Gorge Fly Shop Blog: Columbia Gorge Fishing Reports

Photo Credit Tom Larimer

Deschutes Trout

The trout fishing remains strong on the Deschutes. In the bug department, you might as well call it a caddis show. You may bump into a few mayflies if you're lucky enough to be out on a rare cloudy day, but a lot of the fishing will revolve around what the caddis are doing. The dry fly fishing will be best in the morning and evening. You can sneak a few fish out of the shade under trees during the day, but the best surface fishing will be early and late. With the fish being keen on caddis, swinging a team of wet flies during the day can also be very productive. Pick a rocky riffle and try a bead head wet trailed by an unweighted caddis pupa. Give the flies a little twitch now and again throughout the swing and be ready for hard grabs. Also worth noting, keep an eye on water temps. Avoid fishing if the water is 68 or above.

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Mount Hood Lakes

Cooling off by taking a dip in a mountain lake has been just perfect lately. The fishing has been pretty darn good, too. The lakes continue to see some Callibaetis and chironomid activity. The heat has also brought out good numbers of damsel flies. If you don't see much obvious insect activity, try a terrestrial. Ants can be the ticket. The trout have been happily rising when the chop has been low. Think morning and evening and expect some wind during the day. Balanced leeches below an indicator work well when the wind is up. The waves often move the fly enough that you can just get it out there and wait for the indicator to go down. If you decide to try one of the lakes, get out as early as possible. Summer vacation is in full swing here on the mountain and there are a lot of people out recreating.

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Deschutes Steelhead

Fish are on the move in the Columbia. The Deschutes will be seeing some new arrivals on a daily basis. That said, it's going to be awfully hot in the desert for quite some time. Unless some cool water is released from the dam, the temps are going to be getting dangerously high for steelhead and salmon on most days, particularly in the lower few miles of the river. If you decide to go for an early fish, keep an eye on the water temps and focus on the first couple hours of fishable daylight.

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