This last week, Scott and I hosted a family party of anglers from Austin, Texas. I had met Matt Faudree and Mac Mather over in Mongolia last fall, where they had professed an interest in coming to sample some of the fishy delights in our neck of the woods. True to their word, Matt and Mac flew up, joined by Matt's wife, Kerry, and son, Keegan, for a four-day fishing tour with the Two Dudes. 
 
We started our adventure on the McKenzie, where the weather was sunny and bright one day, and cloudy and calm the next. Fishing was fair, with everyone getting into a few trout (and some magnificent whitefish!). The March Brown hatch was rather underwhelming but shows promise of some great fishing in the weeks to come. 
 
On Monday morning we made a caravan up into the Coast Range Mountains for a crack at some winter steelhead. We floated the Siletz, even though the water was a bit bony. The Texans' brought their "game faces" and were rewarded for full-day efforts with beautiful steelhead landed in each boat. 
 
We all spent the night in Pacific City, where we installed the Texans in an oceanfront house with a spectacular view of Haystack Rock, Cape Kiwanda, and the crashing surf. A fine dinner at the Pelican Brewpub finished the day. 
 
On the last day of fishing, we floated the lower Nestucca. The river was quite low and surprisingly crowded with other boats. But our 9:30 a.m. launch time assured us of great seats at the "back of the bus." Although the fishing was slow up until lunch, a brief hookup by Keegan just after lunch kept everyone's hope alive. At around 4:20 in the afternoon, with the rain becoming more serious than just a cold drizzle, just as he'd done the day before, Matt hooked a beauty. He fought the fiesty little hen well, eventually bringing the chrome-bright ghost to the net. It had sea lice galore and flaking chromy scales, a fish that had clearly entered the river mere hours before.  
 
 
Scott and I left the group of family and friends in their little shelter by the sea, and made the long drive back to Eugene. Today, as they're winging their way back to Austin, we all share visions of dripping rainforest, new-bud cottonwood, raging Pacific winter-storm surf, and green-glowing fishing holes dancing in our memories. 
 
 
 

Posted by: Matt Ramsey