A great start to the 2009 winter steelhead season
Fly fishing highlights from the month of January
January, 2009 | Sandy and Nehalem River Drainages
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January 2009 was marked with far less rain than usual. We had a high water event very early and then for the rest of the month the weather pattern remained cold and dry, with just a snow shower here and there. All local rivers dropped far below average levels and the large pushes hatchery fish we generally see this time of year failed to materialize. However, a trickle of native and hatchery steelhead continued to make their way up the river systems and with low, clear water and light angling pressure we had very consistent fishing. We had a couple half dozen fish days on the fly, but generally we worked hard for 1-3 Winter Steelhead a day. Early into February we continue to average about three hookups a trip and look forward to the big native steelhead that are most certainly on their way. We'll be fishing the coastal and Sandy river systems through March and then during April we will focus more on the Sandy. To book a steelhead trip with Small Stream Outfitters call 503.515.3533 or email us. We look forward to hearing from you!

A chrome bright 9lb hatchery steelhead taken on a nymph	The reel sings while hooked up to a big native steelhead	A small colored up hatchery steelhead	Hooked up to a winter steelhead in a fast chute on the Nehalem River
It didn't rain much in January, but we had snow on more than one occasion. It snowed a couple inches on the Sandy this day and didn't get above freezing.	A nice native Sandy river steelhead, taken on a cold and snowy day	A bright hatchery steelhead turns and runs downstream	A 10-12 pound beautifully colored wild Sandy river fish, one of the larger fish we've landed this year. However, the big natives have yet to show and we're not giving up on the 20lb chromer yet!
A happy angler shows off this nice sized buck taken from a clackamas river tributary