My guest on Sunday got into some great trout action as he toyed with numerous scrappers in the 10"-16" range while also landing about 7 fatties in the 2-3 lb club. Spinners, spoons and Russel's "secret lure" all proved productive. A nearby fly fishermen also saw some action once the water warmed up. As the lakes's temperature rose, the bite just got better and better.

RFGS Newsletter - Spring/Summer - 2012

Dear Friends, Fishermen & Guests,

After a very cold, and snowy start to our spring, the last 2 days of sunshine were a very welcome change. I guess the bright side of all the extra work bucking up downed trees and cleaning up limbs and brush is the resulting cache of stocked firewood that will no doubt provide winter heat for years to come. It’s definitely time to start focusing on more enjoyable pursuits such as river floats and fishing trips.

Jim & Ron enjoyed a recent limit of salmon while drifting the McKenzie River.

Trout fishing for pan fry rainbows is very good right now on the McKenzie River as a result of recent planting efforts by ODFW. With a variety of aquatic insects now emerging, there is now increasing opportunity for dry fly action. Willamette Falls fish counts remain at about half of salmon and steelhead that we had in at the same time last season. Currently we have over 23,000 Chinook and over 10,000 steelhead headed to our local rivers. Lower fish numbers and heavy river flows continue to make summer steelhead and spring chinook fishing far more challenging than anticipated.

Cool temperatures continue to delay the main arrival of our Springers. Fish are trickling in however, everyday now.

McKenzie River Steelhead & Springer fishing will just get better and better by the week. We anticipate Great Fishing well into July given the cool and late late spring season this year and the consequent late arrivel of our fish.