the Rivers
The Rogue River
Upper and Middle Sections
The Mighty Rogue RIver
The Rogue River is our home water, where you can fish only 10 minutes from our fly shop in downtown Medford. The Summer Steelhead run on the Rogue is one of the best anywhere in the World...period! The season gets going in late June with the hot early chromers, and lasts through December. September and October are generally the peak for great fishing and great weather, but I've had incredible days from late June all the way into January; when weather permits. Summer Steelhead show up in the Upper Rogue River starting in June, and by July there are enough chromers around to hook several fish daily. We normally fish the cooler waters from around Gold Hill all the way up to the Lost Creek area from June through early September as the middle and lower river are too warm. The preferred methods are swinging flies on spey rods, as well as nymphing from the drift boat. Obviously if someone wants to just swing (or nymph) that's fine with us; but we truly love teaching both methods and find it makes for the best overall experience. As the fall gets here we also start to fish the middle Rogue around Grants Pass. There is a fun mix of a few half pounders and plenty of adult steelhead down there, and the great scenery from Grants Pass thru Galice always makes for a memorable day!
By Christmas time our attention starts to shift to the West with big chrome winter steelhead starting to enter the lower Rogue. When weather permits we also guide the middle Rogue (the Grants Pass area) for winter steelhead starting in February, and then we start guiding the upper Rogue (Medford area) in March and April.
Trout season gets going in April as the winter steelhead season ends, with many of the lakes fishing well in April and May. Northern California trout season opens towards the end of April, and then Oregon officially opens trout season on May 22nd. The season opening generally coincides with the giant salmonfly hatch on the upper Rogue, and it is a special time of the year! We float the river casting huge dries to cuthroat, big rainbows, and even the occasional steelhead...the Oregon state record rainbow was caught here and we hook plenty of trout over 20 inches on dry flies!
The Umpqua River
North and South Fork
The Glorious Umpqua
Around Christmas time our attention starts to shift to the West with big chrome winter steelhead starting to enter the main-stem Umpqua. By mid January both the South and the North Umpqua start picking up, and are both great rivers to try and catch the biggest steelhead of your life! The North Umpqua fishes better most of the season and is much prettier, so we mostly guide up there. The North Umpqua (like the Rogue) is one of the most famous year round steelhead rivers in Oregon for a reason, as these are some of the biggest and baddest wild steelhead anywhere in the world. One fight with a 15 pound chrome buck will leave you with memories for the rest of your life!