Hey all,

Gearing up for a three day weekend of steelhead fishing from the bank on the GR.

As many know from my last post I have been struggling to catch fish after moving to the Northwest.

I have a game plan in mind: systematically covering lots of water; utilizing jigs / beads under a float, and spinners / spoons.

I have seen that the flow is ranging around 780 to 850, stained water, with around two feet of visibility.

I am hoping I might get some color / rig suggestions for the river this time of year.

I appreciate any and all feedback as I try to get through the workweek before three wonderful days on the river.


Definitely looking forward to posting a great fishing report.

Tightlines,
Yellowsevenpot

Check a map and find a set of rapids called "the narrows" and figure out how to fish downstream of it.

Eastide steel like fl. red and chartreuse when water temps drop around 45deg and vis 2-4.' Concentrate on tailouts, cover a lot of water, and tip your hat to the steelhead gods when you connect

Done really well upriver from Boggan's Oasis using black and white 1/8 oz marabou jigs tipped with prawns. Beautiful country. Good luck.

Good Morning all,

Heading out this evening armed with old gear, new gear, a plan, and drive. I decided to camp at the Bezona Water access site at work towards the Oregon border.

Looking forward to posting a successful report.

Thank again for the input in this thread and my last.

Tight lines!

Sean.

good luck

Don't get sick on Rattlesnake Grade.

I always had to clean my shorts out at the bottom of Rattlesnake Grade

Must have been REALLY good or REALLY bad.

Patrick McManus has a story called Shooting the Chickenout Narrows. He told me personally that the story is based on a real experience going down the narrows on the grange ronde. he said it was one of the scariest experiences he ever had in a boat

Omg brewer, thank you! That is a favorite story and author of mine, neat to hear the backstory.
I did it last year, shot it in a Hog Island drift boat (suuuper sweet) but then we couldn't get the support raft thru safely at the low flows so we had to rope it down..it worked well till my fat ass as the lead rope couldn't stay ahead of it and took a fall on those weird rocks ledges there, broke two ribs...but several shots of moonshine and some good oil dabs later I was slayin the steelies in the pools below.
the next morning was rough, almost a fifth to myself to get up and mobile...my casting suffered but luckily my rowing didnt

Cool. Thanks Brewer.
http://books.google.com/books?id=SIwt-Sl...p;q&f=false

I had a friend in law school who sank his boat in the Narrows, and no one was even in it, they were roping it down and it still sank. They were able to walk it all the way to the bottom and drag it up and bail it out, and get back to their float.

Fish on...

Todd

I've been through the Narrows a number of times in a raft, but I'd draw the line at running it in my canoe! I think it's easier to run it than to line a boat through, unless the boat is one that has no business being there.

Sg

Some of my friends did the same thing, it was a multi day camping trip with the wives. The first year they emptied two of the boats and roped them down, the third guy just pulled his oars in and ran through it, none had any issues. The next year they got to the narrows and decided to rope the boats down, but not empty them. All boats sank and they lost a bunch of gear, one boat was pinned to the bottom and it took a good deal of work to get it free. I'm sure there are many locals that run it all the time and chuckle when they read stuff like this.

It seems to vary a lot depending on flows:

https://vimeo.com/30298458

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kbzpRbwV3Po

7000: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=unsdoQXUUPw

11000: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ouHyBCJke4E

I ran it this year in a 9ft Steelheader Osprey pontoon. Too narrow to even use the oars with that but no problems. You line it up, pull the oars in and hang on! Beats the heck out of portaging or lining around and left an extra hour so I could catch two more fish down below.