There is still great fishing available on the Mckenzie River for big game fish

Being First Boat Down The River Can Pay Great Dividends

The Smallmouth bass fishery on Oregon's Umpqua River is considered by many to be world class.  The sheer number of fish that are caught over the course of a day is absolutely staggering.  Boating a hundred to two hundred fish per day is not uncommon.  What the fish may lack in size is easilly outweighed by the increble catch rates, their aggressive nature, and the scappy fights these little guys produce.  Watching multiple fish converge on a single lure is a sight played out over and over during a days drift.  My guest Tom Lindly at one point actually pulled in a single crankbait with two bass on it, one on each of the two trebles.

Current numbers of returning steelhead and salmon passing over Willamette Falls fish counting station are now on the decline.  It would appear that we are now past the peak of the run.  Because of the distance involved as these fish migrate to their various tributaries, we can still expect fishable number of newly-arriving fish to continue into coming weeks.