The Oregon (salmon) Trail

Here's some pics from my salmon hunting today. No fish, but some fish porn there for you. Can you see the salmons?! One of these days that's gonna be on the end of my line, suckas!
Keep tuning in. Until next time..

Approaching the bridge



On the bridge



Looking out from bridge



Hiking down the bank in the thick



Signs



Look carefully, a salmon at the end of the sticks in the water.
Trained eyes only



See the big dark fish shadow? That salmon had to be 12lbs. It was BIG!





Repairing the stretched seams in my Simms with a gore text repair kit after finding the leak



"Under the bridge"
you can see the boat ramp where the inflatable pontoons and drift boats land. They must be launching further upstream at another site. I'll have to try and find out where.





this post brought to you by:
Holy Simms waders. Only TJ can penetrate them.



Also by: waterproof Danner carbon twill boots. Designed in Portland, manufactured in China. Thanks, Danner! =P



In cooperation with: Man's best friend



...and of course, last but not least, FUNGI. Couldn't live without it.



Thanks for looking. Hopefully next time I'll get to yank on a big salmon.
Saw one guy farm one today, so I know they bite something!!
as of Christmas, I will have lived in Portland for one year already. Just over two months to go.
-TacklejunkieMonkeyMan

Awesome pics and sorry nothing landed, is that the Nestuca river by chance....went there last year...

Tried to PM you but your box is full

Forgot to note..
I found this fly stuck to a rock alongside the river. Wonder if they are eating these? Didn't get to try it, as I accidentally brought my 8wt fly reel for my 9'5wt fly rod.
Ill go empty my PM box.

This is is the Clackamas river, ten miles outside Clackamas. I think the town is Barton.

Looks to to be a chartreuse wooly bugger

Keep at it TJ and that salmon will be tugging soon. I put 10 sessions on that section of the Clack last summer. Love the pics and reports, fishing that stretch is one of the best parts of our Oregon visits. Most of my experience is hunting summer steelhead in July, but if you want any info shoot me a PM. Loads of info here: http://www.salmonuniversity.com/ . This site was a big help in my finding and landing my first steelhead this year.

Been at it for three sessions so far,
but I have bad news. The guy at work with the 30lb salmon pictures says these fish stop wanting to bite around this time of year.

I did see a guy hook one and farm it the other day though. So maybe I'll keep trying.
I gotta find some place to fish up here during the winter with considerable sized fishes! Caught a bunch of dinks and farmed some big bass since I've been here. Need to catch something that pulls drag!! Arggggh mateys.
gonna take me years to find some spots up here like I had in SoCal that always produce good fish.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by tacklejunkie

Forgot to note..
I found this fly stuck to a rock alongside the river. Wonder if they are eating these? Didn't get to try it, as I accidentally brought my 8wt fly reel for my 9'5wt fly rod.
Ill go empty my PM box.

This is is the Clackamas river, ten miles outside Clackamas. I think the town is Barton.

Looks to to be a chartreuse wooly bugger

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Cary Special. the only wet fly you'll ever need. in peacock hearl it's great for trouts

go get those salmon and show some pics!

Dang, CD..
How you get so smart, n stuff?

I see trout angling signs at that river but haven't been bitten by any trout, I don't believe.

I think I had some baitfish nipping at my gammarus shrimp imitation. But not sure what it was to be honest.
Now it's pouring like crazy and the temps dropped through the floor and the winds went through the roof. I think I'll have to give the salmon a break for a moment or two. Maybe hit a creek again soon and look for that fat, neon pink triangle cheeked cutthroat I missed last time. Trouts are always good for a go during the colder months.

Mt Hood just got a fresh dusting of snow. It had melted back pretty far late in the summer.

Next year I'm gonna kick some salmon tail, and I'll be ready and waiting for them. This year I fished for them too early and found none, then too late and found them uncooperative, it seems. Time to do my homework on those fish. Thanks for the help!

Good stuff Casey, hope you get you big Salmon soon... :Big Grin:

Dang I was driving around on the 22 out by Salem with my chick yesterday and found a BUNCH of anglers lined up on a river I don't know the name of. All of them had bait casting gear and it was a tiny tiny river, so I'm assuming they were after salmon. No other reason to be using bass gear in that tiny water. This was VERY close to the beach as well.
I was just at the collective and the guy there was telling me I need to get away from the open water on the Clackamas and go further upstream to where the creek narrows out a bit and I will catch a salmon there.

So looks like the bite is still on, in some places, worth of shoulder to shoulder fishing with baitcasters, and I need to still keep trying to figure out these fish and hit up two new spots I just found.
Arg I'm gonna get one of these things somehow!
the guy at the collective was saying chartreuse also, so that Cary fly above must be what they're trying for salmon with.

Info fresh as it comes!
Imma get one of these things. They're saying the salmon run was big this year. I still don't know a damn thing about these fish. Lol!

Oh, did I mention I was out on a date while dragging her around looking for salmon in her hometown? Haha
I'm evil.

Good Luck Casey. I hope you get that salmon. When my brother was salmon fishing in Idaho, he used some kind of Carolina rig setup to get his salmon. He was using some type of fish eggs as the bait though.

"I've roamed in foreign parts my boys,
and many lands have seen,
but Columbia is my idol yet
of all lands she is queen."

That's carved on a stump somewhere up there i think

I was told people here will pull a gun on you for your salmon spot! Lol
Sounds about right, considering how I was robbed of my campsite earlier this year.

the dispensary guy says I can use a corky yarn rig. He said it's like a cork bobber and a piece of yarn on a hook and that will get them. I'm like whaaaaaaa?
Am I on Mars?

Ok research on the "yarn and cork" rig comes up with these ugly things.

If you ask me, a flashminnow looks tastier.

I'm seeing a common theme here. Larger-than-trout-sized neon lures.
Noted!

it it would also appear this is what I am seeing the old-timers up the Clackamas throwing around.

Or something relative to that.
Kinda like the sliding bobber rig but with a one ounce bullet and 30lb line.
I don't even have the gear to fish that kind of stuff.

Casting a rig like that would be likely to create some sort of bolo effect. Might get a few UFO reports off that one.

im gonna walk up to the salmon guys and throw a trout swimbait in the water and see what kind of reaction I get. Haha

some guys fish steelhead with ghost shrimp under a slidding bobber too.

We only trolled and always with a Hotshot plug. I don't see why casting one (or a similar bait) from the shore wouldn't be effective as long as you were getting down near the bottom. (My brother hooked a salmon on a perch-colored Rapala once when we were fishing for smallmouth.)

The Oregon Trail, eh?



•

So, if Salmon in river, that means there are eggs in the river. Eggs in the river means trout gorge on them during spawning season. Very interested to see what pans out if you do target trout.

Any smallmouth in the river? That's what I'd be throwing clousers at wooly buggers at.

great report looks like you had it all to your self

Quote:

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Originally Posted by City Dad

Cary Special. the only wet fly you'll ever need. in peacock hearl it's great for trouts

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You told me the same thing about the CD Tilapia Special Wet Hackle w/ CDC and a foam post fly at Balboa.

Still haven't caught a thing with it.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by DarkShadow

You told me the same thing about the CD Tilapia Special Wet Hackle w/ CDC and a foam post fly at Balboa.

Still haven't caught a thing with it.

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He didn't use enough Ritz cracker wrappers on yours...

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Skyler

He didn't use enough Ritz cracker wrappers on yours...

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You know, I prefer the Saltine wrappers when making my wings for any type of emerger or dun. I'll even use the sandwich wrapper from my Trimana sandwich I get for lunch. Nothing like that waxy, butcher paper type of wing. Drives them Tee-lops crazy.

Ritz cracker wrappers are more for the 'end of year' hatches, like the Gray Drake, or Flav, where you need a less opaque type of wing. Sprinkle some dust on it, and you're ready to catch.

Angel (fish) dust?

you guys should check out 2 micron thick Mylar for your fly wings.. If you can work with it. Looks awesome.

the only fly I care to tie are my new Iproved stimulators. Now that I don't lop the ends off my hackles and create sinking flies, regardless of the stimulator being a wet. tied properly, it skitters very good. Bueno para rapido agua.

Haven't even been able to tie flies in months. Maybe a year.
Right now working on a new girlfriend so could be another ten.

i was told it's the Silver Salmon running right now up the rivers near the coast.
I know where I'll be this weekend..
Shoulder to shoulder with my 9mm in my backpack. Heard stuff gets ugly over there lol.

dude at work says you can catch either stealies or salmon year round if you know where to look. I manage to pump him for about one minute worth of information each day, between building these horrendous machines.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by tacklejunkie

Angel (fish) dust?

you guys should check out 2 micron thick Mylar for your fly wings.. If you can work with it. Looks awesome.

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Micron? Mylar? Terms too difficult for me, I had to Google them.

I'll keep sending CD used Eastside Deli's butcher paper for my wings. They even have the added scent lock of Virginia smoked ham, along with a great Italian dressing embedded in the wings. No trout will be able to resist that. The added grease will make the butcher paper almost appear transparent, such as the mayfly during it's adult spinner stages.

My fly box is finally getting depleted. I'm gonna have to do something about that soon.
Last time I both flies at bass pro down south, I spent like $70 for 8 flies. Not sure how the hell that happened but it's not gonna happen again! that's for sure.

There's a place up here called Bi-Mart where I can get flies for a buck each, but they also fall apart after two fish..
nothing like a home tied stimi.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by tacklejunkie

My fly box is finally getting depleted. I'm gonna have to do something about that soon.
Last time I both flies at bass pro down south, I spent like $70 for 8 flies. Not sure how the hell that happened but it's not gonna happen again! that's for sure.

There's a place up here called Bi-Mart where I can get flies for a buck each, but they also fall apart after two fish..
nothing like a home tied stimi.

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There's a few sites online that have some pretty decent prices. I used a company up in Oregon (Big Y Fly) that has decent prices, and good quality actually. I stocked up with them for the flies I needed for my trip last month and I was pleasantly surprised.

Or, if you like to buy in 'bulk, i.e, by the dozen, there's a big online retailer whose newsletter I subscribe to that also has good quality flies at almost 50 cents especially if you catch their sales.

I can't tie a knot, let alone a fly. And paying $2.50 at local fly shops sucks, unless it's a specific pattern I can't find elsewhere.

FINALLY scored my own private place up here in Oregon, ten minutes away from work by the Clackamas river. Now I finally have a home base to fish from and DJ/produce music again. Nice little studio with my own kitchen and bath, in a guest-house-type scenario in some cool Harley riders' back yard for $500 a month. Great deal. No wifi yet for a few more days, I'll have to upload he pics later. Kinda fitting I get a studio and then proceed to set up my music studio in it. Lol

Crashing in the truck for several months was tough work, specially while working long hours in crazy 30degree weather, but I finally did it. I'm established I'm Oregon right next to lots of great fishing waters. Took me a year. Came here last Christmas exactly. Did it all on my own.

Managed to meet a nice girl too, we went out to some crazy work party dinner of hers last night. Full suit and tie, Brazilian steakhouse where the prices aren't even listed on the menu (had to have been over $100 a plate) and they serve you fresh cut beef, lamb, chicken, bacon wrapped fillets fresh trimmed off the skewers at your choice, smoked salmon, full exotic salad bar right in the middle of bustling downtown Portland. You flip the card on the table to green for more meet and back to red when you're done. Red light green light. There was even police on riot gear patrolling the area, 30 cops in the back of a riot wagon. Kinda had me nervous! wtf they doing in downtown? Chasing off the furgies?!
From riches to rags right back to riches.

..and now back to that leftover key lime pie and contemplating my next attack on the fishes. :Wink:

"If you lose in life, it's because you lagged.
keep up with the traffic, or you'll get dragged!
Beneath the wheel!"
-D.R.I.

Great read and congrats on finding a place and the bonus of finding a girl, life is good indeed.....
I see tight lines in your future.

DANG it T/J,,,,,,,,,,,

Im getting a divorce , going bankrupt, and moving to Oregon!,,lol

WTG brother, takes character to pull that off with such a great attitude all along the way.

My hats off to ya.

TRAIL BLAZER