Columbia Gorge Fishing Report (05/01/2016)

Spring is here and the fish are biting.  Whatever you like to fish for, it is likely swimming around our area looking to get caught. 

Salmonflies are hatching!!!!

Rainbow Trout fishing in the Deschutes River are getting all the attention right now.  Adult Salmonflies and Golden Stoneflies can be seen crawling in the brush and flying up through Maupin according to the recent reports.  Most trout have been focused on the nymphs, but the dry fly action should be getting better and better over the next few weeks.  Be prepared for fish to be on either the dries or the nymphs.  Trout can also be found eating caddis in the evenings and occasionally mayfly nymphs during the day.  The Green Drake hatch will be coming up soon, so it is a good idea to have a few patterns ready if you are going to be out on the Deschutes in May.  It can be very sporadic, anywhere between epic and nonexistent, but it sure sucks to be there when its happening with no matching flies.

Ryan is an addict, bass are his drug

Smallmouth Bass fishing has also been incredible lately.  Ryan and I snuck out last week and checked out a small impoundment on the side of the Columbia.  It was loaded with smallmouth bass, a few nice ones too.  The fish are not quite thick in the spawning shallows yet, they are moving through the infamous "transition zones". We caught plenty of bass on clousers and big woolly buggers and even a couple on poppers.  The big fish were still near the bottom in 5-6' of water and wanted the fly deep.

This spring salmon went
right onto the BBQ!

Steelhead fishing is poor to fair right now.  Anglers are reporting mostly "kelts" or post-spawn steelhead on their way back out towards the ocean on the Hood River.  There are a few fresh fish around, including a summer steelhead or two.  May can be pretty good for summer steelhead on the lower Columbia tributaries like the Cowlitz, Sandy, Clackamas and Kalama. Summer Steelhead don't move into the Gorge Tributaries like the Klickitat and Deschutes with any consistency until August.  Early season fish are more likely found lower in the system.  You can catch a fresh steelhead around here any day of the year, but there are definitely better times than others.

Spring Chinook are starting to move up the Columbia in decent numbers.  The mouth of the Wind River and Drano Lake (Little White Salmon) have had the best action so far.  This is mostly because the fish are staging in the colder water at the mouths of those rivers as they move up the Columbia.  The fish being caught are not moving upstream in those tributaries, just using the mouths as a staging area.

Our rivers in the Gorge typically don't see a big push of Chinook until mid-May, but there are definitely a few around.  Several of our regulars have reported hooking fresh springers in the Hood.  The Deschutes is now open from the mouth to Sherar's Falls as of today (May 1).  The Klickitat is only open to Lyle Falls (mile 1.4) and only three days a week.  (Monday, Wednesdays and Saturdays)  Springers are still not easy to catch on a fly rod, but I never underestimate a motivated angler with a big fly rod.

As always, we are happy to talk fishing any time.  Give us a call if you have any specific questions on local rivers, gear, and tactics, or if you just want some encouragement to get out of the office.

Local Water Flow Reports

Hood River:

USGS

NOAA

Deschutes near Madras:

USGS

Deschutes at the mouth:

USGS

NOAA

Columbia River water temperatures going through Bonneville Dam:

FPC Water Temps

Andrew Perrault
Columbia Gorge Fishing Reports
Gorge Fly Shop | Product Specialist
541.386.6977

"Fly Fish the World with Us"

Columbia Gorge Fishing Report (04/24/2016)

Another beautiful spring sunset driving home from a great day of lake fishing in the desert!

I hope that everyone has been able to get out and enjoy the great fishing conditions that we have had lately.  Most lakes are now open for trout, the bass are snapping, the carp are biting, and we even have some salmon and steelhead are lurking around the local rivers.

Salmonflies will soon be upon us!

Rainbow trout fishing has been great across the area, but the shining star is the Deschutes River right now.  The stoneflies are crawling and the fish are happy.  The colder weather late in the week did slow the bite down,but that is just a small step back in a long march forward.  Stonefly nymphs should be on every angler's rod at this point.  They can be doubled up with a number of smaller flies such as copper johns, pheasant tails or san juan worms, although most of the fish are being caught on the bigger bugs.  Adults will likely be popping off below Sherar's Falls by the end of the week if they haven't started already.  

Lake fishing for Rainbow Trout just started this weekend and we have not heard many reports so far, but the colder weather should have spurred Callibaetis to hatch in many locations.  Buggers, chironomids, and Callibaetis should all be in the box, and anglers should be prepared for anything this time of year.  Weather changes quickly in April, and the hatches can change in a minute with the weather.  Poor weather tends to spur on Callibaetis, while steady weather is what the chironomids seem to like best.  

Lost Lake required a hike last week to get into.  The gate was closed just above campground, but it will be opening May 1.  Fishing should be great through spring, summer and fall up there.  

Callibaetis spinner chillin on a float tube

Laurence Lake is another local favorite.  Just a reminder:  it is not legal to target bull trout in Laurence Lake.  The trout fishing at Laurence is typically great throughout the entire time its open.  Fish average size is fairly small as this lake does not tend to grow too many lunkers, but the occasional larger rainbow is caught, and bull trout are routinely caught as by-catch on buggers and leeches.  

Spearfish, Horsethief and Rowland Lakes all opened on the Washington side of the Gorge this last weekend.  They are typical put and take lakes loaded with planter rainbow trout.  The fishing is good and the trout are plentiful.  They are great places to go catch a few fish if you don't have all day, or if you have your kids with you.  Goose Lake should be accessible by now, but I haven't talked to anyone up there recently.  It is also a great place to go slay some trout early season. 

Our local streams are generally not open for trout fishing right now.  The Hood (Main and East Fork), Eagle Creek, Klickitat, Little White Salmon and the Big White Salmon River* are all closed for trout fishing right now.  The Deschutes and the White River are the only decent trout stream options close to here this time of year.  

Its a great time to swing for a late spring steelhead!

*The (Big) White Salmon opens June 1 above Northwestern Lake Park Bridge for trout and August 1 below the bridge downstream to the old power plant.  The lower couple of miles (below the old power plant) is open year round for trout.  

Chinook Salmon fishing has been slow, but improving daily.  Drano Lake is the place to be apparently.  There were about 200 boats there on Sunday morning.  The Hood River is open, but minimal effort and mediocre success has been reported so far.  We should start seeing more "springers" in the next couple weeks.  The Hood typically hosts a later run of springers, mid to later May.  

Winter Steelhead are just about done, but there are definitely a few fish still moving into local rivers.  Late for the prom, but just in time to catch the after-party, some big steelhead can come in this time of year.  Check the regulations; many of the rivers in WA are closed this time of year.  

Smallies have
been snapping!

Smallmouth Bass have been snappy this week.  Bigger fish are sitting on the bottom, but smaller guys are suspended and chasing everything.  Look for structure and rock in 2-6' of water near, not too far from shore.  They are not up on beds yet, but they will be staying in close for the next month or more as the full moon in late May should be when the bulk of the smallies spawn.

Carp fishing has been great!  I went bass fishing on Wednesday and hooked two carp dragging a crayfish fly across a shallow shelf in the Columbia.  The bass weren't cooperating in that spot yet, but the carp were happy, so I packed up, went up the road to one of the many impounded lakes along the highway in the Gorge and hooked up with two more fish on a small rubber-leg nymph.  The colder weather that moved in later in the week has not been great for the bite, but fish will be active once it warms up again.  Mid-day seems to be the best for me, but that is probably because it is easier to spot them.

As always, we are happy to talk fishing any time.  Give us a call if you have any specific questions on local rivers, gear, and tactics, or if you just want some encouragement to get out of the office.

Local Water Flow Reports

Hood River:

USGS

NOAA

Deschutes near Madras:

USGS

Deschutes at the mouth:

USGS

NOAA

Columbia River water temperatures going through Bonneville Dam:

FPC Water Temps

Andrew Perrault
Columbia Gorge Fishing Reports
Gorge Fly Shop | Product Specialist
541.386.6977

"Fly Fish the World with Us"

Columbia Gorge Fishing Report (4/17/2016)

Another Nice Rainbow from a Central WA Lake

Rainbow Trout fishing is now taking center stage in the Columbia Gorge.  The Deschutes River is heating up right now and fishing has been great.  We are really looking forward to the Salmonfly/Stonefly hatch coming up soon.  Trout have really started eating stonefly nymphs with gusto, but can be found eating mayfly nymphs too and maybe even some caddis pupa too.  There have been reports of an afternoon March Brown hatch that has been bringing trout up to the surface.  Small caddis have been hatching in the evening too, but I have never done that well fishing caddis dries in the evening this time of year.

Hendrix Loves to ride along

Ryan, Jeremy and I took a trip out to some central WA desert lakes this past week.  Despite generally slow fishing, we did catch some nice fish.  We got into an epic Callibaetis hatch one evening, catching some big fish that were cruising around eating dries.

Overall we caught fish in four out of six lakes that we fished.  We found some water that could certainly give up some tankers under the right conditions but didn't show any signs of life.  For the most part, the fish we caught were averaging 16" and very spunky.  One lake we found had very few fish in it, but they were mostly huge and very wary.  We never really got a good shot at any of the lunkers in there, but did get a couple of the "smaller" fish that were not as smart as their bigger brethren.  The only time we saw consistently big fish was during the Callibaetis hatch when all the trout that we saw were 18" and larger.

Ryan loves Ole Rubber Lips!

I have been doing this trip to a variety of Central Washington lakes annually since I was a young child.  I started taking my fly bum friends in 2002.  In all of those years, I have fished about 20 different lakes and have only run into a good Callibaetis bite like that maybe one other trip.  It is usually all chironomids and woolly buggers with an occasional chironomid dry fly bite.  We were, however, mostly unprepared for such a hatch.  I only had two solid Callibaetis nymphs and two good dries.  I lost both nymphs to a couple of carp within the first few hours, which just goes to show that no matter how prepared you think you are, anything can happen.  I will be loading my box up with Callibaetis nymphs and dries again.

The annual lowland lake opener is this Saturday in Washington and Oregon.  This signifies that spring is fully here!  Laurence Lake opens here in Oregon on Saturday, April 23 along with Rowland, Horsethief and Spearfish in Washington; and dozens of other lakes across our two states here.  While several lakes in our area are still inaccessible due to snow conditions, they are rapidly clearing up with this hot weather.

Jeremy catches another!

Steelhead fishing has really taken a back seat to trout and salmon fishing as it tends to do this time of year.  Winter steelhead are still kicking around in the lower part of the Hood River. The Columbia River is really high and backing up into the Hood.  This is causing the run at the mouth of the Hood River to turn into a lake.  Most of the effort in the river happens there, so effort is fairly low and spread out when this happens.  Summer Steelhead are not going to be around in any numbers for some months now, so start tying muddlers, skunks, and coachmen for the approaching summer steelhead season.

I wish there had been fish in this lake

Spring Chinook fishing is now open on the Hood River, although the Deschutes will not open until May 1.  Salmon typically don't start to move into the Hood with any consistency until May, but the potential for hooking a chrome "springer" any day now is enough to get people onto the river.  The Hood is still in good shape as there is water flowing in it and it has not colored up yet.  It will get muddy and really hamper angling effort eventually, but for now it is in great shape.  The river typically stays in shape into May.


As always, we are happy to talk fishing any time.  Give us a call if you have any specific questions on local rivers, gear, and tactics, or if you just want some encouragement to get out of the office.

Local Water Flow Reports

Hood River:

USGS

NOAA

Deschutes near Madras:

USGS

Deschutes at the mouth:

USGS

NOAA

Columbia River water temperatures going through Bonneville Dam:

FPC Water Temps

Andrew Perrault
Columbia Gorge Fishing Reports
Gorge Fly Shop | Product Specialist
541.386.6977

"Fly Fish the World with Us"