Originally posted by: JustDave on 12/10/2006 6:21:27 AM

Chinook season is winding down with more dark fish than bright, so it's time to switch over to Steelhead. I've been out three times so far. Last Friday I released the three fish I caught. This Friday, 1 cast, 1 fish. Wasn't going to get any better than that so I brought home a nice clipped hen, boraxed the eggs and took them along with my son yesterday. I've been tying some new patterns to try this year, but none worked for me yesterday. My son landed and released a nice native buck and tagged a nice clipped buck. In most rivers in Oregon, the native Steelhead must be released. There are a couple rivers on the south coast where you can keep five a year, but I don't get down that far very often and would likely release them anyway. It's still very early in the runs, with peaks usually in late Dec to late January depending on the river. We'll target catch and release natives in Feb and March.

JustDave