Marty's Drift August 2004

Springfield – The McKenzie and Willamette

The birthplace of the drift boat is the McKenzie River in the central part of the state of Oregon near the towns of Springfield and Eugene. During the 1920’s and 30’s people used different types of boats on the McKenzie for different purposes, one of which was fishing. Over the years the men who rowed these boats began to make design changes that they felt would make a better and easier boat to row.

At approximately the same time the Rogue River, to the south, was also being explored by boat. And here too boats under went design development. Two distinctly different designs came about; one called a Mckenzie style drift boat the other the Rogue style drift boat. During the time of their development both styles were built of plywood. According to my friend and wooden drift boat builder, Ray Heater, the McKenzie boat had a flat bow. The transom (that end of the boat that pointed upstream when being rowed, where the anchor is attached) was pointed and lifted slightly out of the water for easy rowing. Ray maintains that the Rogue style boat was the double ender, like all the contemporary drift boats you see today, including ClackaCraft. Ray says the upstream pointed end of the Rogue style boat got squared off to accommodate outboard motors when they gained popularity. Eventually the best of both designs were combined and the name McKenzie drift boat became universally used.

There is a lot of interesting history and a lot of personalities involved in the development of the drift boat. Three of the better-known early builders were Tom Kaarhus, Glenn Wooldridge and Woodie Hindman. Glenn Wooldridge went on to fame for running challenging rivers in jet boats and building an aluminum boat company. Hindman’s boats are considered classics (he learned boat building from Kaarhus) and Kaarhus had devoted fans of his boats when he was alive.

The person most famous for first descents of Pacific Northwest rivers was a man named Prince Helfrich. In his little McKenzie style boat he floated the Middle Fork of the Salmon, the Rogue, the John Day, Deschutes, McKenzie, Metolius and many more. On many of his trips another expert oarsman accompanied him by the name of Veltie Pruitt. Pruitt also built boats.

Many of the descendants of Prince Helfrich are still in the business of guiding and floating rivers in drift boats. Years ago, at a fly club meeting, the program was a home movie of Prince Helfrich floating the “Wild and Scenic” section of the Rogue River. Besides film of running some hairy rapids, I was impressed with how light those guys traveled. As I recall they carried no tents or coolers no dry boxes filled with food. They carried some blankets and tarps for shelter. They carried a frying pan, some coffee and flour and a rifle and fly rods. They lived off the land. At the end of the film you can see some bridge construction in the distance. It is the Highway 101 bridge in Gold Beach and the year is 1935.

Recently I was able to spend a day in the Springfield, Oregon area. I met with Brian Marz from the Walterville Fly Shop and we went out for an early morning float to fish for summer run steelhead. Originally we were going to float the McKenzie River, but I had had to set the trip back a couple weeks. During the interval between the time we had planned to fish and the time we actually went the water had warmed and the crowds chasing steelhead had increased. Brian suggested that we do a float on the nearby Willamette.

We met at 5:00 am. The boat launch was 20 or 30 minutes away and there was not another boat in sight when we arrived. Within the first mile or two in the drift we found several very nice runs to fish. After fishing we gazed hard in the water and saw several steelhead holding.

I caught one native cutthroat trout about 8 or 10 inches, but the steelhead wouldn’t play. Overhead an immature bald eagle flew past a couple times and we saw osprey dive for suckers in the shallows several times. By 10:30 the sun had climbed high enough to fully expose the river and Brian and I both agreed that the best part of the fishing day was past. We headed for the take out.

The Willamette is the largest river within the state of Oregon. Usually you think of it as it flows through Salem or Portland. But, if you visit the Willamette further upstream it actually looks like a river and a pretty one at that. If you would like to try the McKenzie or the Willamette for trout or steelhead give Brian Marz a call at 1-541-736-1239.

Give Marty a call at: (503) 655-9532

You can also call Idaho Falls at (800) 394-1345.