Wade, I used to own a fly shop and ran three to four boats out of it ranging from 15' to 17' and found that especially on bigger water such as your North Umpqua, 9'3" to 9' 6" oars worked great on the bigger,wider boats. Some of us used wooden oars (Sawyers - smokers )and put about 18" of motorcycle tire tubbing over the paddle of the oar. This made them extra tough and lasted much longer. I hope that I was of some help. Good Luck Fishin'