Chris Culver casts his luck on the river. Culver teaches a fly fishing class at the University.
When you’re standing waist deep in the Willamette River, 10 miles deep in the Willamette National Forest, holding on for dear life as a native rainbow trout tears downstream into the blinding, red sunset, the last thing on your mind is that paper due on Monday. Your only concern is whether this beast is going to submit before you run out of line.
A fly rod offers the perfect excuse to get off campus and explore western Oregon, an area that is home to some of the finest fly fishing to be found — anywhere. Whenever you catch yourself bitching about the rain, just picture all that water trickling off the western slope of the Cascades and forming a watershed rich enough to keep you occupied for the rest of your life.
With winter steelhead and salmon runs through the coastal streams and insect activity that runs throughout the rest of the year, this is one of the few places in the world that can boast true, year-round fly fishing.
The West’s abundance of public land offers unparalleled access to the water. Just outside of Eugene, the Willamette splits into a number of forks and tributaries, each offering its own unique challenges and rewards to the adventurous angler.
A Lane Transit District bus runs straight from downtown to the legendary McKenzie River. Heck, there are rainbow trout and eight-pound steelhead to be pulled out of the Willamette near Autzen Stadium or from the gravel bars that allow you to wade right out from the banks near Valley River Center.
For those who don’t know even how to start catching the abundant fish, the University offers introductory fly fishing classes in the fall, spring and summer terms. Chris Culver, who teaches the classes, also offers fly tying workshops in the EMU Craft Center each winter.
Culver doesn’t stay in the classroom long. After a brief run through the basics and some coaching on the signature, lilting cast, it’s off to the streamside, where the majority of the class is held.
“People worry too much about casting,” Culver said. “They’re worried about trying to cast 30 or 40 feet and trying to look good, but they’d do better if they spent some time learning about the insects — understanding the life-cycles of the mayflies and caddisflies.”
Aquatic insects provide trout with feeding opportunities throughout their life-cycle. You must figure out what the trout are feeding on at that particular moment and match it with a fly of the similar size, silhouette and color.
Duplicating the behavior of the insects is also important. For example, an adult caddisfly skeets along the surface of the water as it prepares to lay its eggs, while a grasshopper struggles in the surface film of the water. The fly fisherman becomes a puppeteer, jerking, flipping and finessing the line to create the illusion of life at the end of an ultra-fine leader.
“I would say the main thing is being a good observer,” said Rick Hafele, an aquatic etymologist and author of the streamside bible, “The Complete Book of Western Hatches.” “Look around and see what’s in the trees and what’s flying around. Go out and pick up rocks and turn them over and look at what the dominant species are. You don’t even need to know what their names are. You can just look at them and tell which ones are dominant and then pick a pattern that looks like that.”
Having the right flies for the stream you are fishing requires that you anticipate the insect activity, and come prepared with those fly patterns. The best bet for doing so is to inquire at a local fly shop as to what hatches are underway in the area you plan to fish.
Allan Cline, owner of Home Waters fly shop, said that keeping your equipment minimal is the most important thing when starting out.
“The last thing you want to do is buy a vest because then you’ll want to fill up every pocket with stuff you don’t need,” he said. “You also want to avoid spending so much on a rod that you don’t have anything left for flies or line.”
Cline said that your choice of a rod is a matter of personal taste.
“There’s no such thing as a perfect rod,” he said. “People often buy an expensive rod right off the bat, thinking that it’s a good investment because they’ll have it their whole life. But when you’re starting out, you don’t know what your preferences are yet.”
Most fly shops offer relatively inexpensive packages for the beginners, but you can also get lucky at garage and estate sales, or by inheriting tackle from a relative.
Ingenuity is important when fly fishing on a budget. Instead of paying $40 for a rod case, just whip one up out of PVC pipe. A catch-and-release landing net can be fashioned from an old wooden tennis racket and some soft mesh material. Cline recommended that you only spend your money where it’s most needed.
“Footwear is key,” he said. “Spend your money on a good pair of wading boots, but get the cheap waders at Freddy’s. Just get a tube of glue and chase the leaks.”
Hafele stressed the need to reward yourself during those first, frustrating outings when your fly is bound to spend more time in the trees than in the water. If you get a bite, the trout only give you a split second to set the hook before they spit the fly out. Recognizing and reacting to the strikes takes practice.
Hafele recommended spending the early trips on friendly water stocked with plenty of fish.
“Go down to the Umpqua and fish for small mouth bass,” he said. “They’re easy to catch and there’s a ton of them in there. … It’s got to be fun. I mean, you enjoy being out there, but if you’re fishing, you want to catch fish.”