Drift Fishing the Umpqua River

I met Cathy in San Francisco for our flight to North Bend, Oregon November 20th.  She informed me that due to a lack of rain, we wouldn't be fishing the Elk or Sixes Rivers.  Instead, we would be fishing the Umpqua which would be good.  Only problem is that the Umpqua is two and a half hours drive form Cathy's house and 5 hours driving each day was just too much.  She said we would stay in North Bend at the Mill Casino instead - only an hour drive  from the Casino.

We met Scott Wolfe of Wolfe Pack Guide Service (http://www.wolfepackfishing.com/) at Arlene's Cafe in Elkton at 6:30 am the next morning.  

We put on our waders etc. and drove to the river's edge.  Scott launched his boat and we began fishing then he mentioned that he had a cold and a toothache but his brother, Richard, was on his way to take over.  As it turned out, Scott had to have a root canal later in the day and needed to rest the next few days to recover.  Richard did a great job for us.

It was foggy and cold but fishing was good.  We started by side drifting.  First fish was a steelhead caught by Cathy.  What an acrobatic fish.  My heart would stop each time it jumped frightened it would spit the hook.  She did a great job landing such a beautiful fish.  Her fish was photographed then released unharmed.  In fact, we told Richard that we wanted to release all fish and let them continue up stream to spawn.

We continued to fish switching between side drifting, bobber doggin and wiggle warts.  The wiggle warts worked best for me and I managed to catch 4 coho, each a different color.  Some were very silvery (in the river a short time) others were pink and silver or black and red with extreme hook noses.  All fish our first day were wild males - no hatchery fish.  I also caught a small mouth bass that was snug to the river's edge.

The sun came out around noon and it warmed up from the morning's 32 degrees.  The river was beautiful in the bright sun light.  

Richard pulled the boat out at 4 pm and we drove back to the Mill.  We had dinner in the bar then called it a night.  We were tired.

Our second day we departed the hotel at 4:45 am and arrived at Arlene's by 6 am.  We decided to have breakfast at Arlene's while we suited up for fishing.  We also ordered lunches for us all.  Breakfast was good and lunches were extra good.  Each lunch sack had a 2 inch thick sandwich containing many slices of turkey, two slices of cheese, onion, lettuce and tomato on whole wheat bread plus chips, a cookie and a candy bar.  A great deal for $7.95.

Richard launched his boat around 7 am and we were back fishing the Umpqua.  We had less fog but the air felt colder.  We didn't see the sun until after 2 pm even though the forecast was for "Plenty of Sun".  We started side drifting and it was the first time I caught a salmon that way.  The rest of our fish we caught with green Wiggle Warts.  I had trouble with the rod I was using as my middle finger kept getting caught between the rod and reel.  The day before I was using Scott's gear. 

At day's end, we had seven wild male cohos - Cathy caught 4 and I caught 3. We quit early and were on the road by 3:30 pm.  We stopped for gas on the way back to the hotel.  We showered and headed down to the restaurant for dinner.  We split an order of scallops and had a bowl of salmon chowder.  Still more food than I could finish.  We were tired and went to bed early again.

Our third and last day of fishing we departed at 4:45 am and had breakfast at Arlene's and ordered our lunches again.  Richard launched the same place we did the day before - through someone's farm.  We were on the river by 6:30 trying side drifting again.  When that didn't work, Richard had us fish the deep diver over a deep hole in the river.  I hooked a big chinook (maybe  a 16 to 18 pounder).  This was our first female and she was wild as well.

 A few minutes later, Richard was in the middle of a story that I was listening intently to when he stuttered trying to say "set the hook" but tapped my shoulder instead.  I was bit and didn't notice it.  This one was another female chinook and a hatchery fish.  Hatchery fish are the only ones you can keep.  I released her to continue death's journey. 

Cathy caught 3 coho on the green wiggle wart.  Boy that jig was really a producer for us.  I did catch one fish on Dr. Death (Kevorkian) wiggle wart the previous day.  Kevorkian is a purple and black wiggle wart.  We had a great day to finish our trip.  We quit early and were back at the hotel by 5 pm.  We split a nice steak dinner then crashed. 

Sunday morning I was up early again so I packed my bags.  At 7:30 am we went down for breakfast.  Since our flight wasn't until 2 pm we decided to spend some time sightseeing in Bandon by the Sea.  We picked up some sweets at the candy shop then went to an art store.  We had the privilege of hearing one of the owners play the harp and a song she wrote.  She was quite good too.

We were on a high after three great days fishing the Umpqua River catching 17 salmon.  All good things must come to an end though so we headed to the airport.  Our flights home were on time and uneventful.  I can only thank Cathy for including me on another great adventure.