second pass I decided to wander down river to see what other runs were nearby. It had been a mistake, because just as I was out of ear shot, rusty hooked the fish of the trip. A fairly bight salmon of about 13-15lbs. His fish from the day before was bigger but this was better.

This was our last day on the Gaspe. the weather was great, our guide came down to hang with us for several hours and we really enjoyed it. Then we blew off the river a little early to get over to the ZEC for a few souvenirs.

Matapedia River - Quebec

This year at the end of May, my friend BR and I headed to southeastern Quebec to fish the Matapedia and Restigouche rivers for some of the biggest salmon that swim often mere hours out of salt water. We split our time between the two rivers, fishing with a guide, Rick, who we hire through the Motel Restigouche, where we stayed while fishing. Though the fish were in the rivers, people saw them from the bridge in the town of Matapedia each day, no one hooked any large salmon while we were fishing, including us.

The Matapedia is an amazing river. It flows to the south from Lac Matapedia in the Chic-choc Mountains at the base of the Gaspe Peninsula. The Matapedia is the largest tributary of the Restigouche River which forms the border of New Brunswick and Quebec. The Matapedia will run a hair cooler than the Restigouche in mid summer due to its course through wooden valley and canyons, as well as the cool natural lakes which provide a source to the river.

The Matapedia is a river with a rich history. There is a very famous (and expensive to fish) section of the Matapedia, known as Glen Emma in Sector 2. This canyon area of the river seems to attract good numbers of fish in June and early July. It was on this section of the Matapedia that the most famous of all atlantic salmon guides, Richard Adams, made his living during the summer. Adams guided exclusively on Glen Emma with a few other select guides. During the early season Richard Adams guided for Kelts and the early bight Salmon through The Motel Restigouche.

BR and I fished only the Restigouche on our first day of fishing (notes on which can be found on the Journal of the Restigouche). We had come to the rivers with the impression that we would mostly be fishing the Matapedia and that we would even be able to get up into the Glen Emma water but neither was the case. We fished a couple runs at the mouth of the Matapedia on our second morning before meeting Rick, Our Guide. The two runs were great to fish and I felt confidence with every cast, but staying consistent with our trip no fish was hooked. He fished the mouth of the river again over lunch after spending 4 hours fishing the same water that failed to produce the day before on the Restigouche. After lunch it was back to the Restigouche to check out the lower river.

The next morning, Our last day to fish, we finally got to spend some real time on the Matapedia. We started at St-Alexi about 5 mile up from the rivers mouth. The runs up there were great and we got some really good grabs, but no salmon. I landed a Trout that weighed a couple pounds and it took a Green Highlander, not full dress, but with married wings and JC eyes, but I skipped on alot of the veilings like the Wood Duck and Teal and the Indian crow, etc. It is still cool to have gotten a fish, be it a trout, on a fly like that.

The day wore on us a bit as we again were coming to the end of a trip with out having hooked a salmon. Both BR and I have been skunked on trips before. Heck, last year I had 4 atlantic salmon rivers skunk me, as well as 4 steelhead rivers, and I was with BR last year as he got a skunk spray upon him in the Nez perce region. Getting skunked gets less upsetting with experience, but it still has a slight burn, especially when you imagine how great hooking a big fish feels.

I am planning to return to the Matapedia to fish. Possibly later this summer as I need to return to Quebec in August. The rivers were so beautiful, It would be sad to never see them again. Both the Matapedia and the Restigouche are huge rivers and they celebrate long casts. I fished a 15' Loomis with a Nextcast WinterAuthortity, a big cast combo I was fishing with 100' out of the guides cosistantly, the rivers are really that big. It is made for spey. Anyway, I like to always go back and beat the skunk that sprayed me.

The Restigouche River - Quebec & New Brunswick

I fished the Retsigouche and it's main tributary the Matapedia in the last days of May this year. I had headed out with BR and we were looking for the first bright Atlantics to enter the river. These fish are usually the biggest fish of the run, often clearing 30lbs and rarely smaller that 20lbs. Of courses sizes like that rarely come in decent numbers and this was no exception. On the best days fish are few and far between and it is rare for an angler to average better than a fish every couple days. We were no exception our selves and struggled to find any Salmon we got some nice Sea trout (Brook Trout).

BR and I hired a guide through the Motel Restigouche, named Ricky Gray. Rick's father had guided the Restigouche and the Matapedia and in due course Rick and his brother both followed the path of occupational inheritance and began guiding as well. Rick had spent a summer guiding for Loomis on the Ponoi River in Russia. It sounded as though the process of becoming a guide on the Restigouche and or the Matapedia was a long and tiring process.

Despite all of Ricks years of experience, I did find the a familiar problem arise. The problem being that rick wanted to fish BR and I out of the boat, a Gaspe Canoe, one at a time, slowly down the run. The first run we pulled up to was perfect for us to fish from shore, yet he dropped anchor about 50ft from shore. It took a fair bit of conversation to get him to let one of us out to fish from shore but we were able to get that done in the end.

We spent our first day and a half fishing some water a few miles up from the town of Matapedia which is where the Restigouche is joined by the water of the Matapedia. The water we fished was a giant run, very similar to the Mixer on the Skagit. A small river entered the Restigouche on the south side of the river, just below was a big riffle which created the run's head. The run it's self could be fished on either side the north side was the inside of the the rivers curve and had a soft current that went on for several hundred yards over a rock bar. The south shore was the outside of the immense bend and also went one form several hundred yards, but this water was deep and while the current nearer to shore was softer the main current was really pushing near close. The water look so perfect, and we had some great grabs, but no fish, with the exception of two trout that billy caught.

Our first day was marred by heavy rains nearly all day, luckily Rick was able to get a decent fire going on the immense rock bar on the rivers north side, that and a great flock of swallows eating the largest mayfly hatch I had ever seen made that after noon a blast. There were lots of memorable moments, many including birds. A small brood of abou 4-5 baby mergansers mistaking my body waste deep in river as their missed mother and swimming to with in a couple feet before realising there sad predicament. A pilliated woodpecker and then another. twenty ruby-throated hummingbirds all gather together at the Motel Restigouche competing for feeder time, or as I said before a thousand or more swallows so close on all side hovering dipping and skimming for a feast of BWOs.

On the afternoon of our second day we head down river to fish the Restigouche below Matapedia. A lot of the water on the Restigouche, Maybe even most of the water belongs to a group of the US's and Canada's Richest people, all of them belonging to the Restigouche Salmon Club which was started in the 1880's. Because of the Salmon Clubs vast holdings, it can be a pain to find good fishing water, and a lot of time is spent running the boat across private water just to find water that can be fished. To get to fishable water below town took a bout a mile and a half run down stream to the InterProvincial Bridge.

We fished the water immediately below the bridge while one of fished from shore. I had a few soft grabs fishing from the boat but no fish. We then headed down river to a big bar that we fished out our evening on, me from shore, BR from the boat. Rick showed us a down river spot where powerlines cross the river and there was a great run there where fresh from the sea Atlantics were known to stop and aclimate to fresh water. We barely beat a big storm in as we headed to Matapedia. A black wall of cloud and showers came rollong down the Matapedia valley as we turned up it, and as the boat was being landed the sky opened and lightening came with it, we cracked opened a few beers and hunkered under the bridge until the worst of it passed.

That night as on the night before BR and I grabbed our dinner at the small store in the Village of Matapedia. We ate at the Hotel the first night but the prices were alittle high for us to make a habit out of it and the hours of operation were not condusive to fishing the best times of the day.

We started our last day on the Restigouche fishing one of the lowest runs on the river, right where some major power lines cross the river between Campbellton and Matapedia. The towers are red and white and this is good info to have as this part of the river can be fished with out a river pass up until the 1st of June. The run was great and there was plenty of good water for a few hours of fishing, but our time was limited as BR and I had to get back to the Hotel to meet Rick for a day of fishing on the Matapedia.

Snoqualmie River, Washington

I fished the Snoqualmie for a day in 2006 in late October. I had just fished the Clearwater with Billy and had to head up to BC to do some work. I found out that a road call something "Powell" was the way to access to river, so I pioneered for a day.

The Snoqualmie is very close to down town Seattle, but it didn't really seem like while I was fishing. Acording to the guys I had spoken to Most people were heading down to the Deschutes which was fishing great, so not many people were hanging around to fish the Snoqualmie which was not in prime shape.

The river was low and clear and fishing was not suposed to be very good. I fished with small flies most of the Morning, and then on a whim I changed to a #3 orange spey, and Hooked a solid steelhead in a really flat tailout.

It is a beautiful river I would like to see it when conditions are right.

The Eel River - California

In late January of 2009, I head to Claifornia's Eel River. I headed out with three friends that I know through work Rusty, Tony, and Mark. Rusty and Tony both live in Nevada, and Mark lives in Sacremento. I flew into Sacremento, where I met Mark, we then made the 5 hour drive north to Humbolt county and our camp on the South Fork of the Eel. We hung out for a couple hours checking out the redwoods, fishing and drinking a couple beers while we wait for Rusty and Tony's arrival and with them the tent.

And what a tent it was. It was really more like a cabin built of nylon. It had a large main room and four small off shoot rooms for us to use as sleeping areas and to store our individual items. It even had a wood stove in side so that we could be nice warm and dry after a cold, wet day of fishing winter steelhead.

We knew that the river was low when we started out on the trip and there had been some debate as to where we should ultimately head. Possiblibly the Rouge in Oregon or the Smith in Nor Cal or even heading all the way up the north coast of Oregon to hit the coastal rivers that Rusty and I had done so well on the year before. In the end though we decided to stick with our original plan of fishing the Eel. Reports for the previous week were promising with guys get a fish or two per day, but there had been no rain since and the fishing had really dropped off, our hope was that rain would come and even if it didn't we would find a fish or two.

Even a single fish on the Eel would be great. Eel River steelhead, which used to be rather abundant, are now a rare fish on the fly. A large reason for this is the difficulty in being in the right place at the right time. Too much rain and the river blows out for a long time. Too little rain and the steelhead sit out of the lost coast and wait for the water level they want.

A fish or two was really more wishful thinking than anything else. The fishing was very tough or more to the point, the fish were almost non-existent. We fish hard and we fished lots of good water, but there were just not any steelhead around in the low, clear river.

After several tough days of fishing we did take a day trip the Matole River just south of the Eel river. and we checked out the Trinity river for a few hours. We got no steelhead, but I realized just how magnificent Northern California is.

The Thompson River

I always wish that there could be a way for me to accurately retell every detail of a steelheading trip, or even just a single moment of it. Unfortunately every way I try to explain what it is like to be there falls utterly short. Journals and stories can only tell others so much, and photos can only rarely describe the underlying and intangible spirit of the country they were taken in. Occasionally a story or a photo will hit the nail on the head and for a brief moment we are let into the true nature and feeling of being part of the experience.

In the Fall of 2002 some friends and I traveled to the Thompson River in British Columbia. The Thompson is a river that flow through the arid hinterlands of the Canadian Coastal Range. The river is not known for it's kindness anglers, or for it's numerous Steelhead. The Thompson is however known for being a river where devout anglers can test there faith and grit against tough wading, freezing nights and mornings, and a strong possiblity of going a week or even two with not so much as a grab. But if the steelhead gods smile and the stars aline you may just hook the fish of a lifetime.

I went with my friends Dave and Billy and we spent a week fishing the runs around the town of Spences Bridge by day and hanging out at the Log Cabin Pub by night. In the frigid nights that haunt the Thompson's steelhead season, the pub is the best place to escape for warmth, food, and to hear stories of the rare fish told by some of the greatest Steelheaders on the planet. On our trip Billy, Dave, and I spent our evenings hanging out with two guys from the U.S., Steve Choate and Bill Williams, Steve had just won the world spey casting tournament in the UK and was busy helping to design fly rods and spey lines, in between floats down the Thompson. Bill was Steve's mentor, or that is what I gathered. We also Ran into many faces to put with Spey pages names. I also struck up a small friendship with an angler named Jon Barlow, and now I hear his name all the time, every body seems to know and like Jon.

So the nights were fun, Having beers and ripping on every one else for either fishing or not fishing long belly lines, or big or little flies, weight or no weight since we fished two-handers, what else was there?

The first day we fished hard and got nothing. We got to see a young Canadian guy land a nice fish in front of us. As the fish ran, his friend encouraged him to palm the reel, and he shouted, or maybe he whined, "I Caannn't it's a Haaaarrrdyyy". Billy and I love our hardys, but that is still one of favorite shout outs.

The next day was also an exhausting sun up to sundown seige on the river, and at the very end of the day Dave stuck our first fish. He was behind me on the Grease Hole and I heard his reel screaming, I turned around to see the last of his fly line slip out the tip of the rod. Dave ran down stream, hopping boulders, and even managed to save him se;lf from a gnarly backlash. Then it ended with me tailing a great big buck in the shallow water as dark rolled in. It was an amazing fish.

The next morning Billy and Dave headed down to fish the River right side of the Hotel Run. I chose to stay and fish the Grease Hole again. I did not get any thing on my first pass throught the run, but as I neared the tailout, I saw a few fish slowly roll, so I decided to go through again. The first pass I fished a large Black G.P. now I tied on a big orange intruderish fly and fished through again. This time it paid off. half way down the run the rod bucked hard and backing was racing off the reel, I don't even know what happened to the loop I was carrying or the rest of the fly line. The fish was instantly into the backing and going through it fast aqfter about 75yards or something in that area the fished slowed and I was able to turn it. over the next 15-20 minutes a game of tug o war was held between us, an finally he was less than a rods length from my feet, but I could not see him yet, so close, any second now. A head shake and the hook came loose, it was over and I never saw the fish. We fished hard the rest of that day, but found no other fish.

On the fourth Day it was Billy's turn, and though I led the way through the Grease Hole, and Dave followed me, It was Billy who got the fish. I was at the camp when I heard the sound of Billy's reel, so I grabbed my big camera and ran down, I went through 3 rolls of film on the fight and landing of the great fish, and it was truly great 43" long with a 26" girth, the biggest steelhead that any of us had ever seen.


As we were looking at the fish, I noticed that even though it had been hooked in the lower jaw, it had a big red red bruise on its upper lip. I mentioned this to Billy, who imediatly saw where I was going with this line of thinking and told me that this was absolutely not the fish I hooked yesterday, and to guit trying to horn in on his fish. Yeah, he read me pretty well on that one.

Well, after the rest of day four slipped by with out another grab, I started feeling pretty desperate. Both Dave and Billy caught fish and I had lost my only opportunity. On Day five I again hooked nothing a repeatedly fished the grease hole in the morning and the evening, while Dave and Billy had gone out to fish other runs, that evening when Billy and Dave returned from fishing John's Rock, they told me of the great Hen that dave had brought up to and landed on a skater, a greased liner.

I was happy for Dave, but  not as happy as I should have been, I was mostly sad for myself. How could he be so lucky? I now know, after several years have passed that he was and is just that good, and that I cursed myself by narrowing my focus so much, and wasting valuable time being childish. I started realizing this while we were hanging out at the pub, with Bill, Jon, and Steve. Dave and Bill had a great plan for some different water we should pioneer the next day, and Jon who seemed to be catching more that anyone that week, was encouraging me to try some smaller flies, and I decided that I would at least get the mental monkey off my back, stop worrying and start having fun, whether I landed a fish or not.

The next morning we all got going a little later than usual, alot cause we were tired and a little cause it was cold. We rolled in to the local gas station on our way up towards the Martell Islands section of the River. When we arrived we stopped at an orchard to buy some cide and fruit and asked the owner if we could hike through his orchard to get to the river. He said sure and even let us drive a good bit of the way on his property.

We fished across the river from a run that, I now know, is called Fantasy Island. Steve Choate was across the river on that run, a great soft water bay that takes a huge cast to fish right. The water I was on almost seemed too deep and structureless, the bank was steep and I could only stand ankle deep, any more would be a drop over my head. I thought I might have a chance on the hang down, but the grab came on beginning of the swing.

The Grab was the softest I have ever felt, like the weight of a small leaf. The fly kept swinging the small weight unchanging, then there was the slightest TICK, so small it was almost nothing, but I set the hook. nothing happened, I set right into a rock, way out there in the deep water with a floating line and a #3 spade, but I couldn't see a rock. Then the shit got started, the fish just ran and ran my line racing down stream, and the fish jumped 30yards up stream, then again 50yards up stream, but the line was still racing out down stream, pointing unchangingly at the boil of a yugo sized boulder. In the end it I was able to get her around the boulder and in, I can hardly remember it. Some moments last and others fade.

Dave helped me land, photograph and release the fish. Steve Shouted and gave a fist pump from across the river, Billy gave the steelhead fist pump that is truly unique to him, and I got all giggly cause I caught a steelhead. That night Dave and I fished the Orchard Run and each hooked and lost big fish both fishing the surface. When mine took it was getting dark and Dave had finished the run and was talking on shore with Bill. I was fishing caddisy/muddlerish thing and just like that morning a slight weight just started swinging with the fly, I set, and the fish just sat there. I called to Dave and Billy. They stopped talking looked up, saw me, rod bent, but the fish didn't move. Assuming I was up to my usual antics the went back to talking. I screamed "come you f&%*ers, I'm serious" and right then the fish bolted to the other side of the river. The fight was dramatic, The fish was huge, Billy later said that he saw it from the high bank and thought it would go an easy twenty, but at the end I went stupid and pointed the rod at the fish and it broke off just before we could land it.
We partied that night an in the morning, our last morning, Steve and Bill came by to teach us about casting long bellies. It was great and Billy and I really were sold on it. I would have told you then that I wasn't and for years after I went to shorter and shorter line, but My imagination was captured, and now I love fishing and casting long bellies when I can.

So the Thompson was good to us on that trip, we hooked 7 fish in 7 days. One fish was the biggest any of us had ever seen. I went back a couple of years later for four days, the trip was great with tons of memorable people, and animals, and events, but no fish. Thats the Thompson I had always heard of, she'll lure you into loving her and then and then make you watch as she loves some undeserving bastard.