Dry Side Vs. Wet Side

Early Morning on the Kalama

October is my favorite time of the year and I always try and take at least a week off every year to do a lot of fishing and spend as much time outdoors as possible. Over the years my wife has come to except this as my time to slack off more then I usually do (which is a lot anyway). One of the dilemmas that I go through every year is where the hell do I go to fish. Living basically in the Portland Metro area, there are a lot of rivers within two hours to fish.


Early Morning Clackamas

This time of year salmon, steelhead and even sea run cutthroat are in many of the local rivers. I gave up targeting salmon here for the most part because of the meat hungry anglers that want to kill everything and the many things meat fishermen bring out. I have however learned that steelhead fishing can be really good because the salmon push steelhead into certain lies as well as a lot of anglers are targeting salmon. I have had many great days swinging egg sucking MOALS and caballeros this time of year.


Casting on the Clackamas Photo: Brad Smith

Despite my yearly trip, I have a hard time trying to figure out what river to fish when I get a day off. The Klickitat, Deschutes, Wind, Cowlitz, Lewis, Clackamas are only a few of my options. When it comes down to beauty, both have their charms. The rainforest have the dark green background mixed with the changing colors of maple and alder. The vibrant colors of mixed leaves and mist on the water are something to see. There are salmon on the spawn and although the stench of death may be I the air, there is also a sense of rejuvenation and passing.


Snake River Morning

The Dry Side offers dark rich colors in brown and red mixed with smell of sage, red sumac and tumble weeds. The cold days have brought the rattlesnakes and tics away and the mist on the river in the morning with this stunning background is hard to be beat. The steelhead on the Dry Side are well known takers. Traditional hairwing or featherwing work great versus the gaudy stuff that I find to be more successful on the Wet-Side.


Grande Ronde Afternoon