April fly fishing around Eugene Oregon

I never got back to explaining what was working on the Middle Fork of the Willamette a couple weeks back like I promised. Well, here it is. We spent most of the morning banging the bottom with a two-nymph rig -- couple leggy stoneflies and mega-princes. Our guide had a cool way of tying the indicator to the butt section of the leader and another knot directly to the indicator to make sure it drifted straight down. Picked up a lot of fish in deeper runs -- seams near the bank. Later in the day we were swinging soft hackles across the middle, brownish size 12s. Two flies per rig, and fish hit on both flies. The upper fly was attached way up, using stiff 2x to make it stick out and avoid tangling with the leader. Big day.

From MattStansberry

Then the next day we headed to the McKenzie River with Big Al and posse from Trout Unlimited Chapter TU 678. We saw a ton of bugs, some steelhead smolts and not much else. We caught about 6 cutthroat trout that collectively measured about 30 inches. Check out the full monty on the TU Chapter 678 blog.

Mt. Pisgah comes alive: Oregon wildflower pics

The last few weeks on Mt. Pisgah have been pretty sweet for hiking. Nice wild flowers, good weather. Here are some recent pics:

From MattStansberry

From MattStansberry

From MattStansberry

PS: Nikon was Waaaay too backed up for orders on the D-80 I wanted to buy. I ordered it almost two months ago and it didn't look like it was going to come in before I leave for Alaska May 9. My local camera shop, Dot Dotson, worked out a better deal on a Canon Digital Rebel XTi.

Fly fishing guide in Eugene Oregon

Fly Fishing Guide in Eugene, Oregon: It doesn't get any better than this. Last weekend when my brother came in from NYC for a few days of fly fishing in Eugene, we decided to go with a guide rather than going it alone. I knew if we went by ourselves and wade fished the Middle Fork of the Willamette we'd catch a few fish, but I was hoping for more. I considered taking our inflatable kayaks, but at the last minute I stopped at The Caddis Fly and booked a trip with Chris Daughters. It was the best decision I've made so far this year.

From MattStansberry

1. If we'd have taken the kayaks, I probably wouldn't be writing this right now. I'd be dead. Two and three foot standing waves, pounding rain and cold water would have made it a long day.

2. Daughters put us on a fish bonanza. I have never in my life caught so many big wild trout. Ever. Just to give you a sense of scale: Nate hooked into fish he could barely move -- it was actually two fish on two flies on a single cast.

From MattStansberry

I wanted to post these photos so my brother can start bragging, but I plan to write more on what was working and why (and the other drift trip we took last weekend on the McKenzie).

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From MattStansberry

From MattStansberry

Storming Mount Pisgah

After spending the past 10 days on the East Coast, I finally got back to Oregon today and hit the city of Eugene's personal stairmaster, Mt. Pisgah. The trail starts at the Mt. Pisgah Arboretum and climbs 1.5 miles to the 1500ft summit (about 1,000 ft elevation gain).

The snowcapped Cascades were shining to the northeast from the summit -- almost as good a view as I got flying in the tiny prop plane from PDX to Eugene this morning.

From MattStansberry

From MattStansberry

Fly fishing film tour comes to Eugene

Tuesday night about 65 fly fishing enthusiasts braved the weather to check out the Fly Fishing Film Tour at the University of Oregon. The Caddis Fly sponsored the event and the guys from the Angling Exploration Group hosted. The AEG are the young ballsy fishing filmmakers that brought us the Trout Bum Diaries, 150 minutes of fish porn set to schizophrenic music.

I'm a big fan of the AEG and the Trout Bum movies, but the highlight of the presentation came from the team at Felt Soul Media. The opening film was a short film about fly fishing for rooster-fish from shore and I can say it was one of the most entertaining fishing videos I've ever seen. The second film from Felt Soul was "The Hatch", about the salmonfly hatch on the Gunnison River. The film definitely had a really good conservation message.

And that's what the Trout Bum movies are missing. They're not big on message -- and that's their gig. But the Felt Soul guys have something to say and it definitely adds to the film. I will say that I bought the DVD of "The Hatch" and it was about 17 minutes long. So if you saw it on the film tour you probably don't need the DVD unless you want to support the guys on their quest to make a movie about Mongolian Taimen.

The Fly Fishing Film Tour was definitely worth the $12 ticket price.

Gearing up for lightweight backpacking

I've been researching backpacking, specifically lightweight backpacking, because I want to try to make it a better couples activity. Also, after almost dropping dead chasing the Trout Unlimited guys (15 years older than me) last summer with my giant boots and cargo pack, I need a better option.

I've been reading up on it in a new book, Lightweight Backpacking and Camping from Beartooth Mountain Press. What have I learned so far?

Taking a pound off of your boots is equivalent to taking five off your pack.

Specialized hiking insoles make a difference.

Wet feet aren't necessarily unhappy feet (as long as it's not winter).

Trail shoes beat high-top, heavy leather stompers.

I've got more to learn -- I'm only halfway through the book -- but so far the pearls of wisdom are worth the $25 cover price.

At the end of the day today I headed out to Spencer's Butte. The park was actually locked down. There were cars lined up all down the road. If I had to guess, they closed the park because it was so icy. It wasn't immediately apparent, but once you got past the point of no return, the trail was so slick, you had to drag yourself up the rest of the way.

From MattStansberry

Once you got to the top though, the view was awesome. The Cascades were lit up bright white in the setting sun. The valleys to the West were covered in fog and shadows. It was amazing. Don't take my word for it. Check the pics.

From MattStansberry

One nasty byproduct of the ice was that people were taking off-trail paths to avoid super slick, packed trail snow and ice. And that resulted in torn up off-trail areas.

Here is a list of the layers I was wearing (since I'm getting more technical about gear):
Fleece lined cap
Lightweight fleece LL Bean vest
Ultra lightweight fleece top White Sierra
Mountain hardware poly T-shirt
Exofficio Nylon shorts
Patagonia Expedition weight Capilene
Wigwam merino wool, lite hiker (seconds $6.50)
Sock liners
Merrell Mesa Ventilator II

Spencer's Butte Winter Hike

Hiked up to the top of Spencer's Butte yesterday. Winter is blanketing the Willamette Valley. Tying some flies, trying to get out and fish. We'll see. Looking into seeing the guys from the McKenzie Fly Fishers next week. I'd like to check them out, maybe sucker some of them into coming to TU's banquet.

Spencer's Butte photos:

From MattStansberry

From MattStansberry

Fly fishing Eugene, Oregon -- in town!

Hitting up the Willamette River in Downtown Eugene, I've been banging up the stocked trout that are coming out of Alton Baker park and hanging out on a big riffle. Just a big olive wooly bugger, swing drift and then stripped back. I've had 4 fish nights, which doesn't sound impressive until I explain they were 4 fish nights, fishing for an hour before dinner. Also last week, I pulled a wild cutthroat out of the river. Eugene is good.

Also, there are a ton of Geocaches out there at Alton Baker. Katie did a good job helping me find one the other day.

Here are some pics of my buddy Ben catching some wild cutts.

From MattStansberry

From MattStansberry