Happy New to all. 2012 is here with great thoughts of steelhead fishing on the Grande Ronde River. December saw the river at minimum flows (700 cfs) and lots of ice. I did make a trip down to the river on Dec 18th and  managed to catch a nice native buck bobber fishing through the ice chunks. The river was frozen over at multiple places, not allowing for a float, so I walked the bobber and jog down the cable hole and was reward with my last of 2011 steelhead.
      The 2011 spring steelhead season was excellent when the conditions were ok, but higher than normal runoff and high spring water limited our number of days on the water. I had some great guys from San Diego come and fish early in the spring, and luckily they were here for good water days. I'm glad for Dave and Jim that they did find good water conditions and willing steelhead coming to the fly after coming all the way from California.  (Read down the blog for their trip highlights.) I also had Chuck make it all the way back from Charlotte for his fourth trip to the GR. He also found eager steelhead coming to the fly. He had a great trip and even saw a hugh bull elk down the canyon stretch. Dave and Jim are heading to the OP this spring, but Chuck is on his way back the end of Feb. We scratched through the rest of the spring season with a fish here and there, but nothing stellar like previous spring seasons. This youngster was happy with his 1st steelhead would you say?

     The high water continued everywhere in the West all the way until mid July.  After the water fell into fishable levels, the summer smallmouth  fly fishing was outstanding for about 3 weeks, but losing a month of summer fishing days was tough. We did see lots of nice smallies come up for the Mighty Mouse, and we even caught a Largemouth bass. Rare indeed.(Read down the blog for more info) With all the spring water we had, the scenery and foliage was lavish and green like I have never seen before in July. The water fell to the mid 600's cfs and continued until the 1st week of October when we finally got some rain.

    The fall steelhead season began with two flushes of water the 1st week of October and brought some chrome steelhead into the GR from the Snake. We had good fishing until mid November when the water temps dropped into the 30's and fishing slowed way down. I had another special trip this fall with Bob and Richard all the way from Connecticut.  The two day trip was full of "ews and ahs" with the majestic scenery and mountains the West has to offer. The trip was magical, as a son bringing his father out west for a classic steelhead trip of their lifetime. They were blessed with big steelies coming to the net for Richard on the float and for Bob on the spey. Truly a trip to remember until my last days on the river. A big thanks to Bob for sharing this special time with his Dad and myself. Here is a great pic with smiles that sum up there west coast steelhead experience.

   First and foremost thanks to God for his blessings of my family and all my friends. Without him none of this would be possible. Thanks to all for  fishing with me this year on the fabulous Grande Ronde River. There were many stories told and memories made in 2011, but hopefully with better water conditions in 2012,  there will be lots more stories to be told and pictures of bright steelhead brought to hand........rick