After a long winter, the hope of spring is finally here. With the change of season comes new fly fishing opportunities around the Columbia Gorge.
Trout fishing has been good on the Deschutes for the past couple of weeks. The recent bump in water put the fish off their game for a few days but things are stabilizing and the trout are getting happy again.
While the Deschutes has been giving up some decent Blue Wing Olive hatches over the past month, dry fly season really starts cooking with the arrival of March Browns. A fairly large mayfly, March Browns are hard to miss when the come off the water. Look for the hatch to get going around 11:00am. This time of the year the fish are typically relating to back eddies and softer water. However, with the Deschutes running at 6200 cfs, don’t overlook riffles that would normally be to fast for this time of the year. Come to the river armed with March Brown parachutes, blue wing extended bodies and BWO emergers. Also, it’s not uncommon to see a few Skwala stoneflies out there as well. Although this is not a major hatch, it pays to have a few in your box.
Prior to and after the hatch, try nymph fishing with fox tail squirrel nymphs (#14-#16), pheasant tails (#20-#22), Jimmy Rubber Legs (#6) and San Juan Worms.
Steelhead
The winter steelhead game has remained somewhat spotty. Some days the fishing has been great, other days you have to work for them. -Sounds like winter steelheading, right? We had a good flush of water last week that brought new fish into the Hood, Sandy and Clackamas rivers. With a dry, warm weather forecasted for the week, the rivers will continue to drop. Sunshine in the winter is a blessing and a curse. The fish are less active when the sun is shining yet the warming of the water makes them more aggressive. Bottom line; focus your fishing efforts in the low light time periods and enjoy the sun and spring weather in the mid-day.
Good Luck!
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