November rain and near snow on the Rogue

Below normal cold weather and icy precipitation nearly send us home early on this mid November day, but we endured the conditions and eventually connected and landed a nice Rogue River steelhead on a conehead leech. Several early hookups had come unglued.

Finally a solid cold water hookup!

It took sweeping the driftboat and fly back and forth across some wide, featureless water. I could imagine the black rabbit strip undulating beneath the surface. The take was deceptive. Many of the cold water takes right now feel like no more than a soft tension and pull to the line…a mouthy glom on.

Stubborn and wily we finally net him.

The conehead rabbit strip obviously is a leech pattern. It is not a fly that I am that familiar with. Appears that behind the conehead comes first a deer hair collar, followed by a silver chenille body, overlayed with a narrow black rabbit fur strip. The black rabbit fur is ribbed to the hook and body with strong silver wire. Additionally sparse red flashabou and pearl crystal flash are added as further attraction.

A long and inticing cold water steelhead fly.

Obviously the steelhead will go for them. I’ve found small leeches under rocks before. Like the abundant stonefly nymph, they are natural to the river.

Early November along the Rogue

Great Fall action abounds along Oregon’s Rogue River.

This steelhead took on only my second cast of the day.

This Rogue steelhead fell for a Copper John nymph.

Twilight blacktail buck drawn to a doe.

November begins on the upper Rogue River

The Rogue River near twilight during November.

November has arrived on the upper Rogue and now is a safe bet that good numbers of biting steelhead are there. I stopped by a familar stretch this late afternoon and after a few cast hooked up with this beautiful male steelhead.

Rogue summer steelhead wrestled from November cold water on the Rogue.

On only the sixth or seventh cast into a familiar run with a Silver Heron Atlantic salmon pattern I struck to a deceptively trout like pull. I felt solid weight and I knew I had a fish. He ran strong downriver and showed with a couple of nice jumps. After a matter of time I pulled him to shore from the cold cover of the Rogue River.

He took the Silver Heron fly!

The second half of October has been a whirl of waterfowl, blacktail deer and wild mushroom hunting for me. The Siskiyou Mountains have held the lure of the latter. The wild, shaggy mane mushrooms finally made their appearance during November. For a look at the first of them go to the More Wild Fungi page.

More from the Middle Rogue

Showing the Carpetbagger and G.R. Hare's Ear tadem

Sorry for the poor photo quality. The old, faithful Canon A60 took another dunking! Just keeps right on kicking. I am working at really drying her out this time.
This nice, hatchery fish really pounced on the Carpetbagger stonefly nymph and Beadhead G.R. Hare’s Ear combo. The matter of fact is both flies have beadheads. Lately I’ve noticed the smaller fish are taking the Hare’s Ear, while the Carpetbagger has counted for the larger fish.
Yesterday was a good day to be out on the river as mild temperatures and a gathering overcast dominated. The expected weather front has arrived overnight and we are now receiving wind and rain. The rainy weather conditions are forecasted for the remainder of the week. We’ll just have to wait and see. Here’s a few more photos taken yesterday on the middle Rogue River.

A friend picking a way through the skinny water.

Committed and entering the chute

Pair of spawning chinook salmon.

A fly angler working the water below spawning fall chinook

Middle Rogue River Again

Rogue Guiden with middle Rogue River steelhead.

Early this morning I hooked up with this very nice Rogue River steelhead. This connection was particularly satisfying. I long casted the smooth, broad tailout seen in the background with a Gray Heron spey fly. The take was near undetectable…just a small pull at the fly. I tightened to that tension and the fish exploded out of the water in a high leap. A resounding splash broke the quiet of the gliding tailout water. I landed the fish before he went over into a very swift rapid.

No need to fish below spawning salmon with an Eggo and strike indicator when you can find, tempt and catch steel with a pretty fly like this.

The Gray Heron as it comes from the vise before it is fished!

October on the middle Rogue River

Large buck Rogue steelhead plucked from the fast water.

I had to venture a ways out of my confort zone, but the drive was worth it. The middle Rogue offers a lot of new river to learn. This near 30 inch Rogue River steelhead was found in a real soft spot at the side of a big rapid. The reason the photo is dark is because I’m under a bridge. The first fish I hooked out of this spot taught me a few early lessons. I didn’t waste what I had learned when I next hooked this guy. The fly pattern was a Beadhead G.R. Hare’s Ear nymph.

Fly of the Month

Cold water steelhead still go for the Carpetbagger.

Carpetbagger by terms of numbers of fish. The early part of the month saw the Carpetbagger nymph working it’s magic. Too bad I was sick for the latter part. What with the water flow down making cold, clear conditions on the river the Carpetbagger will still take it’s fish. The good choice now is to run a smaller pattern off the Carpetbagger as a dropper. Good choices are the G.R. Hare’s Ear, Prince, Pheasant Tail, Copper John nymphs or a salmon egg pattern.

From the coast!

Our first Matsutake! From the Oregon coast area.

I finally get to try some wild matsutaki mushrooms. This is not a big haul…but even a “blind pig finds acorns sometimes.” In this case a blind pig would find this mushroom quite easily and to be very good. They have a decidely piney, pungent smell and a delicious gormet taste!

This riffle near a campground is tops for Rogue half pounders.

Half pound steelhead can be fooled near dusk.

The lower Rogue River half-pound steelhead are numerous this year. They can be found from Agness on down. A light fly rod and size #8 Silver Ant pattern are an excellent setup for flyfishing these fiesty fish. These fresh from the Pacific anadromous fish are also very delicious.

Day after…bring on the heat.

We started the day out early, but already I could feel the coming heat of the sun on my cheeks. The Rogue River’s flow is high enough to make crossings and general wading a tricky game. That situation should change slowly this month as the Army Corps of Engineers gradually decrease the water flow from the Lost Creek dam on the Rogue River. The big spey rod and angler were in good position to work the run, and indeed he did draw numerous strikes to big fluffy popscycle style flies before solidly hooking and landing a steelhead. During my fishing time I worked the Carpetbagger Stonefly Nymph and small nymph (primarily G.R. Hare’s Ears) tandems on a smaller switch rod…basicly high-sticking the narrow top of the run. As the sun rose higher, getting the offerings down to the fish became the game. My dear old Canon camera managed to pull off these few pics. It seems my wading slip with a cold water dunking of yesterday has caused a little mischief with the camera’s inner workings. I believe a good drying out in this late afternoon 100 degree heat may work wonders. That Canon A60 camera has come back from near disaster before…quite a few times!

Good positioning for the spey rod guru!

Laying that line down for the big cast.

All loaded and ready to shoot.

My Carpetbagger accounts for a 26 inch steelie.

September kicks off with a bang.

Rogue steelies!

And I’m not talking about the dove hunting season, although that has been good. We went 3 for 4 on the Rogue steelhead yesterday. All we had time for was this post-fishing photo. The fish box got a little warm as the ice melted readily in the Rogue Valley heat which was up into the mid 90°F by the afternoon. I feel a September Fly of the Month award coming to the Carpetbagger Nymph. Heading back out…the fish are back in.