Swimming with the donkeys

[tacklejunkie]

Some special shrimp looking steelhead jigs I picked up. Downloaded the photo from gopro to iPhone to upload. Pair these with aero float af-1
$$$$

this he type of high quality stuff I talk about that increase your hookup

[tacklejunkie]

Here is a RAW un edited clip of the second fish I caught that day 5/2 the trout got worked by my steelhead rod like he was nothing. Poor guy lol.
Saw some of those blue crawdads again in there. Must be what some of the bigger fish are grubbing on and why Ling Lings tells me to buy blue stuff even though I never do.
https://youtu.be/0wLtWmKuVdY

[sweetfish]

Great video. I sure miss fishing the springtime and summer time in Oregon. Used to live in Klamath Falls and fished the Williamson and Klamath River. Keep posting Casey.

[sodapop]

Love the post, but tell us where your fishing at, we know your in Oregon maybe, not spots just where at

[tacklejunkie]

Wilson River in Oregon.
It’s a really popular river with lots of pressure. When you get a nice sized steelhead out of there on shore, you must be doing things right.

I managed two out of there this spring. Both wild and both above 4-5lbs. That’s definitely rare, for me! Neither were keepers. Have to be chrome with clipped fins to take one home. Can’t keep wild rainbow colored full fin fish from that river.

Definitely for the best.. it takes you a year to find two of them. Not every day or every six months you find one. I’ve been fishing the Wilson on and off for four or five years now. Usually once at least every time I go to Trask I hit Wilson along the way. I finally caught two steelhead from it haha.

some of the pools are very big and calm. Fish can see you coming easily. Others are so big woth so much growth, they are hard to access even with waders. Other pools are behind people’s property and hard to access. Etc etc.
some spots are simply hidden from view and all you need to do is park at a turn-off of highway six and go exploring for a walk in the bushes to find an awesome spot.
that’s about average for river fishing. You “run and gun”, then keep running.

the river is a good 30 miles long with several tributaries. Most are closed. There is sections of the river that are closed as well, like the upper portions where snow runoff turns to creeks and then rivers. It all happens right there. Micro ecosystem in its own drainage.

there is wild salmon and steelhead coming in from Tillamook bay in the ocean. You need to be careful and read the rule book very well because you can easily fish out of season.
I haven’t caught any of the hatchery fish yet. Still looking..

you can type Wilson River in to youtube and see all kinds of wild drift fishing videos from crazy Oregonians in their tiny drift boats catching 20lb rainbow sorbet donkies.

[tacklejunkie]

This fish here, looks to be about 20lbs of chrome.
that’s a keeper from the Wilson River, and why I keep going back. Lol


my PB steelie was a rainbow donkey about ten lbs or so. Half that size. It beat the living hell out of me in a tiny pool 30 miles back in the woods on another river. These fish are epic battles you will not soon forget. You will be bloody and have teeth marks when all is said and done.

i had a video of me fighting one for about eight minutes that took me several pools down stream one day.
I did not post it before deleting it for fear people would yell at me for using bass gear on steelhead because it was under powered and frankly, stupid.

these fish teach you a lot of things real quick.

a salmon of about 15lbs broke me off on video. That was in one of my last ones a couple months ago.