March Brown Guide Service

March Brown Guide Service works the McKenzie River, which runs about ninety miles from its Cascade headwaters to the Willamette confluence, fishing it from a McKenzie River style drift boat built for that water. Trips launch out of Eugene, Oregon. The trout season on the McKenzie can begin as early as February in a dry year and carries through October or November, targeting rainbow trout known locally as redsides, which average around twelve inches, along with cutthroat trout. A day on the water covers six to twelve miles of river and is booked as a full or half day, with instruction offered for beginners as readily as for experienced anglers. The Willamette adds summer run steelhead, which show in May and June and stay into fall and are fished by swinging flies from the same drift boat. Because the two rivers meet, trout and steelhead can be combined in a single day if wanted. Winter steelhead trips are also run.