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

Winter Steelhead - Secrets to Success

Winter Steelhead Secrets by Marty Sheppard

 Is the choose to be jack of all rivers and master of none or to truly master a river. 

 I choose to have complete confidence in each day, based on thorough knowledge of my surroundings. Conditions are everything, on the west slope of the Cascades Mountains they change each day. So many rivers within a day drive and I have no desire to explore new haunts.  The goal, for me, is to know every water level, each rock, and the subtle changes to the greatest extent. For the entire winter I am faithful to one river. This bleeds confidence and this assurance hemorrhages success.

These are my secrets to success.

When the river is high and has good clarity you should be there, as the fish will be holding in prime lies.  Often in 2-5 of water right in the middle of your swing! Low, cold, and clear river and the fish like 10-20 feet of water. This is when you need to focus on the deep seams and get down.

Early in the morning, late in the day, and especially in periods of high flows the tactic or temptation of fishing heavy sink tips and weighted flies is completely detrimental to success on my chosen waterway. Fishing a tight line through soft flows in 4 to 5 feet of water with un-weighted fly and light sink-tips compensates for most of the steelhead landed throughout a season. Put on ten feet of t-14 and a weighted fly results in being hung so bad right out in the sweet spot that you almost pull the earth off axis trying to free it up, usually breaking it off, with the whole ordeal spooking any fish in the area.

Take the opportunity during those low flows to learn the river. Often the best fishing is at higher flows and the chance to learn rocks, depressions or drop offs, and subtle channels are right under or behind you as you fish these lows flows. Take note. It’s important for next week when the river doubles in size and you can recall what features exist in that soft run. Low and clear is also the queue to fish deep. Time to get down.

Joe Saracione lands a winter hen.

Some simple points for winter steelhead success:

·         Start short and high in the run. Especially in water you cannot see into. Too many people walk out into the top of a run and strip out the head plus 10 feet of running line and completely miss those chrome creatures tucked into the head of the run and laying 5 feet in front of you.

·         Be consistent and turn over your casts. A predictable fly on the swing gets crushed. I believe the cast that gets the fish to eat is not the cast that created this chance. I believe your last 5 casts are the reason that fish ate! The steelhead saw the pattern of your swings and this primed this critters attitude. When you get that hard grab it is because this fish anticipated the swing. It knew where it would land, how fast the swing would be, and the predictability of it all contributed to the fish knowing it was going to be able to crush your fly! Fish through a run erratically and it is tough to convince the fish to grab let alone hang around. It is much more important to fish at a shorter distance unswervingly than huck out bomber casts that result in Helter Skelter crazy swings.

·         Sharp hooks stick fish. Keep them sticky. Touch a rock? Check your hook. Dull hook? Change or sharpen. It’s a sin to fish so hard all day and finally after all that dedication get grabbed only to come up empty because of a super dull hook that has been ticking bottom on each hang down.

·         Fish hard and fish long. One fish in a day will make it a great day. It only takes one cast to get it done. It could be your first or last cast. Keep positive knowing each one could be the one. If you think your not going to catch a winter steelhead, you likely wont. If you think you are going to catch one you likely will!

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.

Swing the Fly - Summer 2015

Swing the Fly - Click Here


Everything Spey - Altantic Salmon, lab's and pointers,  steelhead, trout from Quebec to the where the rivers meet the ocean on the west coast.  

Keep'em Wet

Keepemwet started by Bryan Huskey 5 years ago when he was asked by a local fly club to give a presentation about his trout photography. He outlined anglers' responsibility to be good stewards of the resource and to handle catch & release fish with exceptional care, especially when additional time is taken to photograph fish. He called this portion of his presentation "Keep 'em Wet" that has transended into the hashtag #keepemwet. 

This winter, Native Fish Society  launched the “Keep ‘Em Wet” campaign to increase angler awareness about the negative effects of air exposure to wild fish.

"Don’t take us wrong,  I'm not saying we are purest, we’ve all taken fish out of the water to snap a photo, Native Fish Society staff members included.  But the more we learn about  handling fish we love the more healthy wild fish there will be to catch. 

As an outfitters Marty and I have have practised catch and release techniques from early on, teaching sports how to properly handle fish and how to minimize air exposure when taking photos.   

Even when anglers are taking precautionary measures, like crushing the barb, prolonged air exposure can make it difficult for fish to recover and there are delayed negative effects that may not be apparent even if the fish seems fine when it swims away.

Studies have shown that the longer a fish is exposed to air after exhausting exercise the higher their mortality rates are (Ferguson and Tufts, 1992; Gale et al, 2011).  Even 30 seconds of air exposure reduces a trout’s ability to recover and can provide a significant additional stress even when catch and release fishing (Ferguson and Tufts, 1992).

So, let’s get creative with the way we photograph our wild fish by keeping them wet and in the water.  Here's a few recommendations.  Till May 31st 2015, NFS will be holding a photo contest for the best picture of a wild, native fish from the Pacific Northwest with at minimum its gills in the water."

1. Keep the mouth, gill plates in the water cradling the backside of the fish or hand right under the pectoral fin, not squeezing the fish and  hold the tail with the other hand firmly. 

Wild 2013 photo by Marty Sheppard

2. Hold the tail firmly and lay the fish flat covering the gill plate. 

Winter Buck 2011 by Mia Sheppard

3. If you do feel inclined to take a photo of the fish out the water, quickly lift  for a second or two and then submerge the fish back. If you see there is no water dripping off the fish or its mouth is wide open gasping for air, it's been out of the water way to long. 

How to Enter the Photo Contest

To enter, email your photograph to mark@nativefishsociety.org and we will post it to our Instagram, Twitter and Facebook accounts with the hashtag #keepemwet. The top three photos with the most likes combined will win prizes!

Prizes for the Top Three Finalists

The first place winner will receive a brand new Gary Anderson Custom 12’0” 7wt Spey Rod donated by NFS Board Treasurer Peter Tronquet.  Our two runners up will get to choose between a day of steelhead fishing with Washougal River Steward Steve Lent on the Sandy River and a day of trout fishing with Willamette Valley Regional Coordinator Kyle Smith on the McKenzie River.

The three winning photographs will be published in the Summer 2015 issue of Strong Runs. Let the contest begin, good luck, and Keep Em’ Wet!

- See more at: http://nativefishsociety.org/index.php/conservation/keep-em-wet-campaign-photo-contest/#sthash.GhezXHJO.dpuf

New Electronic Home!

Hey, we made a new web site. We wanted a place that was easy to navigate without a bunch of clutter. Do us a favor and take a look. Let us know if there are any changes we should make. We are always looking for better advise and constructive criticism. 

The photo below is your link:

Little Creek Swag

By popular request we now have Sweatshirts, T-Shirts, and Caps for sale!

All prices include shipping.

Sweatshirts are red and we have M, L, and XL in stock.

$39.95

T-Shirts are Tan or Blue and we stock M, L, or XL also!

$19.95

We have three types of caps to meet your style!

$19.95

Trucker Green

Camo

Tan duck

We do business the old fashion way.

In this case, by mail!

Please make a check or money order to Little Creek Outfitters and request in a memo your address and what would you would like in your order (size, color, etc.).

Po Box 549

Brightwood, OR 97011

Check out our store here:

Little Creek Outfitters Store

Winter Steelhead Time!

Booking now!

Allow us to take you to some of the most wild an scenic rivers in Oregon,situated just a short distance from Portland. These rivers have wonderfull opportunities for you to fish for steelhead. Our goal is to provide you with the tools necessary to acheive the secrets of winter steelhead fishing. We will work hard to provide this to you!

Join us for another Winter on the Sandy or Clackamas Rivers.

Our forcast:

• Late December will have (already does!) fresh chrome fish spread out in both rivers. These ones are hot!
• January will see more fish push in with some larger wild fish arriving late.
• February is big fish season on the Sandy! Your chance at one of those big beasts.
• March will see longer days, a bulk of the hatchery run, and milder weather.
• April has winter/spring fish. The Clackamas will be great! The Sandy will fish well too.
• May is the time if you love the nice weather and want a shot at the building summer run with a chance of a spring chinook! Don't forget the Sandy River Spey Clave.

photo by Miguel Morejohn

The feeling of holding such a wonderful creature is an emotion of elation and delight!

Sharing moments with family and friends is immeasurable!

Free Casting/Fishing clinics this winter!

Join Mia and Marty Sheppard with Brian Silvey

Jaunuary 9, 2011

February 6, 2011

1:00 pm to 3:00 pm

Oxbow Park Boat Ramp

photo by Ken Anderson

We look forward to fulfilling your fishing desires!

A big thank you to all of you who made last year a smashing success!

Winter Fishing

Snowy tree tops, frozen guides, leaky waders, bald eagles diving over our heads, icicles hanging off one's beard, wet wool, a warm cup of hot coco from a thermas, swinging flies, rippling water, crisp air filling my lungs. Just being in the element around us are rejuvenating.