Steelhead, What Else!!!

Well it has been far too long since I last wrote, but life has taken me away from fishing. My wife and I are getting ready to sell our home and business is booming once again. Because of this, my fishing time has struggled, but life is all about balancing your time. I had not been fishing for a few weeks so when my friend and fly shop owner Jack Hagan invited me to fish the Sandy with him on Valentines Day I asked for my wifes blessing and decided I had better hit the water.

I soon found out that an old friend and high school classmate would be joining us on the float as well. His name is Matt McCrary and he works part time at Northwest Fly Fishing Outfitters and also is partner in a local outfitting business. So I invited Dr. Chris and the four of us made an all day float down the Sandy in my new driftboat.

Jack manned the oars and I just relaxed. We fished hard all day and there was not even the slightest tug all day. Until that magic moment when the three of them were sitting in the boat and I had first ups on the run. Three swings in to it and I had my first ever winter steelie on the line. I hooted out and looked over my shoulder as my three friends came running down the river splashing the water like labradore puppies. Jack and Matt coached me like only guides can, encouraging me the entire way and reminding me to not let the fish get the better of me. Chris took pictures of my epic battle, and I added one more steelies to the notches in my mind.

The Oarsmen

Put Me in Coach, I'm Ready to Play Today

My smile should tell the story

The Motley Crew

The greatest part to this story is that the morning of my fishing trip I was praying and journaling. I asked God to bless me with a beautiful steelie, and my God came through. Thank you Lord for your creation, and thank you for listening and answering my prayers. You are faithful to the unfaithful and I love you! God bless all. I will try and update this more regularly! Peace out.

9/21/2006 - Portland Fly Tie In

I love to fly fish, but there has become another passion associated with this sport, fly tying. I have been tying flies for the last three years and I have seen some dramatic improvements in my tying. One reason for those improvements is because I have sat down with many of my close friends that have tied for years and picked things up from them.

For this reason, I try to set up fly tying gatherings here in Portland, Oregon. Usually we have in the neighborhood of ten people, but this time around we had about 15 people. All of the flies tied on this evening will go to an auction to help support an online fly fishing community that we all belong to.

I would like to have this fly tying gathering about every 6 months, but usually things come up and interfere. Anyways, this is not a church gathering, it is just people that I have met on the web getting together to tie flies, practice, and give their flies away to a worthy cause. Enjoy the pictures, I know I enjoyed myself that evening!


Take care all and God bless!

Deschutes Report:

Well, back from my favorite canyon, and it was as always a great day on the river!

Our departure time was 9AM and we were all able to stick to that time frame. We had a few moments of prayer time and it was then time for us to hit the road. I get a little goofy when I am headed to fish, but because I was guiding some, I decided to be a little bit serious. Can't you see the wheels in my brain turning while I drive

But then I realized that I was putting far too much thought in to my day and became once again the goofy guy that many know me to be!

My brother Jonathan was wondering why it was that he still chooses to fish with me despite my tendency to be a little off

We were on the water by 1PM after all stops were made and boats were launched, but many realized that their pontoons needed more air, so we stopped at the first island and filled up. We also managed to fish some water that is usually hit pretty hard, but that doesn't mean anything in my opinion!

Peter was the first to get action from the fish, and excited to do so! I laid him out on how to properly nymph a river like the Deschutes, and he took that knowledge and ran with it like a steelhead hooked by a fly. Within minutes of showing him how to nymph, I hear the words that we all love to resonate the canyon walls! FISH ON!

Peter quickly landed and released this beautful Deschutes Redside, and it quickly darted back to the water from which it came, hoopefully a little wiser than before. The fish was landed on the ever faithful Hares Ear that is a staple in this canyon!

The day was perfectly crummy weather! Everytime you looked upriver darkness loomed.

But just as quickly as the storm rolled in, it would break, and rare glimpses of the sun were seen. Basically this was the perfect day for steelhead, and I was determined to do just that! I was swinging darker flies, but felt like I needed to get a lighter fly out on the water since it was so dark out. I switched to a purple fly that I tie and within minutes I hooked and landed this chrome fish!

All in all it was a great day on the water with new friends and family. We all left the water feeling drained, soaked, and hungry. Yet we all left with the peace and joy that one can only feel when they have spent a day fishing on the river! Thank you Lord for answering our prayers today!

God Bless!

9/14/2006 - The Night Before

Tomorrow morning a small group are headed for our favorite river in search of more steel and maybe some trout action as well! This trip the fearless foursome will be embarking from Beavertail to Macks Canyon in pontoons. For some this will be the first float down a river in a pontoon boat, for others this run has been a few times before. Regardless it will be a wonderful day on the water with friends and family. So tonight I will make sure that all things are ready starting with acquiring this boaters pass:




Don't leave home without it!

Tomorrow's Attendees:

David Golobay
Jonathan Golobay
Jack Cranford
Peter (???)

I will post photo's and highlights of the day tomorrow!

God bless!

9/7/2006 - Steelhead Fever!!!

2:50AM - Alarm goes off
3:15AM - Brother arrives
3:20AM - Leave home in seach of steel!
4:45AM - Meet guide on Deschutes River
5:30AM - On the water

I recently purchased my first spey rod and it was time to break it in, so to the Deschutes we went. The morning was very slow. Jonathan, my brother, was able to get one steelhead to take a fly but no fish to hand. This was Jonathan's first fly fishing steelehead trip, and as many of you know it takes some to get used to hooking up with the fly on steelhead.

So the morning went with only one tug, and after 6 hours of casting I welcomed lunch. Our guide set up the table and fed us, and we all decided that in order to really catch fish we needed to be more rested. We all took a little siesta along the river, while sounds of moving water serenaded us to sleep. One hour later we were packing up and back out on the water. The late afternoon was still tough fishing, with little action, but at 5:15PM, it was go time!

I hooked up with my first steelhead on my new rod. It took some impressive runs and I was successful at landing this chrome bright 26" buck! Just minutes before my hookup my brother had another good grab.


We moved on from this location after swinging flies for about another 20 minutes. We fished a couple more spots and headed to the last one as light was leaving the canyon. What a beautiful place! The caddis began to come off and the trout were rising all around us in a feeding frenzy. It had been awhile since I had felt the tug of a fish so I was dreaming of trout when midway through my swing I hooked up again. I landed the 26" hatchery hen with the help of the guide and felt very fulfilled with my day. Now I had broken my rod in, and my confidence was up! So back to swinging I went with only 30 minutes of day light left. The rapid tug of a steelhead got my blood flowing a little to fast so I missed my 3rd take from a steelhead.

All in all it was a perfect day on the river. Steelhead were hooked, fought, and landed. Jonathan really enjoyed spey casting and I am looking forward to taking him out to a spot on the Clackamas to learn more!

God bless!

Fly Fisherman For Christ

God's creation astounds me daily, but never more than when I am fly fishing. When I am surrounded by rushing water and canyons filled with wildlife and amazing rock structures I am filled with awe.

God truly was and is a mighty and majestic creator.

I especially feel close to God in the Deschutes River canyons. I spent years growing up in those canyons learning lessons from my earthy and heavenly father.

To believe in a world without God you must believe in a theory of chaos. Yet while I fly fish I am surrounded by a world of complete and perfect order. Studying the life cycles of the very fish we find recreation in helps me to find God. God's design was and is without flaw.

Fly Fisherman For Christ is a group of Christian men who live in Oregon and share a belief in Jesus Christ. We believe that we are on this earth to share the love of Jesus, and one way we do this is to invite people to simply fish.



Our group also believes that we have a precious resource in which God has trusted us. We will make every attempt to be good stewards of this beautiful planet that God has blessed us with. So because of this we coordinate river cleanups to remove debris and hopefully raise awareness.

These picture are from a Clackamas River cleanup project that I set up in 2004. It was great to remove all of that terrible debri from the rivers side! People please respect your enivronment and practice good stewardship!

God Bless!

Bible Verses:
Matthew 4:18-20
Matthew 28:16-20