Gorge Fly Shop Blog: Columbia Gorge Fishing Report (November 16th)

Jeff caught a nice little hen.

Fishing Report

This last week was good for most of the area anglers that ventured out. Our favorite summer steelhead rivers were kicking out fish and in great shape for most of the week. While this weekend’s rains are not doing much to help the clarity, levels are going up and there could be some good fishing this week. The weather looks unsteady and possibly torrential, but there should be some good periods of fishing this week.

Chinook Salmon are mostly dead now. There are a few stragglers holding on, but the rivers are full of dead salmon everywhere. It is very much like Alaska in the Gorge right now.

Summer Steelhead have been on the bite this past week. While nothing was red hot, there was steady and consistent fishing for many anglers last week. Jeff and Sam are visiting from Montana and they managed to pull a few out of the Klickitat during their visit. The Klick went out of shape on Saturday night, but could easily come back early in the week before the predicted big rains come in around Wednesday or Thursday.

The Deschutes gave up a fish or two a day to most of the anglers that went out. The lower river is definitely colored up as of Sunday from the White River pouring mud, but the river above the confluence with the White is in great shape and should likely stay in great shape as the week unfolds.

The Hood River was actually looking pretty good on Sunday morning. We had a spike of water and the river is dropping and looks great as of Sunday. While the other local rivers were rising, the Hood was dropping. No reports of any winter fish caught in the gorge yet, but there are a few summers hanging around.

Trout fishing is closed on several local lakes and streams now. Please consult the regulations before fishing.

Areas closed for trout include: East Fork Hood, Hood River (for trout), Eagle Creek, and the Deschutes upstream of the northern boundary of the Warm Springs Reservation. The White Salmon above the county road bridge below the powerhouse (old dam). Laurence Lake is also closed, as well as the Metolius River above Allingham Bridge.

Areas open for trout include: Deschutes downstream of the Warm Springs Reservation (Maupin area and downstream are open), Lost Lake, Goose Lake (WA), The White Salmon from the mouth upstream 2 or so miles to the old county bridge and Yakima River. November trout fishing can be really good, especially big fish eating big meaty streamers. Get out your favorite streamer patterns and go!

Travis took out his Winston Micro Spey 10’ 6” 4wt out to the Deschutes and had a good couple of hours pulling streamers for Rainbow Trout on Thursday. He caught a couple of nice fish with minimal effort. This is going to be a great fishery during the winter, especially during the drier periods when steelhead are hard to come by. Instead of a down and across swing as you would do for steelhead, cast more across or slightly upstream and let your line develop a downstream belly. Then you are ready to start stripping the fly. Anything between a little twitch and a fast pull will work, but they will generally be more receptive to one type of retrieval. It is just up to you to find out what type of retrieve they are looking for.

Smallmouth Bass are getting no attention right now, but with water temps dropping in the big river, the bite should be pretty good. You just have to find some current out there, and there isn’t much to find right now. It should be easy to find the fish once you locate some moving water.

As always, we are happy to talk fishing any time. Give us a call if you have any specific questions on local rivers, gear, and tactics, or if you just want some encouragement to get out of the office.