McKenzie River Trout Fishing Producing Plenty of Action

We enjoyed lots of great action on this on past week’s McKenzie River trout fishing trips.  Our drifts took place on the Upper McKenzie known for spectacular scenery and exciting white water.  We landed some beautiful big native Bows, known locally as Redsides along with dozens of hatchery Rainbows that provide extra action and the opportunity for some quality dinner fish.  The river still has plenty of water for drifting boats and rafts, and the cooler upriver breezes off the water really help keep temperatures very pleasant, even on the hotter days.

On one trip we had a surprise close encounter with a marauding Bald Eagle.  As my guest was stripping in a trout which had taken his fly, a hungry eagle appeared out of nowhere and smashed the water in front of us in an effort to capture the hooked trout.  I think we were more shocked and startled than the trout as the fish was only a boat-length away from us  The eagle missed his target however, but remained persistent, making not one, but 2 more water splashing attempts to capture what must have seemed an easy dinner.  The frantic trout clearly had multiple issues to deal with.  In the end, we invoked the three strikes rule and so the trout was landed and released as it had truly earned its freedom.  Too bad we didn’t get a video of this National Geographic moment!

For the most part, we used a combination of wet and dry flies with the nymphs out-producing the dries.  We can often back-row or side drift this combination fly system.  It’s a great way to introduce novice fly-fishers to fly fishing and fly equipment.  It doesn’t require any kind of advanced casting, so even first-time fly-rodders can enjoy great success on these trips.