Gorge Fly Shop Blog: Columbia Gorge Fishing reports 10-2-2021

Trout

Deschutes River:

Happy Fall everyone!

The Lower Deschutes River has been productive for trout fisherman the last few weeks. I was out fishing in Mack’s canyon last weekend and trout fished in the middle of the day.

Lots of fish taken nymphing under an indicator. Trout were eating both big stonefly nymphs as well as small caddis pupa droppers and soft hackle pheasant tail nymphs trailed behind the stone.

Water clarity was good when I was there but recently the white river has blown out again making the river below the white all the way to the Columbia, unfishable. The White can be very unpredictable this time of year with random hot weather which can melt the glaciers on Mt. Hood causing it to blow, or just getting big rainstorms that blow it out. Hard to say when it will clear but fishing below the confluence of the White will be challenging with heavily off colored water. This will congregate more anglers above the White River up all the way to Mecca Flats so be prepared to be fishing around more folks than normal if you get out there this weekend.

There is some dry fly opportunity still around with small caddis fishing in the back eddies. More and more October caddis are around too so using an October caddis pupa on a nymphing rig can be a good bet.

European style nymphing is also highly productive with jig style euro nymphs. As we move further into the fall and the weather gets cooler and cooler, the trout will begin to move to their winter holding water. Slower and deeper pools.
S hop Trout Flies

Lake Fishing:

Lakes are good and will continue to be good for another month or two. Fish will be feeding pretty heavily trying to fatten up before winter. Fishing a full sink line with brown, black, olive or purple wooly buggers or crystal buggers are great options.

Fishing indicators with balanced leeches, chironomids, scuds or pheasant tail nymphs is another productive method to try if stripping flies isn’t producing. Giving your indicator some twitches and movements every now and then will help trigger bites if it’s super calm out.

Crowds from the summer have thinned out some and will continue to going forward into fall. The lakes can be a great option to escape for a few hours and have some productive fishing opportunities.
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Summer Steelhead

Deschutes River:

Steelhead are spread throughout the entire Lower Deschutes now. From the first hundred yards of river, all the way up to Mecca Flats.

With the White River being completely blown at the moment, focusing your efforts above that confluence will be your best shot at getting into one this weekend.

Mix bag of hatchery fish and wild fish out there right now, but both are taking swung flies if the conditions allow. Still an opportunity to be using scandi’s and small flies, but as we move further into October and it gets significantly cooler out, fishing sink tips and big flies will be the norm.

Nymphing in the afternoons for steelhead is another method to try this time of year. I like using a big egg sucking stonefly nymph and some sort of egg pattern as a dropper. This method will also hook trout too to make things interesting. When doing this I’d run either a 7-8 weight single hand fly rod with a basic weight forward floating line like a rio grand to help with mending and roll casting. Use a big indicator and some split shot to get your rig down off the bottom.

There are also quite a few Chinook being caught down in the lower 10 miles of the river which are hooked quite regularly when swinging for steelhead.

Hood River:

There are probably quite a few old springers in the lower few miles but not super high on people’s list to be targeting at this time as they have been in the river for quite some time now.

There are definitely summer steelhead spread throughout much of the Hood which can still be caught on the swing and nymphing. Recent rains can get the fish freshened up and more willing to bite.

If you’re swinging, using an egg sucking black leech is a tough fly to beat. Other good patterns are dark colored intruders or hobo spey type flies.

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Smallmouth Bass/Carp

Carp fishing is pretty much over for the year. Until next year! We want to thank the brave firefighters and first responders again for all their valiant efforts during these crazy wildfires. Thankful for the rains that have helped suppress these fires and hopefully we won’t have anymore this year.
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Smallmouth fishing remains good if you know where to fish. Having a boat helps tremendously to move around and find fish. They sit in different water depths usually in 10-25 feet of water around steep drop offs, and places with submerged rocks and other types of structure.

We like fishing full sinking lines and big streamers or crayfish patterns. Balanced leeches and wooly buggers work well too fished on the strip. Any place where there is a steep rocky bank that goes into the water, is a good place to start. Once you find them, you generally will find a bunch and can be a ton of fun.

Some of the biggest smallies around are found on the main Columbia. Fishing the countless side sloughs along I-84 are all good bets for smallmouth and other warm water species as well. Fishing under an indicator with leeches can be super productive for smallies too.

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Stay safe out there everyone and be sure to get in touch with us at the shop if you have any questions on anything fishing!

-Zach