Steve Pailet made the most of his first visit to the McKenzie River. Sure, he caught several nice redsides and cutthroat on nymphs, dries, and wets throughout the day. Sure, we never saw any other anglers. But the day's high point without a doubt was Steve landing his first King Salmon. Best of all it was on a #10 soft-hackled wet fly! Kudos! Here's the shot to make everyone jealous: 
 
 

Posted by: Matt Ramsey

David and Jared Kabaker returned for their now annual Memorial Day Weekend outing on the McKenzie on Saturday, May 24th. Having lost a big redside last year, Jared was excited to get another chance to get a big one into the net. He wasted no time, landing a nice 14 incher in the first half hour of fishing. Dad and son had a friendly wager going on the first, most, and biggest fish of the day, so the gauntlet was laid. 
 
Although the morning produced several nice fish for both anglers, Jared looked solid to take home the big fish prize for the day. All of a sudden, on a golden stone nymph swung on the surface (!), David hooked a fish in a huge explosion. As it turned and peeled off downriver, I thought, "steelhead!" But the deep and bright red flank showed this was a redside. And it was comfortably over 20 inches; a true trophy! David fought the fish for over 5 minutes through several long runs in heavy current. At last, as it neared the boat, I grabbed the (WAY too small looking) net and looked for my opportunity to try to get this biscuit in the basket. That's when the fly popped loose, and the great fish disappeared. *Sigh*. 
 
While the rest of the day provided great action for cutthroats and smaller rainbows, the one that got away was never far from our thoughts. Maybe next year? 
 
 
 

Posted by: Matt Ramsey

RC and Kathleen joined me for a float on the McKenzie River between Hendricks and Hayden Bridges. We enjoyed a relaxing and productive day of fishing with no one else around. I guess the high and cold water had everyone but the fish scared off. RC put on a clinic, catching fish on nymphs, wet flies, and dry flies too. He also worked on his sunburn while Kathleen perfected her overhead single hand cast and caught her first, second, and third Wild Trout on a fly. The high light of it all, for me, was a perfectly simultaneous double hook up on two twin Cutthroats. Check out the photo; 
 
 

Posted by: Scott Nelson

We've been hit! It looks pretty bad! I think I'd better drop the anchor.  
 
 

Posted by: Scott Nelson