Summer Steelhead

Now Booking Summer Steelhead! Deschutes Grand Ronde John Day Our all inclusively camp trips for Fall Steelhead are very limited and this is your opportunity to get in on one of these amazing multi day adventures for Steelhead. Come see what you have been missing! Groups of 2-4 anglers for 3 to 5 days fully guided on these Wild and Scenic Rivers. Spoil yourself! Deschutes River August 22-24 September 1-3 Grande Ronde River October 22-25 John Day River November 3-7 These trips are truly awesome. Please feel free to contact us with any questions.  Book your trip today!  guides@littlecreekoutfitters.net   www.oregonsteelhead.com

Little Creek Outfitters, PO BOX 343, Maupin, OR 97037

Support Veterans with your Next Wader at Simms

Simms is excited to announce a new wader and support an organization helping veterans heal through fly-fishing.Warriors and Quiet Waters Foundation (WQW) helps reintegrate traumatically combat-wounded veterans from recent wars into society through fly fishing. 

The employee and ambassadors at Simms are proud about this release and greatly appreciate you helping us reach our goal of raising $100,000 for WQW, these soldiers are well worth it. 

Find out more here:  http://www.simmsfishing.com/featured-stories/wqw.

Swing the Fly - Going to Print

Marty lands one. photo by Mia

Swing the Fly Going to Print - Only 1 week left to take advantage of the Pre-Sale Pricing!

Our big pre-sale will expire November 1. We need you to subscribe now so we can handle the lofty costs of printing the 1st issue. In doing so, you get the absolute best pricing on the magazine and it is guaranteed for the life of your subscription! 
One more time HERE is where to subscribe.

Here's a few common questions with Zach's answers about the magazine. 

What is happening to the E-Mag?

At this time, we are sorry but we will no longer able to offer the E-Magazine for free. It will absolutely continue to be available but will cost $4.99 per issue. A short preview of each issue and our sponsors will be available before you must pay to view the full issue. Of course, we would prefer you subscribe to the very green, 100% recycled print magazine instead!


If you have trouble subscribing through the software, don't worry. 

To be perfectly honest, the subscription software isn't the most user friendly as we have found out the last couple weeks but it is what we have at the moment. I can tell you it is 100% safe and powered by Stripe which is used by many major companies. If you have a problem, email me (you can respond to this email here!) and I will absolutely take care of it!


If you don't recieve a confirmation email of your subscription, did it go through? 

Please email me here using the email you used to subscribe and your full name and I will verify it for you.

Just how sweet is Swing the Fly in Print going to be?!
Really Sweet! I am so excited to share all this great content in print with all of you!

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If anyone has any questions or trouble subscribing please reply here or email me at editor@swingthefly.com

I will personally get back to each and everyone of you as soon as possible.

One more time HERE is where to subscribe.

One More Pull

A beauty James Reid landed on his Winter Run Bamboo, Doublehand 

The morning sun rises,

reflecting orange and pink skies.

One more session; before we have to leave.

Scurry to put on waders; 

forget the morning coffee buzz, just gotta get in the water. 

One last cast, 

one more pull, one more landed; 

it's never enough.

Echo Glass

ECHO GLASS SPEY w/TIM RAJEFF ECHO GLASS SWITCH TROUT w/TIM RAJEFF ECHO GLASS SWITCH w/TIM RAJEFF With so many manufacturers barking the benefits of increasingly faster actions, it's not surprising that veteran rod designer Tim Rajeff would ask "why follow the flock"?  All-new for 2015, Echo introduces the first major production run of fiberglass Spey and Switch rods in the industry. Why fiberglass? Good question. Fiberglass recovers more smoothly than graphite, giving the caster a better sensation of how the line is loading the rod. Improved feedback through the casting cycle results in a fun, effortless, bug launching.  Echo Glass Spey and Switch rods feature sensitive tips to protect tippet when slinging surface patterns on a dry line, and plenty of "sneaky power" to catapult long, heavy sink tips with ultimate ease. Steelheaders looking to increase their "hook-to-hand" ratio will be impressed with the way these rods absorb the energy of active, unpredictable fish.  The Echo Glass Switch and Spey series is available now in the following weights/lengths:       Rods are in-stock and ready to ship. To order, give us a ring at 360.694.2900  For more information, visit:  www.echoflyfishing.com

Copyright © 2014. All Rights Reserved.

Swing the Fly 2.3 Winter

Steelhead Paradise

The Fly Matter

Brown Trout

Time to Fly South and more ...

Fly Fishing Collaborative

 Fly Fishing Collaborative, a group of dedicated anglers using their fly fishing skills to inspire social change and a humanitarian approach to fishing, by helping children affected by human trafficking.

fly fishing collaborative from Ian Pratt on Vimeo.

Rainbow of Color

Starting off the New Year

Adam Tavender on the gun, me trying out the new panorama feature on the Iphone.

Spontaneous trips are the best and a great way to start off the new year, creating new friendships and fishing new water. Flyfishing continually links us with great people. 

photo by Adam Tavender
 While Marty was getting kisses from Cedar...

photo by Adam Tavender
 I was ringing out ounces of water from my socks. Aqua seal is amazing stuff!

Oh My!

photo by Dave McCoy-Poem by Mike McCoy

We've all been here before. 

Hitched

photo by Mia Sheppard

Muddlers are my favorite summer steelhead fly.  When the water temperature is 48 and asked what fly to fish, my reply is simple, a muddler,  riffle hitched.

Swing The Fly - The Voice of Spey

Click the photo for good stuff!

Atlantic Salmon Flies

Rob Fenney's Black Doctor

Just returned from an epic trip on the Miramachi River in New Brunswick. We’ve had this trip planned for months with the help of  “Spey Brother” Fenney who guided us, arranged our day to day fishing plans and made sure we had wicked coffee each morning and lots of James Ready Lager in the evening .  

The culture of fly tying runs deep in the Miramachi Valley. Some of the best Atlantic Salmon fly tiers such as Warren Duncan have influenced fly patterns after pattern and locals continue to produce some of the most beautiful flies.

Fall Favorites at WWDoak's Fly Shop

 Everyone you run into be it on the river, afternoon coffee at Tim Horton’s or lunch at one of prestigious salmon camps wants to talk about flies and offer you the hot fly from their box. So many classic, beautiful flies to choose from such as a Silver Doctor, General Practicioner, Blue Charm and Bombers are in every fly box. Driving down the road you see signs in front of houses that state “buy salmon flies here.”

Behind the scenes at Doak's

Go to the local shops such as Doaktown Fly Shop owned by Jerry Doak or George Routledge Fly Shop and all the fly’s are hand tied with detail and perfection by a local artist or at Jerry’s shop by Jerry himself.  The pride and development that goes into each fly is perfection.  Needless to say Marty and I purchased a few dozen flies.

Mr Routledge even had a return policy; if a fish is hooked deep and you gotta break a fly off, you get a new one. Second, if your fly ever comes unraveled, get a new one. He’ll even tie it personally right there on the spot if there isn’t one in the shop. 

George said Ted tied his own flies too.

 The wisp of the wind blows, red , yellow , green and orange leaves swirl in the sky, blowing in every direction until gently landing on the copper black water of the Miramachi. The fall brings the rain, frost and fall salmon. At this moment all I can think about is Tegan. Kids grow so fast, I imagine she’ll be an inch taller and bit sassier when I get home. Fishing trips take us to so many places, the beautiful rivers we see, the grabs experienced and the fish we land and never see.  The people we met and spend time with on those new rivers make the experience that much more remember able.  I’m glad to be home, thinking about the next adventure.

George helping me pick a few flies

Fishing with Kids

Summer time!

Story by Jon Tapper

It was early-August and the steelhead numbers had just gone richter at Bonneville, but like a giant wave of biomass that pushes and crests up the Columbia every year, their time would come.  The fleeting summer days of childhood have to be savored...to step away from work, disconnect the devices, and share with your kids the kind of Mom and Dad time that makes those "lifetime" memories they can tell their kids about.

So how about some black rockfish on the fly?

The camper was packed.  Batteries charged.  Time for the annual family trip to coastal Oregon, even brought the cat.  …can't tell ya where, exactly, but you know how that goes.

First order of business, unadulterated beach time, then there was a bit of pulling pots for crab.  Can't say enough about the delicious spiders of the sea...and while not the 25 crab haul we got last year, the 6 keepers provided just as much fun.  Busting around the bay on the boat, haulin' traps, drinking kid pops and Dad pops while munchin' fritos and corn nuts in the sun...now that's some livin' right there.

After a few days more of whale watching from our campsite and beachcombing, it was time to crown it all off with a new  family tradition.

Our friend Jack has been pushing the envelope on fly fishing the coast via dory, and if it wasn't for Jay Nicholas' blog posts, I wouldn't have even known it existed.  While the charters for tuna run up and down the coast, we wanted something a bit more intimate and accessible to do with the kids.  With the swell up in the early part of the week, our friend Jack suggested we head up on Friday to take a look and give it a shot.

Bent!

Early wake-ups during vacation aren't the usual state of affairs, but at the same time, they do let you know that you're gonna be getting after it.  Travelling up the coast with my son Forest, my friend Jeff, and his son Axel, the heavy drizzle of an Oregon coastal morning had us feeling tentative about the weather.  Jack met us in the parking lot and wasted no time in having us jump in his truck, to drive down to the beach.

Forest almost had the rod pulled out of his hands a few times.  

 In his marine sea pants and jacket, he's like the grandpa we all wish we had...patient and relaxed and simply happy to be connecting with the ocean life at his door with the fly.  15 minutes and we were in his zone.  He said that the fishing has been good this year.  The sonar agreed.

Delicious

9 foot  7- and 8- weight rods with lead core shooting heads are handed out, and we drifted over the school.  Tension cast it back, let it sink, and strip it back in 3-4 inch pulls.  My son connects on his first cast. Then Jeff connects, then I do.  It's a triple hook-up and we've only been out 5 minutes.  It's gonna be that kind of day...In fact, things were so hot, drifting over huge feeding schools, that we limited out by noon.  The captain let Axel try his hand at piloting the dory, and I don't think you could have wiped the smile off his face for the rest of the day.  After cleaning and packing our ocean bounty, we all headed out to a little family style lunch before driving back south to camp.

Back at camp, filet's were grilled, fish tacos, smores constructed, and laughter abounds. A great ending to the summer.




   

Wild Steelhead - The Lure and Lore of a Pacific Northwest Icon

"Three years in the making, Wild Steelhead by Sean Gallagher is a two-volume masterwork of nearly 700 pages. It's big and beautiful. It's filled with more than 1,000 glowing photos and original illustrations. Sean's personal stories are wonderful. The long-form interviews we did with many legends of the sport--including the last talk with the late Harry Lemire--are authentic and riveting. Participant's pride aside, I'll happily stake my reputation on this production being, hands down, the best steelhead book in a generation. There has never been anything quite like it in scope or graphic presentation." Tom Perro

When Tom Perro started Wild River Press his mission was to produce the finest books about fly fishing out there.  He has published books such as "A Passion for Steelhead",  "Atlantic Salmon Magic" and "Casting with Lefty Kreh." Just to name a few. 

Tom fights a dandy steelhead. photo by Marty Sheppard Wild Steelhead will be released in November and is a must to add to your steelhead collection. You can place a pre-publication order for the $150 two-volume standard edition now at www.wildriverpress.com . They are also accepting orders for the $500 signed and numbered limited edition of 150 copies, some 20 of which are already reserved.  Marty and I are honored to be featured in this extraordinary book with other passionate steelheaders such as Adam and Judy Tavender, Peter Soverel, and Jim Adams. Enjoy this sample excerpt from Sean's "campfire conversation" with us.

Talking Steelhead with Mia and Marty Sheppard

Marty: One thing I have learned while guiding is that long casts are not the secret to catching steelhead. You get better as a guide as you go on. You take people out that day in and day out are not going to cast over 60 feet, and you learn how to really concentrate on water where they are going to catch steelhead at that distance. You'll go through good stretches of fishing and you'll go through bad stretches of fishing. In the middle of the those good stretches of fishing, I can't wait for a day off, because I know the fish are around. What I've realized over time is I don't catch any more fish than my clients do. I know I'm a more skilled caster and I know I can cast a lot farther. And I do. But I do not have any more success than they do--sometimes less. If you can fish well consistently at short distances, I think your odds are just as good on certain rivers where fish hold from the middle seam to the inside. These are rivers that you can almost cast across. I have guys that try and cast to the other side and I say, "Hey, if you want to fish the other side, I'll take you over there." Then there are other softer rivers that you can cast across. You can actually cross the seam. That's okay as long as you don't over mend it. Every river has its own characteristic.          What advantage does a double-handed rod give the steelheader? Mia:  The clear advantage a double-handed rod has over a single-hander is line control--the longer rod gives you more extension over the water. Marty: Obviously, you're able to lift more line off the water with a longer rod, so you're able to manipulate or mend how your fly swings with more ease. Every run is different; the river currents change. A different type of mend is needed for each particular situation. Too many people limit this to an upstream mend. The longer rod can do so much. I try to teach people to read water and mend a certain way with a purpose. Read the water by seeing how the currents push your fly line around without a mend. Exactly. Marty: I want to see what the current does to the line if I don't mend at all. Many times a mend is the last thing needed. Sometimes the line does things that surprise you. With a longer rod you can manipulate it to swing how you want it to swing. So you can do a half mend or a downstream mend-or no mend. Marty: Part of guiding is teaching people. You're telling them to mend, but why? That's the big question. Why do you want me to mend downstream here? How much of it is feel? Marty: For me, almost 100 percent is by feel. There seems to be a different tension when your fly is swinging that fish eat more than with other swings.  What is the "right" tension--can you describe it? Mia: I think the tension when your fly is swinging through the water is similar to the energy you feel between two magnets. When you put two magnets together and you feel this force, pulse or tension between the magnets, to me that is what it feels like. It's this energy of the current pulling the energy of that line through the water. Mia's Mini Muddler Do you imagine what your fly is doing out there? Marty: Almost every single cast. Mia: Definitely. Marty: Sometimes I think it's totally wrong and yet a fish hammers it. What do you do? As soon as you think you've got it all figured out it the steelhead change the rules on you. Mia: I used to mend a lot when I first started fishing; now I rarely mend. I just throw it out there and let it go, let the current carry the fly across the water. In the winter I fish water that would be similar to the pace of taking a casual stroll on the beach, but in the summer steelhead tend to be in the faster currents where they receive more oxygen. But you know that feeling because it has worked over and over again. Success has reinforced it. So you know it. Marty: A lot of that is that we use the work of the current on the line to our favor, as opposed to mending. I'll just add or subtract tension from the line on the swing. What I'll do is just lift my rod tip up or maybe take two steps down, or four. There are other things you can do to control your fly speed coming across the current besides throwing a mend into it. A lot of that is the tension I put on the line by the angle I hold my rod. There are certain angles, if you put your rod tip in the water, from your tip to your fly; you're going to have the current catching it all the way. That gives me that feel that Mia was talking about--two positives going together and you can't quite push them together. There are other times when you have a fast current next to you with a soft current five feet out, and another medium speed current six feet out, and another slow current 10 feet out--and then a really fast current 20 feet out, but then a really soft 20-foot seam 45 feet out. How do you handle this situation? You throw your line out there and see what happens! You don't do anything. You go with your instinct: that's the seam the fish probably are going to live in. And that's the type of reading water that I like to do. I know if I can hold my fly out in that soft stream a little longer than just throwing it out there, putting one big upstream mend into it and letting all the line at the water, maybe I need to change my angle and the distance of my cast downstream. With that done, I can hold my rod tip high and I feel that perfect tension coming through that perfect soft big seam that's way out there and, WHAM, one eats it! It's hard to put into words.

Tenkara, Simple with Yvon Chouinard

Yvon Chouinard has a different approach to get women and children in the sport of fly fishing. It's simple.

Tenkara.

Morgan gets one!
"Modern day fly fishing, like much in life has become exceedingly complex, with high tech gear, a confusing array of flies and terminal tackle and accompanied by high priced guides."Yvon Chouinard

Look for his book "Simple Fly Fishing" Techniques for Tenkara and Rod and Reel on Patagonia Books early next year.

Persistence Pays Off

Bad timing, I doubt it, just persistent.

Chatters of slow fishing are being heard at every river mile, so I’ll fish hard and take what the river hands out.  Just means, work harder, because every cast is an opportunity and every break taken is a missed chance.  I want to be standing in the river when the fishing turns on.  

My body is feeling the effects of casting from morning to night. Aching back and fingers cracking from the hours of striping in line but I don’t give up and whiskey is a great pain reducer. I’ve been fishing a Skagit with a sink tip and decide to change it up and fish something lighter, I put on a Scandi line and tie on a classic fly.

Ahhh… the joy of casting a floating line.  

I fish through a run and feel nothing. I change the fly to a Dee pattern. The fly is dressed in white, fresh out of the box, the hook is sharp, and this is the fly.  I strip out 15 more feet of line to fish the faster outside water.  Ten cast in, a hard grab vibrates the rod and the reel starts spinning and screaming. I tighten down the drag and the pissed off anadromous fish keeps going, cartwheeling out of the water, across the river and 150 feet down from me. I have no control. 

I yell..“what do I do!” A friend yells back “nothing.” 

I feel vulnerable, helpless like a child learning to ride a bike that has just tipped over and can’t get up.

The warrior charges for the log jam downstream; stops… I recover some ground and the battle continues.  

One inch at a time, line is reeled in.

The beauty is connecting with the journey, this brute has traveled the globe to settle down in its home water and hooking one leaves me feeling like a child.

Highlight Reel...

In this photo I'm fighting a fish. The best fish I have EVER hooked...by far.

Before this shot was taken I was standing on dry land rolling out short casts to those small branches sticking out of the water to my left, running a skater into the stumps. In a split moment the single most impressive boil I have ever seen happened! It was insane. At least 25lbs of dime bright thickness rolling in the most violent rushing maneuver only a few feet from me. The fish missed the fly. It was like a crocodile trying to bring down a wild beast. "Mia did you see that." She was just to my side watching. "NO." she says...as I give the fly one more twitch before it swings into the stump, it triggers a second charge from the predator! We both watched the mouth open, suck in the fly and do a complete flip with the only part of the fish to not leave the water the head of the king sized brute! Mia says to me, "I sure as hell saw that!" My reel is screaming with joy. I am in total awe.

10 minutes later after multiple cartwheels, ripping runs across the river, and mega head shaking the most fascinating steelhead I have ever encountered decided to go back to the ocean. I had 20 lb test and cranked my drag to full tilt. I cant even pull it off the reel at this setting! I had Joe tune the drags of our reels before we left for maximum impact. It still went! Pretty soon it was around the corner and my line in the logs. No following from this station. The whole run was lined with a huge log pile. When I quit feeling the throbbing, I just cranked in the line until the fly came home. This is the Dean I had heard stories of. This was the moment that defined my experience. This was my high!

This story, as epic as they all were for us, only tell a smidgen of the tale. The people we met, old friends we shared time with, and local characters made the whole gig complete. We have more stories to tell and hope to share them all.

In time, we will.