Monday Dec 4th 2017
The weather and water levels were perfect. I managed a late start solo float last minute Monday morning into the afternoon. What a beautiful day it was! And best yet, there was 0 people on the river! I had the entire stretch between Barton Park and Carver on the Clack all to myself. There is definitely some winter steelhead entering the system. I managed to hook and lose a couple out of the boat and landed a small steelhead swinging leeches.
Although the fishing didn’t end up being red hot, it was still such a treat to get out on the river by myself with minimal gear on such a peaceful float. However it is still early yet for the big numbers to be around there is plenty out there to make it worth the trip.
Coast
Tuesday Dec. 5th 2017
After getting in such a peaceful solo trip on our local waters, I teamed up with RiverWise Angler Matteau McCreary and headed for the North Coast. We stopped in for some indicator action on the North Fork Nehalem River and had found some solitude and a fish or two that again didn’t want to commit. Again it was setting up to be a gorgeous brisk winter day on the coast.
The sun warming the trees as it burns off the mist and fog from the cold morning.
After a while we lost our solitude on the NF Nehalem so we headed south and found it once again on some of the Wilson’s finest swing runs. Again water levels and clarity is perfect. We didn’t end up fishing as long as we would have liked, Matt had to work so we left with plenty of fishable daylight vowing to return armed with the raft before the river drops too low.
To sum up the last 2 days I would say we are off to an interesting start to the winter season. Still early yet with some fish to be found although you may have to work for them a bit harder being fewer in the systems. Look for the next good rain to bring the rivers back up after they inevitably drop as we have a good stretch of dry weather hitting us now. Fish or no fish nothing beats spending the day playing on the river, especially in December with weather like this. Thats all I have for now. Keep and eye out for more reports as the week goes on. See ya!
Bryan