what ive been up to

Ive been slaying the fish all over since ive been gone with my friends.  which i am dedicating this post to.  thank you for all of the awesome trips you have all shared with me.  the camfires and laughs, big trout and exploding sodas it's all a blast and leaves me looking forward to  the next trip

here are some pictures of trips from july to october there will be a few more into the winetr but it will slow with the closing of trout season, so since i tie flies alot now ill post some patterns i tie after a while  tight lines,

Brandon H

                                                  My first deschutes river redband

                                                



  McKenzie river redband

                               

                                               our campsite at the crooked river

                                                                  whitefish

                                                        crooked river redband



                                      working the evening BWO hatch on the crooked river

                                                         14 inch dry fly cutthroat

                                                          coast range river

                                                 trillium lake trophy trout

                                      





these fish would not be possible if it were not for my friends. Thanks guys!   always look forward to the next trip

back in buisness

Well, after my long  seperation with internet i have gained it again. In the past few months that ive been gone i have fished a few  a big trout rivers that oregon has to offer,went camping  on the nestucca for my bday,fished the mckenzie in a drift boaty with a friend (guide trip)  fished the cccrooked river, and  2 days ago i returned from the one and only deschutes river. I will be making a post with dozens of fish photos  from  recent trips  and a few short stories of exciting events during these trips. 

Tight lines,


Brandon  H

out of internet

Sadly we have run out of internet for a while due to being behind, but i have been catching alot of fish lately. Yesterday the creek produced 13 fish including 2 13 inchers   pictured above. Sorry for the inconvenience  we will be back to regular weekly posts within a month or less

trophy resident coastal cutthroat on the fly

I woke up this morning  to go fly fishing,  got dressed, filled my backpack with snacks and tp  and waking myself up for the 2 mile walk along the creek ahead of me. I slipped on my waders,  made sure i had my fly box, tippet and everything else i need to get some fish then got in the car and was dropped off at my starting point. My original access point has been blocked due to  construction wich is kind of aggrivating  because  that means i had to get in the creek and wade down quite a ways to get to my original starting point.  i sat my backpack down and watched for a minute before casting observing  the water.  I took some line out,  waded in and starting casting.  Halfway through the drift my strike indicator stopped ,went underwater and took off. From that  point i set the hook  FISH ON!  I was excited to have hooked a fish on the first cast But it jumped and spit the hook. But i stayed possitive and  checked my leader and flies before casting again. I got nothing on the following cast but the one after that i got a very solid strike.  Stripped some line and lifted my tip up to set the hook and fish on!! The fish didn't jump but it stuck to the bottom like a 2 oz weight!   It took about 20-30 seconds for me to  get the fish off the bottom and from that point i proceeded to bank the fish and take a picture then release the fish it was around 8-9 inches. After catching that fish i decided to fish one of my favorite spots, although i had missed 3 strikes there last time and the water is alot lower now i figured i could  get one or two. I nymphed the seam and pocket of the spot and  had ntohing, not even a nibble so i decided to get my backpack and move downstream  to  the pocket stretches. I call it the pocket stretches because every other small stretch of water is fishable pocket water. There is a transition from slow almost non moving creek, to  faster pocket water with plenty of small seams,riffles and pools to fish.  The first spot i approach is a very deep swift water spot with depths up to 12 ft! so it is difficult to fly fish.  I resort to a method called "walking the dog" where i stand at the very top of the run, let some line out and drop my stuff letting it get a drag free drift  through the deep run then swinging at the end and repeat. This technique  got me one fish,around 11 or so inches from this spot and then it was time to move downstream. i fished numerous pockets with nothing to show  for a quarter mile of walking and fishing, So i moved downstream  to a spot i figured fish would be hiding during the low  summer flows.  A riffle that flows under some brush and timber  near an undercut bank. First cast and bam!  got a nice little scrapper and threw him back. From that point i was getting skunked and alot of the water i was fishing was very low. So i decided to pass up alot of spots and fish about a mile down creek at a spot that stays at a good steady flow year long. After arriving   even the spot  that should have been  higher was a bit low, but still fast,oxygenated  and had   2-3 ft of water so i  put my backpack down and dropped a line. Third cast i got a bite and hooked the fish, he jumped once and tried to wrap around a rock but i banked him, took a picture and back to the drink the little fella went!. After releasing that fish i  immediately casted again and got a very good bite. I set the hook and it felt like a snag the first second then it shook its head a took off downstream  and never looked back. I let it take line for a bit until my backing started to show and some small fast areas with big rocks perfect for breaking my line were about 20 yards below the fish. So i stripped some line in  to keep it tight and ran downstream to catch up with the fish. I fought it for about 3 more minutes in the same general stretch of water  and somehow managed to land this very very large resident coastal cutthroat trout. I took a couple of pictures of this beast and released him to fight another day then made my way back home to tell the tale of my big trout to everyone.

a few more before i leave

couldn't resist trying the creek out one more time so i hiked down and caught 4 fish. 3 pictures only though, the only rainbow i caught (there are not alot of them in this stream) and he was good sized too.    the water is finally starting to drop, and the fish are getting a wee bit more active. I will be taking pictures of my favorite stream when i return   aswell as some of the gear i use to fly fish small streams.  

tomorrow is the day

Tomorrow afternoon will mark the begininning of the oregon fishing forum fly fishing getogether/camping trip.  water will be high and fishing will be tough, come back sunday so look out for a report with pictures

with roaring thunder comes tricky fish

fished for about 4 hours afterschool today, i knew  the water would be up and a wee bit off color but i decided to give it a go anyways,    took a while to get any bites. i worked the same stretch of water for a while hooking one fish and missing a few good bites.  a bit frustrated i move downstream to one of my favorite sptos i haven't fished sicne opening day, ended up missing quite a few bites ,hooked and loosing one good fish and landing 3.  not huge fish but he was decent sized and took line.   there was a thunderstorm about halfway through the trip   wich was pretty cool. it wasnt much of a big oen though.    the rain seemed to turn the bite on in my favor but i couldnt get a solid hookset. i need to work on my hooksets while fly fishing