Gorge Fly Shop Blog: Columbia Gorge Fishing Reports

Trout - Deschutes River:

Lower Deschutes River

The stonefly hatch is going strong right now. Warmer weather this past weekend has gotten the salmonflies and golden stones out of the grass and in the air. Fish are crushing big dries right now and will be for another few weeks. The hatch is happening from Maupin all the way up to Warm Springs. Warmer days where the bugs are more active will typically be better fishing on the surface.

If fishing is slow on the big dries, try tying a small euro style frenchie as a dropper as that fly is a great producer for the Deschutes. It cuts through the heavy swirling Deschutes current and drops down to where the fish are laying really well.

Chubbies, norm woods specials, orange stimulators and clark stones are all top producing salmonfly patterns. Don’t forget about the little yellow sally stoneflies or the green drakes. These two bugs hatch around this time but are often overlooked by anglers. Look for the green drakes to be more active on cloudy days with possible rain showers.

Amber choosing a choice stonefly imitation. Photo: Peter Ely

The stoneflies should be hanging around for another 2-3 weeks and then it is caddis season before we know it. Don’t forget to purchase a boaters pass if you are floating any part of the Lower Deschutes. They can be purchased at recreation.gov and are required to have when floating.

Middle Deschutes River

The middle is fishing great right now with lots of good hatches and happy trout. This section in between Bend and Lake Billy Chinook is perfect dry dropper water. I was out there over the weekend and had success on a small purple chubby with a euro style pheasant tail dropper. Most of my fish came on the dropper, but had a few eat the dry. Lots of salmonflies flying around and fish were looking up every so often. Also had some good eats on the trout spey swinging a small sculpin through the little riffles and pools. Fun little fishery with lots of fish in the 12-14 inch range with the occasional 16-18 inch brown.

Upper Deschutes

The Upper Deschutes from Little Lava Lake down to Benham falls opened today 5/22. I was able to sneak out there for a few hours to see if I could score an early season brown trout or two. Was fortunate to cross paths with a beautiful brown that ate a sculpin streamer on a tight line swing around some log structure. What a great fish and fight! My buddy I was with landed a dandy rainbow on #18 perdigon nymph. There was a nice pmd hatch around noon today as well and we found a few pods of fish that were looking up and eating. A simple little comparadun did the trick to match the hatch.

We also jumped up above and fished the 7 mile headwater stretch from Little Lava down to Crane Prairie Reservoir. Fun little fishery close to Bend that is full of Brooke and Rainbow trout. Pmds were coming off up there in the afternoon but we had best success stripping little buggers and sculpins around log jams and in the undercut banks. Hopper dropper rigs work great up there throughout the summer as well.

Metolius River

Things are starting to take off on my favorite spring creek. The green drakes are starting to make an early appearance with some bugs starting to pop in the afternoons. 2-5pm is usually the window for the drakes on the Met so if you want to hit this hatch, make sure you’re standing in your favorite spot during those hours.

Quite a few pmds in the mix too recently which are hatching around 11-1pm on any given day. With warmer weather in the forecast we’ll likely start to see some caddis activity as well so be prepared with a whole arsenal of dry flies. Nymph fishing is strong. Euro style is the most productive technique but indicator rigs with split shot and double flies will catch fish too. Stonefly nymphs, skinny nelsons, two bit hookers, rainbow warriors, euro style frenchies and peridigons, and red lightning bugs are all good nymph patterns.

Bull trout fishing has been good to those that are putting in the time. Early morning is best for streamers. Bulls are like summer steelhead on the Deschutes.. By mid day when the sun is high in the sky, they hunker down more and are not as likely to chase a streamer. Mid day I usually switch up to a nymph set up and try and spot fish so I can sight nymph to them.

S hop Trout Flies

Mount Hood Lakes:

Lawrence Lake Update.

Lawrence Lake opened on Friday April 22. The current situation is with snow and road culvert repair needed the access is gated at the Middle Fork settling pond. This is about 2.5 miles before Lawrence lake. The spring stocking of Lawrence has been postponed until access allows.

Shop Stillwater Flies

Steelhead -

For the latest on fishing regulations in your angling zone visit https://myodfw.com/recreation-report/fishing-report/

Smallmouth Bass / Carp:

Smally fishing has been pretty solid recently! Good catches have been reported slow stripping streamers. The RIO meat sweats is a great pattern that can imitate a lot of different things. Olive and tan are my favorite colors for smallies. I use an intermediate sinking line with a weighted bug and slow strip and twitch my fly in. This is a super fun fishery right in our backyards. Smallmouth put up a heck of a fight and are another great fish to challenge yourself to learn.

Won’t be too long before we’ll be stalking the flats of the Columbia looking for 20lb goldfish cruising the shallow flats. Carp fishing will humble you up really quick. Great practice if you have a saltwater trip coming up. These fish require accuracy and stealth to have success.

Shop Carp Flies

Shop Bass Flies