It is getting to the point that everyone standing in the rivers of northeast Oregon is getting bit... by trout over 24" long.

Here is a picture of Keli with the trout she caught this past week just west of Pendleton. This was Keli's first landed hatchery hen on the fly (#2 BMA eggsucking leech), it measured in at almost 36". Needless to say she was awed by the fight of that much fish in our small river. In eastern Oregon you can cast across most rivers and they are now full of steelhead. This picture is worth about a thousand words, so I need not say much more.

The Umatilla River now has over 2600 steelhead over Three Mile Dam, which is as much as many previous years total steelhead run, and we still have over 2 months of the run to go before the spring chinook season opens on April 16.