Gorge Fly Shop Blog: Columbia Gorge Fishing Report

Deschutes Trout

Well, the gang's all here....Salmonflies, Golden Stones and Yellow Sallies are all present. The stoneflies, per usual, are offering some excellent windows of opportunity. The trout's willingness to eat bigger dries certainly has some variability to it from day to day. Sometimes they'll happily come up and grab it in high sun out in the open. Sometimes you can't get one to commit on the huge surface fly anywhere other than in the full-on Rambo water....the tough wades and tiny spots with good flow, structure and shade. It's fairly safe to assume that a good shaded spot with the right characteristics will have a bigger trout that's willing to eat the dry. Needless to say, it's been really fun!

With the ebb and flow of the big dry fly bite, it's important to mention all the other insect activity going on out there. Golden Stones and Salmonflies get most of the attention, but there are tons of Yellow Sallies around, too. Sometimes they really key in on Sallies and that can make for some outstanding dry fly fishing. There are also a ton of different caddis around making for some great dry fly fishing in shallower water.

The really pleasant surprise has been all the different mayfly activity. There have still been some March Browns out and about. PMD's are starting to come on strong. There are also some stray Mahoganies and B.W.O.'s. There's been a shocking amount of mayfly activity on all these beautiful sunny days. That often doesn't equate to mayfly surface fishing, but the nymphs are extremely important to mix into your dropper program. Heavy jigged PMD and March Brown droppers have been working well along with more standard Perdigon-style bugs.

Mt. Hood Lakes

The lake fishing around Hood has been a little on the slow side thus far. It's seemed like the early dose of extreme heat spurred some early algae blooms, and the hatches have been a bit sporadic thus far. Looks like we're in for a more standard weather pattern for this time of year, which will definitely help get things going. Leech fishing with intermediate lines or indicators has been most productive thus far with a little dry fly fishing in the mix. Things should heat up soon with good Callibaetis right around the corner.