Gorge Fly Shop Blog: Columbia Gorge Fishing Report

Deschutes Steelhead

Well, it's been off to a great start! Numbers have been strong and fishing has been good. We recently made it through three extremely hot days out in the desert....like over 100 degrees hot. That has been the one upside of the extreme heat we've had so far this summer. It's only been sticking around for a few days at a time. It looks like we are out of the high heat for the time being and there are some cooler nights in the forecast, which helps a ton.

From a fishing standpoint, the dry line bite has been excellent....especially in the morning. With a solid number of fish present, this is a great time try and raise one on a skater. At the very least, a grabby fish will often show itself. It may not bite, but it will give you a visual cue in the form of a flash, boil or charge. If you can't get it to commit on the surface, put a wet fly or two past it. No guarantees in steelhead fishing, but that usually seals the deal!

Deschutes Trout

It's pretty amazing how much trout activity you see when you're trying for a steelhead. The Redside's bigger cousins are not the only ones that like first and last light. Wherever you happen to step in on the lower river, you're very likely to see some noses in the morning. Several anglers have recently commented on the bigger trout grabbing caddis or aquatic moths in the morning. We've seen some bruisers rising in the last couple weeks!

Aside from the morning and evening surface program, all the standard sub-surface techniques have been effective, too. On the nymphing side of things, make sure you have something cased caddis-esque in the mix. Streamer folks can rejoice, as well. Deeper/faster runs with some surface bounce have been giving up some great fish with outstanding grabs. Make sure you're fishing a heavy enough rig to get your fly ~1/2 way down in faster water and you'll be in business. Olive, black and natural streamers have been working well.

Mount Hood Lakes

The stillwaters around Hood continue to be productive. Recent reports have been favorable with a mix of tactics producing fish. The surface bite continues with Callibaetis, some occasional chironomids and sporadic damsel flies. Prospecting with generic smaller terrestrials has been really fun lately, too. Call it something that just looks like a bug....tiny chubby, various ants, beetles, bees...you name it! If you look closely on any given day with wind, you'll find a rather diverse smattering of terrestrial insects. Cruising trout in stillwaters seem to love random terrestrials, and that style of generic dry fly can get them to rise when other patterns do not.