Over the last couple days, I took a group of fisherman out on the lower McKenzie River fishing for trout, followed by a day of winter steelheading closer to the coast. One of the most satisfying things about my job is watching people in my boat improve as fishermen with coaching and instruction. Even though these guys weren’t veterans, we had a great time and they caught some beautiful fish.
The trout fishing on the McKenzie was very good, with decent numbers of March Browns hatching in the afternoon. The fishing on the surface was good from just after lunch until late in the day. Early and late in the day, we did a good deal of nymphing, which yielded some of the best fish of the day.
Though lately the weather has seemed more spring-like than wintery, it is still winter steelhead season in Oregon, and March is when many of our rivers get their best returns of wild winter steelhead. It wasn’t easy, but we managed to find at least a few fish who wanted to bite a fly, and brought a couple of those to the boat. On the rivers I’ve been fishing lately, many of the fish are showing some color. It’s late in the season and there are fewer chromers out there than there were earlier, but there should still be some fresh fish showing up before the end of the month.
One more fish photo: me with a skinny hen taken on the swing recently.
Ethan Nickel Outfitters 
Great story and awesome images!!