On Monday, I joined my buddy, Phil Lyman for what has become our annual sortie for Springers on the Willamette near downtown Portland. Phil is a lifelong veteran of this fishery. I am a total rookie in all aspects of the deep-water bait game. But the promise of a chrome bright chinook makes me more than ready to surrender my fly fishing sensibilities at the ramp.

Although the morning bite was tepid at best, in amongst the 20 or so other boats, finally it was my turn. I waited patiently for the fish to turn and then let him have it. After a tense battle (where I admit I couldn’t tell if the fish was 5 feet or 50 feet away at any given time) we finally got the beauty to the side of the boat. At the last second as I lifted the heavy rod along with 6oz. sinker high (Bad Matt! Bad!), the fish shook its head and threw the hook. Phil calmly set down the net and went about rebaiting my rig.

“That was probably a $200 fish, you know,” he said a few moments later, reminding me of all of our fruitless trips in years past. I didn’t need reminding.

Back to business: not even 10 minutes later, the rod started twitching again. Unbelievable! Redemption! With an audience of some 100 Sellwood regulars all around, I managed to get this one to the net. Life is short on second chances. This one was truly sweet!

Check out the rest of the shots from the day. Thanks, again, Phil!

Despite persistent high water conditions, the McKenzie has been fishing fairly well throughout the last few weeks. Last weekend saw some of the best surface activity to date, with cutthroat and rainbow trout eagerly rising for Grannom Caddis and March Brown Mayflies. I even saw Ethan Nickel hoist the first chrome summer steelhead of the year out of his boat yesterday. Spring is here!

Last week, Scott and I hosted a crew from Mongolia including “Big Fish” Bayaraa and my boss over there, Puji. They brought their good friend, Mr. Bayaar (the recently retired Prime Minister of Mongolia) and his assistant, Otgoo, in hopes of some good steelhead fishing.

While we initially planned to put them up for three days on the coast in a private beach house (giving us the run of a few of our favorite winter steelhead streams), the weather had other plans for us. On the day they came down from Seattle, Mother Nature blessed western Oregon with about 3 inches of pouring rain. With coastal rivers going up and out, we decided to call an audible and, literally as they drove south through the snow and rain, we made the call to stay in the Valley in hopes of finding some fishable water below some of our flood control dams.

We met them in Jefferson in the afternoon for a short half-day float on the North Santiam. While Puji did manage to briefly hook a steelhead in Scott’s boat, for the most part, it was a wash-out. Wet and bedragled, we made the 1-hour drive down into Eugene and reloaded for the next day.

Although the forecast called for more rain, Tuesday turned out to be a perfect day for fishing: overcast, warmer, and still. With coastal waters high and muddy, we chose to float the McKenzie for trout. It was a beautiful day, and everyone caught a fish or two in the slightly murky conditions.

While the trip didn’t go anything like we’d planned, it was still great to share some time on the local water (albeit too much of it!) with our foreign friends.

Just another example that in winter steelhead fly fishing, timing and flexibility are everything.

Check out some photos from the Mongolians’ Oregon adventure:

Pictures of Jeff Evershed fishing a Bob Clay two handed bamboo rod and a Wild Willamette Drainage Winter Steelhead. I guess you could say it was his turn! The next day he caught 2, out of low but murky water, on the Siltez.

We will be concentrating on Winter Steelhead, in these systems, until the end of March. Are you feeling lucky?

Thanks to my brother-in-law’s current overseas assignment, I got to try my hand at fly fishing for Bonefish in the shallow waters surrounding Grand Bahama Island. The vast and varied flats are teeming with small crabs, clams, worms, snails, and small fish. The near shore fish that dine on these creatures are plentiful and well fed. With the family in tow, we fished 8 or 9 different regions and had legit shots at trophy Bones at every spot.

There were lots of small(8-20 fish) schools of the 3 to 6 pounders, quite a few pods of fish that held individuals in the 8 pound range, and it seemed like where ever we went, if we hung in long enough a big old 10 pound plus Bone would cruise in to see who was making all the noise.

The Bonefish pretty much kept me humbled, but they did make mistakes, and at times flat out chased down, even fought over my offerings. The cool thing is, when I did cross paths with the one truly giant Bonefish of my 3 week stay, there was no hesitation.

The fish was coming head on in about 32″ of very lightly chopped water. The instant the #2 fly hit the water the fish accelerated and ate it mid water first strip. BOINK! Shit! No hook up. Strip strip chase. Big strip, strip, strip chase. Strip, strip, chase. Strip, big strip. Strip strip. Fish accelerates. Strip, strip, strip. Slow strip, strip… On! Right in front of the rod tip. What an experience!

The end of the fall season is bittersweet. The weather is getting more volatile, the days shorter. But the fishing has remained compelling for those willing to brave the elements.

Alan Jacobson and Randy Hutchins recently made a journey from Texas and New Mexico, respectively, hoping to hone their speycasting skills and perhaps connect with their first steelhead. On the first of two days of swinging, Randy and Alan worked hard perfecting the finer points of two-handedness. Both enjoyed the relaxing pace of swinging and stepping down through the Willamette’s broad smooth runs. On day two, they wore their game faces and were rewarded with the ultimate prize: their first steelhead. The true trophy was the window into the mysterious world of the steelhead fly fisher. Suffice it to say, these guys are hooked! Check out some of the photos from the day:

On the last day of the season, Scott and I joined up with Greg, Bert,and Katie Jones, along with Katie’s friend, Megan, for a misty day on the McKenzie. We were all lamenting the woeful Saturday performance of the Beaver football team when Katie hooked into a huge fish. The first of the day turned out to be the trout of the year!

Katie once again demonstrated that she is definitely a fishy young woman (and I mean that in the nicest possible way)!

All in all, the Jones family two-boater made for a perfect ending to the fall season.

Now: Bring on the rain!

Get ready for winter steelhead! The Dudes are now booking January dates for the ultimate Oregon fly rod quarry.

Just a quick note to let you all know that I’m back stateside after a 5-week tour of duty in Mongolia, the land of the Giants. It was a great season and fishing for taimen was good throughout. Top fish of the year honors went to Sydney-based “Taimen Freak,” Charles Barrett Jnr, who returned for a second crack at landing a true giant taimen.

After the previous full day’s skunking in Bayaraa’s boat, Charles got his fish on the first cast of the next day. I saw the beast from the boat as I was driving upriver, killed the motor, dropped the anchor, handed rods to Charles and his mate, Ron, and they started chucking. Charles instantly had a tangled knot of running line to deal with but as soon as he straightened it out and made one strip, he was on!

After a powerful tug of war, punctuated by breathtaking wallows and thrashings at the surface. We finally got the great fish into the net.

Just one of the many incredible experiences, fishing and otherwise, that defined the 2010 season (my 13th tour!).

Now it’s back to earth and steelhead season is in full swing around here. Guided a two boater yesterday on the Willamette and we landed 3 in my boat, while Ethan landed 4 in his. A few dates are still available for some of the great fall steelhead action. Hope to see you out there!