Gorge Fly Shop Blog: Columbia Gorge Fishing Report 8-28-2020

Trout

Deschutes River:

Trout fishing has been better this past week than I’ve seen or heard of the past month or so. It seems the fish are starting to feed more heavily before the cold season creeps up on us.

Traditional and european style nymphing in the swift seams and runs is producing the most amount of trout hook ups. Soft hackle pheasant tails, cdc jig style pheasant tail nymphs, stonefly nymphs, and caddis pupa are all good nymphing patterns to be using at this time.

A few trout up near the grass banks and back eddies sipping flies in the evening hours when the sun is off the water. The water temps are dropping again to the lower to mid 60s which make the trout happy.
Shop Trout Flies

Lake Fishing:

Fishing up on the lakes has been good. Sinking lines with damsel nymphs, prince nymphs, smaller wooly buggers/crystal buggers is producing fish consistently.

Floating lines with indicator rigs in areas where the lake drops off to deeper water is good. Expect lake fish to start feeding more heavily over the next month as we transition into fall.
Shop Stillwater Flies

Summer Steelhead

Deschutes River:

There are quite a few steelhead being caught daily in the lower 20 miles of the Deschutes right now. Water temps are ideal throughout the day. I was out last Friday/Saturday fishing and have some takeaways from the trip.
Number 1: it is BUSY down there right now. If you want the best chances to fish the good stuff, camping on the river is how to achieve that. I have hiked into some of my favorite spots long before the sun was up, just to find someone already in the river who basically crawled from their sleeping bag into the run.
Number 2: fish new water. Fishing water that most anglers are passing up, can be a good way to hook fish with how busy it is out there. Quick inconspicuous buckets and runs that don’t see as much pressure is a good way to fish water that hasn’t already been fished.
Number 3: be thorough. Last weekend my buddy swung through a sweet little run with a scandi setup and small “No Name Variant” pattern and had a very suspicious grab. He changed flies and swung through it again with no love. I had a sink tip and big fly setup on so I swung through it after him and got nothing either but I just knew there had to be something holding in there as it looked too good.

So I switched up to a bright orange marabou tube fly on 10 feet of T-11 and first cast got hammered and landed a dandy wild hen. That was the third setup going through the same short bucket and it got the fish to react. Good luck out there and be sure to stop by or call the shop if you have any questions or just want to talk fishing!

Hood River:

The Hood has been fish-able with cooler air temps as of late. Even with slightly more visibility on the Hood, fishing sink tips and larger intruders or tube flies will be your best bet.

The Hood is not really a dry line/small fly steelhead river. Fish are more willing to crush a properly swung black and blue intruder than anything.
Shop Steelhead Flies

Smallmouth Bass/Carp

Carp fishing has been HOT. Lots of sunny warm days which are ideal carp fishing conditions. A very fun way to beat the heat and is in close proximity to Hood River and Portland. This is not a wake up early deal either, sleep in, and get fishing in the afternoon when the sun is high.

Beadhead san juan worms, John Montana carp hybrid, and the carp nasty are all great patterns for this kind of fishing.
Shop Carp Flies

Smallmouth fishing is good if you know where to find them. Similar to the last report, they are in fairly deep water, 15-30 feet, and are eating stripped streamers on full sinking lines.

Friend of the shop with a nice bronzeback on the Columbia!

Switch up your retrieve speed to find what they like, but they usually aren’t too picky so long as you have a good looking fly on and are in the right depth of the water column.

Fish around rocky structure where there’s a drop off from shore. I like using crayfish patterns, large wooly buggers, and sculpin patterns. Poppers when the wind allows.
Shop Bass Flies