Gorge Fly Shop Blog: Columbia Gorge Fishing Report

Deschutes Trout

It's the time of year again where Deschutes trout take the backseat. Understandable for ardent steelheaders, but kind of a cryin' shame for dedicated trout anglers. Yes, it gets hot out there and the best fishing windows are a little more limited....but they're really good! Morning and evening shade are key on the hot sunny days. Look for fish to be actively searching for whatever's available right at first light. This could be dead caddis swirling in back eddies, actively bouncing caddis adults, sparse crane flies or even your tiny chubby fished as a searching pattern! One thing worth noting is that the adult caddis hanging around in the grass start to fly in good numbers right when the first hint of sun is in the canyon. This rapid onset of insect activity provides a great morning window to work a deeper bank with a dry fly.

And then there's the evening. If you enjoy Deschutes trout fishing, you'd be doing yourself a disservice by not fishing evening caddis a few times in the summer. It can look like a bit of a dead sea during the heat of the day in the high sun, but the trout sure come to life in the hour or two before dark. Some nights it seems to happen almost immediately when shade hits. Other nights, it's more like the last hour leading up to total darkness. Sometimes the rises are very obvious and sometimes they're not....but you can bet your bottom dollar that there are some sizable fish eating caddis right before dark. It's definitely worth trying!

Deschutes Steelhead

We've had plenty of inquiries about steelhead in the last week. To answer the question, yes, there are a few fish in the lower river. The cooler weather that recently came through was a nice reprieve and did temporarily slow the soaring water temperatures. Unfortunately, that weather has come and gone. Nothing but heat and sun in the foreseeable future. This means, barring a release of cooler water from the dam, temps are going to be getting very warm on the lower river in the later half of the day. Cross all your fingers and toes, but some years they release some cold bottom-fed water in the second or third week of July. Hopefully this will happen again as the fish response tends to be very noticeable! The fish that are already there are much happier and the temp drop sucks in a lot more of them from the Columbia.

Per usual in the heat, morning shade is key. The cool-ish morning temps are comfortable to fish in and your odds are the best. As for fly choice, it's a dry line show with brighter colors working very well. Purple Green Butts, Purple Muddlers, Pink and Purple Sno Cones.....you get the idea! If you're fortunate enough to encounter one of these early fish, hang on tight! They're as good as summer steelhead get.

Mount Hood Lakes

Stillwater fishing has been good as of late. Most of the local lakes are seeing Callibaetis with regularity. If you can get out on a day with relatively light wind (rather hard to come by lately!), make sure you're prepared for some dry fly fishing. On the breezy days, wind drifting slip strike indicators with balance leeches has been deadly. If you want to increase your odds a bit, drop your balance leech a couple feet below a chironomid pupa. This is a deadly combo most of the time.

If none of the above is happening, don't be afraid to try an attractor or terrestrial dry fly. Add a dropper below the dry if you're inclined. Sometimes when times are tough, a relatively generic "bug" type dry will draw a surprising amount of attention. Small chubbies, foam beetles, ants, and the like. If there's not enough of a hatch going on to make the trout key in on something, they can get pretty opportunistic and grab whatever hapless bug hits the water.