Columbia Gorge Fishing Report - 1/16/25

Winter Steelhead

Winter season is always a rollercoaster.  The first part of this "winter", if you can even call it that, brought a tremendous amount of water and moved a bunch of fish.  The bite area wide was pretty encouraging leading up to all the flooding and continued for a while when things dropped back in.  This situation seems to come up often in the winter, but it's time to start hoping for rain again.   Rivers from the coast through the Gorge have been on a long steady drop and it looks like that's going to continue for another week-ish.  There are fish to be had, but they seem to be getting a little sparse for the time being in a lot of places.  Look for the next bump to be productive.  In the mean time, try some brighter sink tip flies on these beautiful sunny days!  

Deschutes Trout

The Lower Deschutes is in great shape.  Easy level to wade and the water temps are notably warmer than they could be at this time of year.  That means there's some great trout fishing to be had!  Nymphing with whatever method you prefer will be the most consistent way to go, but there are other options on the table.  Hatches of BWO's and midges will be fairly consistent.  Especially on cloudy days.  You could even encounter some other bugs on these extra warm days.  

If there is cloud cover, be sure to work a streamer into the program.  Whether you're a Trout Spey person or prefer the single-hander, the streamer bite is not to be overlooked.  It can be just outstanding and produce some of the larger fish in the river.  The fly itself doesn't have to be that big, but your terminal tackle does!  Call this a 1 or 2x fluorocarbon deal.  The initial bite and surge from a big one can easily break lighter tippet.

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Columbia Gorge Fishing Report - January 5, 2026

Winter Steelhead

Is there anything better than hooking the first winter fish of the season!?  Even just hearing about a few being caught is enough to pump up the crowd around here.  The back-to-back Atmospheric Rivers certainly did a lot of re-arranging throughout the Pacific Northwest.  New channels formed.  Some shallow spots became deep....and some deep spots shallow.  Lots of trees and rocks moved. It was a real series of events!

On to the point....are there fish around?  There sure are!  Consider it go time from here on out.  Go early and go often.  There's rain in the forecast, but not the catastrophic amounts that we've already seen.  One huge positive has been the temps.  It's been on the warmer side which definitely helps keep the water temps up.  This always helps in the winter.  Get your sink tips and flies in order if you haven't already.  This is going to be a great week to give it a try. 

Deschutes Trout

This is such a wonderful time of year to trout fish on the Deschutes.  Keep your eyes on the gauges and try to avoid and big flow spikes or drops.  The trout prefer things to be steady in those two departments, and changes either way can put them off the bite.  Water temps have been in the low-to-mid 40's, which should have fish sitting in softer winter lies.  Call it predominately a nymph and streamer game with the possibility of some afternoon BWO fishing.  The bugs should be present to some degree every day, but surface activity will be variable.  The huge bonus of fishing the Deschutes at this time of year is the solitude.  You can have large stretches of the river all to yourself.....and some really good trout fishing!   

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Columbia Gorge Fishing Report - July 18, 2025

Deschutes Steelhead

Everyone seems to be asking.  Are there some fish in the lower river?  Yes!  On any given year, barring a major catastrophe, there are some fish in the Deschutes in the first half of July.  Sometimes there's just a few and sometimes there's a bunch.  The major hitch tends to be the water temperature.  Interestingly enough, due to some combination of the dam operation and weather, the coldest water temps of the day have routinely been at about 8:30 a.m. at the mouth.  Not exactly corresponding with first light like we'd all prefer, but that's been the situation.  On the really hot days, it's only been getting down to ~66 degrees and going up from there.  Fortunately, we've had some slightly cooler nights the last few days.  Temps this morning were down to ~63....a much better number!

For those looking to try it for the first time, focus your efforts on the early part of the day.  Fish through the coolest water temps of the morning and call it a day when it starts getting excessively hot.  Put on 12 lb. and a bright hairwing with a stout hook.  The early summers can be totally ballistic and stacking the odds in your favor with the appropriate terminal tackle can be the difference between landing a fish and the "one that got away".     

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Deschutes Trout

Not too much has changed in the trout world out there lately.  Caddis and Aquatic Moths are still the stars of the show.  The best dry fly fishing has been early in the morning and in the evening.  That said, you can still drum up some fish in the riffles with a dry during the day.  Nymph fishing remains strong and the Trout Spey bite is definitely there, too.  The great news in the trout world is that the river is largely void of anglers.  It gets eerily quite out there post-stonefly and it's really not warranted.  The fishing is great!

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Mount Hood Lakes

Some of the shallower or lower elevation lakes are starting to go through a transitionary period.  After several weeks of summer weather, the surface temps are starting to warm on certain lakes.  Not to a detrimental degree, but it's changed the fish activity a bit.  Lots of fish, especially during the heat of the day, will be feeding down deeper toward the thermocline.  This can require a bit of a tactical change.  If the on or near-surface stuff isn't working, try a heavier sinking line that will get you down in the 10-20' range.  Slowly retrieving chironomid pupae or an unweighted leech will get these fish to go.  It's also worth trying early in the morning at this time of year.  The first light bite is not much of a thing on lakes at elevation earlier in the season, but it's definitely a thing now!  Expect to see insect and fish activity increasing earlier in the day with hotter weather.  

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Columbia Gorge Fishing Reports - June 19, 2025

Deschutes Trout

Put June right up there as one of the best months to trout fish the Deschutes.  It is annually amazing that so few people fish for trout out there after big bugs are gone.  It's uncrowded and the fishing is excellent.  Yes, that includes dry fly fishing!  The caddis program is going strong and it doesn't have to be complicated.  Grease up a size 14 or 16 Elk Hair and fish the choppy edges and fast pocket water.  You may not see a bunch of fish rising but they are definitely looking for caddis.  There are also a bunch of aquatic moths out there right now.  They are a little smaller than most of the caddis and a bit lighter in color.

Beyond the dry, it's kind of a "choose your own adventure" scenario.  Nymph fishing has been very strong with various Euro jigs and anything looking approximately like a cased caddis larva.  Smaller flashback Hare's Ears in 16 and 18 fit the bill there.  Don't be afraid to get out the trout spey, either.  Jigging streamers through deeper/faster runs has been producing some freight train grabs from bigger fish.  SO MUCH FUN!

The great news on Deschutes trout is the impending cloud cover.  We have some very welcome darker weather moving through, and even a chance of rain out there on Saturday.  This should spur a little more mayfly activity along with the caddis.  The fishing is going to be outstanding.  If you're feeling trouty, this is going to be a great week to give it a try.  

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Mount Hood Lakes

Stillwater fishing is in full-swing.  Callibaetis are present daily on most lakes to some degree.  The tricky part about targeting this hatch has been nailing a time period when there are a lot of bugs and lower wind.  It's been Gorge Summer windy here as of late.  Howling!  It has been relatively calm most mornings for a bit, but the cooler nights keep the bugs at bay until later in the day.

Subsurface fishing in the chop has been excellent on most days.  Wind-drifting balance leeches below a slip indicator is pretty hard to beat.  All leech colors seem to be working, but some of the lighter color schemes have been particularly strong as of late.  This could be related to the increase in Damselfly activity.  Either way, tan and lighter olive leeches have been great!

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Gorge Smallmouth

Lots of folks coming through on their way the John Day as of late.  Smallmouth fishing is game-on for the summer.  This is a great trip if you're looking to do some serious catching!  Fishing smaller poppers or foam bugs on a lighter rod will draw plenty of attention from the fish.  If you want to try for a bigger one, take out a heavier rod and use a much larger surface fly.  Or fish a big streamer on a sinking line in the deepest water you can find.  There are some bigger bass out there, but it can be hard to keep smaller offerings away from the plentiful little ones.  

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Columbia Gorge Fishing Reports - May 22, 2025

Deschutes Trout:

It's that time of year again!  Stoneflies are going on the Deschutes and it's about to get really good!  The progression of things has been fairly similar to the last few years.  We get some hot weather sometime in the second week of may and the bugs get very active for a few days.  Then the weather cools off for a week or more and, though very present, the Golden Stones and Salmon Flies are not returning to the water in great numbers to lay eggs.  Will they still eat a big dry fly?  Absolutely, but you really need to get it in the pickers.  Fish looking for adults will be under the tree limbs and overhanging grass.....areas most likely to have bugs blown into the water.  If you're not opposed to it, adding a dropper below your dry will definitely up your odds.  As will indicator fishing with a stonefly nymph.  

The heat is going to be returning leading to the weekend and this should really crack things open for the remainder of the hatch.  There will be some EPIC days of dry fly fishing in the next couple weeks.  For those of you camping or fishing until dark, be prepared for some great evening caddis fishing, too.  The impending heat should bring them out in great numbers, too.  

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Stillwater Trout:

It sure has been fun fishing the lakes around Mt. Hood!  The stillwater bite has been strong to very strong.  Callibaetis have been showing up.  Chironomids continue.  The tricky part has been hitting a window during daylight hours when the wind isn't absolutely howling!  We're getting to the time of year where the strong and persistent Gorge wind is settling in.  And that's ok.  Enjoy the dry fly windows when they're there, but be ready to go down.  Balance Leeches paired with a Chironomid or Callibaetis Nymph will be very productive.  As will leeches stripped or trolled on intermediate lines.  Regardless of technique, it's just a darn good time to fish the lakes.

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Columbia Gorge Fishing Reports - March 28, 2025

Winter Steelhead

Sad to say, but we are getting to be on borrowed time for winter fish.  Call it another couple weeks, or so, remaining.  The good news is that the tail end of the season can yield some of the best fishing and the most enjoyable weather!  Water temps are on the rise and that's always a good thing for those that like to swing a fly.  It's getting close to "now or never" time for the fish with the final pushes on their way.  Though there are definitely spawned out fish dropping back, there will still be opportunities for chrome-bright fish out there.  All this said, if you're thinking about trying for one more winter fish, go soon!

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Deschutes Trout

Wish there was a hot Deschutes report, but we're on a bit of a holding pattern there.  All the rain in the past few weeks accompanied by a little heat has the Deschutes running rather high with color for the foreseeable future.  This isn't an uncommon situation for this time of year, and it's definitely a good thing.  Hopefully the elevated flows will wash out some of the silt and debris that's gathered from last season.  If you give it a shot, focus your efforts on whatever soft water near the bank you can find.  And be careful!  It's high and very pushy.  A lot of the water fish are in right now will not even require stepping off the bank.  

Fishing aside, this is such a spectacular time to see the Deschutes Canyon.  Early spring is very much in your face out there right now.  There's green grass and plenty of happy wildlife to see.  You're guaranteed to have a great deal of success out there with binoculars and a camera.  A fly rod....not so much for the time being.  Fishing should be very good in a few weeks when the flows drop.           

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Columbia Gorge Fishing Reports - 3-2-2021

Trout - Deschutes River:

Starting to feel like spring out there recently! A warm welcome after what felt like a long yet short winter, if that makes any sense. Trout fishing has been picking up with warmer weather and some fish looking up for BWO’s more consistently. Nymph fishing has been fantastic though! I fished the Deschutes about a week ago, and had some great nymph action throughout the day. Fish ate a size 8 brown rubber legs good as well as a soft hackle pheasant tail nymph in a size 18. Water is still a little bit on the high side, but great clarity and hungry trout. Had a small window where bwo’s were coming off and managed to fool a few decent trout on the surface, but more recently (last day or two) have gotten reports from friends of better and longer dry fly windows. These winter bwo mayflies typically hatch in a size 16-20. 

The salmon fly hatch is right around the corner and March-April the fish really start keying in on the stonefly nymphs, before those nymphs start to crawl onto the shore and hatch in May. If you’d like to book a jet boat salmonfly hatch trip with Sam Sickles, visit his website at steelheadoutfitters.com. Far less pressure accessing from the mouth of the Deschutes, and plenty of great water and nice trout looking up.

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Lake Fishing:

Pretty snowy and cold up at the lakes. Until the spring...

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Winter Steelhead - North Oregon Coast + Portland Metro area 

Fishing remains fair to good if you are putting in the time and covering water. Certain systems seem to be producing far better than others this year, whereas last year it seemed like there were fish in all systems more consistently. Rivers on the north coast are on the drop this week and will be fishable through the weekend. There is a rain event predicted for Thursday night, so we will see how much accumulates but my guess is that it might cause a small bump in flows. 

Dead drifting beads is highly effective. I usually run orange and pink 10-12mm trout beads on a size 4 trout bead hook under a large thingamabobber with a few split shots pegged on the leader 8-12 inches above the bead. You can either peg your bead to the leader using a toothpick or trout bead pegs, or you can tie a blood knot an inch above the hook so your beads slides down to the knot and stops. Regardless, you want your bead an inch above the hook. 

Swung fly tactics are producing as well. A piece of advice for this method would be to not get stuck fishing the same setup all day if it is not producing. Switching up fly colors/sizes, changing to a heavier or lighter sink tip, or even changing out shooting heads is important. Take the time to make the necessary changes for the kind of water you’re fishing rather than just trying to make one setup “work” all day.

Winter Steelhead - Hood River: 

There are some fish around for sure on the Hood. Just like the valley rivers and the coast, both beads and swung flies will work. Cover as much water as you can throughout the day and you might have an encounter.

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Smallmouth Bass / Carp:

Smallmouth fishing has remained pretty tough recently. Fish are still fairly spread out making them tough to find. Sinking lines with streamers and crayfish patterns are getting it done down there. People gear fishing have a better advantage of getting their presentation down in their face quicker.

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-Zach Parker

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Deschutes Fishing Report 03/14/19: Guide Edition

Deschutes Fishing report

I know it’s not yet spring but it feels like it. The sun is shining, the snow is visually receding from my driveway and my boats, and it’s warm. I took a day, yesterday to go over to the Deschutes and play around with some “Euro” nymphing. The drive was breathtaking with snow everywhere and bright sunny skies. My destination was Maupin, a nice place to do a short day. My first sighting of the Deschutes since December was a bit shocking, it looked high and dirty. As I drove upstream I encountered large boulders all over the road from the snow runoff. There is so much snow melt right now that there are little waterfalls and Nena Creek is raging, that should make for happy steelhead.

I kicked my boat of the trailer, loaded my gear and set off to an all but empty river. I saw three rigs road hunting, and some dudes on a mid-afternoon float…all day. I didn’t have super high expectations based on the weather, color and flow of the river and water temps. My expectations were exceeded. I found willing fish at every stop, some spots many eager fish were found. To my surprise there was a nice little blue wing hatch about 1PM and in the shady spots the fish were feeding on dries and emergers. As the day wore down the bite definitely slowed down but not to zeros.

I chose to spend the day “euro’ nymphing and I hooked a lot of fish. I’m not sure if I’d have done as well with traditional nymphing techniques I’d like to think I would have but who knows. One things for sure euro-nymphing is elective and I foundd this style of fishing fun. If you head out to the Deschutes to go trout fishing bring a lot of pat’s stones with a tungsten bead. Even with all the BWO activity the fish were 3 to 1 on the stone. The other file I had a lot of success on was a little frenchie with a salmon hot spot.


C’mon Spring!!!

Sam Sickles
(541) 400-0855
www.steelheadoutfitters.com

 

Fishing Report 01/07/19 Guide Report

An average Deschutes Redside

The quick down and dirty fishing report. People are catching steelhead on local rivers…but not very many. We had some nice spikes in river levels over the last couple of weeks and it brought a few fish into the rivers. As of this week river levels are all at prime levels, ie, very fishable. We have a couple nasty days of rain on the way which is always good for fishing but not real fun to fish in. The rivers will not rise much from the rain with a freezing level around 2000'. This week should bring some of the best sustained conditions for steelhead fishing we’ve had. There are not a lot of fish around so be thorough, fish well and with sharp hooks. Look for the next big spike a drop for larger numbers of new fish.

Trout fishing will be good all winter on the Deschutes and other east side rivers. Standard winter tactics should include swinging sculpins and other streamers on heavy sink tips, nymph fishing, and an always open eye for blue wing olives mid day.

Sam Sickles
(541) 400-0855
www.steelheadoutfitters.com

Columbia Gorge Fishing Report 5/9/18

  

Steelhead: The winter-run fishing is all but done with the exception of a few fashionably late fish. The good news is that summer fish are on their way, and so far I’ve heard some good predictions for the Columbia returns (fingers crossed!). Personally, I love fishing dryline and dry flies for summer fish, so I've been anxiously awaiting summer-runs. Though it's still a little ways still before I swap out my skagit lines. Over on the Sandy and Clackamas, folks have been finding a few summer steelhead already. Both these rivers host an artificial/hatchery summer-run with no native summer-run fish that are perfect for the dinner table! A couple weeks back I got a last minute opportunity to venture up to the Skagit/Sauk for the opening after a 10-year closure for their true spring-run of brutes. Luckily, we had a great tour guide, an old timer who used to live on the river and still had access to many private runs. It’s amazing country and we were able to find a few fish too that made the trip all that much more memorable. Hopefully, with responsible angler stewardship that watershed will remain open for future seasons.

One of my favorite parts of fishing is just observing.

Salmon: Numbers are picking up over Bonneville and I’ve been seeing quite a few boats out on the Columbia or at Drano chasing them around. However, I haven’t heard much reported yet from the tributaries of guys catching them on flies.

Of course I saw a snake while at Rattlesnake Canyon.

Trout: It’s that time of year again where many of us get excited for the Deschutes’ Salmonfly Hatch! I was out last week on the “middle-lowers” and saw a handful of adults flying around, though the trout weren’t quite queued into them at the time. Since then it sounds as though the fish have been paying more attention to the big bugs up top, along with some quality fish being caught. Last year I decided to get creative and bring out the trout spey to skate and dead drift some salmon flies, and it was a blast! I love how versatile those rods are. If venturing out to the mighty Deschutes I would certainly bring an assortment of Salmon/Stonefly dries and nymphs along with some standard Deschutes dry flies such as BWO’s, Caddis, midges, etc., just in case. Along with your favorite go-to nymphs and streamers. If you’re ever curious what to bring, give us a shout and we can tell you what’s been working well for us.

Bass: Bass fishing has turned on lately with this warmer weather and some big boys eagerly moving to the largest flies you can throw. Top water action hasn’t quite begun yet, but I would think with some warmer weather coming after the weekend it will be picking up shortly thereafter!

A hefty smallmouth putting a bend in a 7wt.  

Cheers!

Cody

As always, we are happy to talk fishing anytime. 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 Fishing Information

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Columbia Gorge Fishing Report - 09/04/2016

Another beautiful sunset on the Lower Deschutes; August 29, 2016

It feels like fall out there and we couldn't be happier!  Fall is our favorite time of year to fish.  Fall Chinook are pouring into the rivers and catching has been good.  Summer Steelhead numbers are still down, but anglers are still catching them on the Deschutes and the Klickitat.  The fishing on the Klickitat has actually been pretty good this summer and continues to give up fish to dedicated anglers.

The Cowlitz has had a good summer as well.  One of our regulars went 4/4 there one day last week having never set foot near the river before that day.

Yes, the Deschutes has been slower than in recent years, but anglers are catching fish.  Another local went 1/3 in two hours on Friday evening.  He was fishing a dry line just up from the mouth and hooked three fish in less than three hours.

Bass fishing is steady on the Columbia and good on the John Day.  Poppers on the C. early and late in the day and dragging a crayfish pattern near the bottom during mid-day has been the program.  Poppers all day on the JD.

Trout fishing on the Deschcutes has been absolutely fantastic.  The cooler, cloudy weather produced some nice Mahogany mayfly hatches, while the evening caddis hatches have been nothing short of epic.  I was stripping a bugger on the lower river and caught a couple of nice trout last week with little effort.  The fish were fat, happy and scrappy despite 70+ degree water temps for much of the summer.

Goose Lake was recently planted with trout and fishing couldn't be better.  Lost and Laraunce Lakes have also been very good recently.  On good days, anglers should be able to fish a small dry fly all day.  If the fishing is "tough" anglers should use an intermediate line and retrieve a small, weighted olive woolly bugger with a small hares ear (or similar) trailer.  This technique is still very productive, but trout don't always eat dry flies all day every day as some anglers like to believe.

Poor steelhead returns this year have definitely spurred a few anglers into dusting off their unused trout gear for the first time in a long while.  While steelheading on the Deschutes has been slower than usual, trout fishing has been very good.  Whether you try to catch an elusive steelhead or hit up a trout stream, we hope you find yourself a nice piece of water this week to call your own for a few hours.

Flows:  The USGS sites give us real-time flows, while the NOAA site shows us predictions based on weather patterns.  Both are invaluable tools.  You can also check water temps here too...

Hood River:

USGS

NOAA

Klickitat
USGS
NOAA

Deschutes near Madras:

USGS

Deschutes at the mouth:

USGS

NOAA

Columbia River

Bonneville Dam Water Temps
Columbia @ Hood River (The mouth of the Hood backs up at 75 feet)

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.  541.386.6977

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

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Columbia Gorge Fishing Report - 08/21/2016

Hendrix guarding the station at the HR Cleanup!

The Hood River Cleanup went off smoothly, although the number of participants was low.  We had seven total people, eight including myself.  We collected lots of trash from the river and had a good time taking swim breaks when the heat got to be too intense.  Thanks to Columbia Riverkeeper, Dakine, Shortt Supply and Andrew's Pizza for making this event possible.  Next year we will do it earlier in the day and hope that it is not that hot!

Fishing in the area may have been tough this past week for most as a heat wave hampered effort and deteriorated conditions on a couple of our favorite streams.  Conditions should improve this week as the 100+ degree weather (hopefully) sits in our rearview mirror for the rest of the year.

Tom Larimer with a McKenzie River bow!

I had a great time fishing with Tom Larimer and Red Kulper from G. Loomis and Matt from the Caddis Fly Shop this week.  We floated the McKenzie River for two days.  This was a fantastic opportunity to fish the new G. Loomis Asquith fly rods and to be able to compare them to the NRX.  Tom had to pry the 9' 4wt Asquith from my hands at the end of the trip.  What a killer rod!  Powerful, but not too fast.  I hadn't fished a 9' 4wt rod in several years, and this rod did not disappoint!  A huge thank you goes out to the guys at Loomis as well as Chris from the Caddis Fly who let us stay at his cabin on the river.  Good shops can get along and work together to improve the fishing community in the region.  I look forward to seeing the full line-up of Asquith rods once they hit the shop.  Between the Asquith spey rods that I cast and a couple of the single handers, this is possibly the nicest rod series I have put my hands on.  Seriously.

Summer steelhead numbers are still poor coming through the Columbia River dams, but the fish that are coming in have been reported to be more big B runs, and are not moving past the Dalles Dam in any large numbers.  That means that the Hood and the Klickitat have been seeing good numbers this summer.  The fish may be using our local rivers as cold water refuges to wait until water temps drop upstream of the Dalles.  We are not sure what is going on, but the word on the street is the A-run steelhead are either really late or not coming to the party.  

The Deschutes River is still kicking out fish to anglers, but the catch rate is not what some have come to expect over the past ten years.  With numbers over the Dalles dam at 1/3 of our ten year average, the number of fish in the river is down, water conditions are poor (hot) and air temps have been unfavorable.  That being said, angler effort has been low.  The river is not very crowded, and the fish in the system are still grabby.  Anglers have been hooking a fish or two a day... that is good fishing if you ask me.  Please take a look at water temps before you go and avoid fishing if the river temps are to be 70 or above.  

The Klickitat River has not been in good shape this last week due to the hot weather.  We have definitely seen worse conditions though.  Clarity was bad, but not like the chocolate milkshake that we have often seen during heat waves.  It looked nearly fishable Saturday, and will hopefully return to good shape by mid week if our pattern of 80 degree weather holds.  The river usually starts to get ugly when temps are above 90 and takes two or three days to clean up once we get cooler temps.  Fishing has been good this summer as it looks like a bunch of the 60,000 steelhead that are between Bonneville and the Dalles dams have pulled into the Klick looking for cold water.  

The Hood has been dirty, but actually looked fishable on Saturday, the hottest day of the year.  Sunday morning however; clarity is very poor.  Look for it to clear up by mid-week to the lower end of fishable clarity.  I would personally focus on rivers that have more flow in them right now, but it can be a fun little river to fish for a few hours if you don't have the time or desire to drive elsewhere.  There should definitely be steelhead poking their noses into the Hood as it is one of the coldest rivers around.  

Smallmouth Bass fishing on the Columbia has been steady in the early morning hours, but slower during the day.  The fish have been eating topwater poppers before the sun is shining.  Bass fishing on the John Day should still be very good now that the heat is more tolerable on the river.  

Fall Chinook are starting to show up in the Columbia.  Not really easy to target on the fly, but they are often caught while steelhead fishing.  Targeting them is far easier and more productive with a glob of cured roe under a bobber.  We like to catch steelhead for fun, and Chinook for food.  I will surely have a couple of evening sessions at Drano Lake in my future as I look to fill the freezer before winter.  

Trout fishing has been good in the places that stay cold like Lost Lake, Eagle Creek and Laurance Lake.  Trout Lake Creek has been good too.  The East Fork of the Hood has not been good as it has been dirty from glacial melt lately.  The Deschutes has been very good for trout on caddis patterns during that last hour or so before dark, especially around the Maupin area. 

Flows:  The USGS sites give us real-time flows, while the NOAA site shows us predictions based on weather patterns.  Both are invaluable tools.  You can also check water temps here too...

Hood River:

USGS

NOAA

Klickitat
USGS
NOAA

Deschutes near Madras:

USGS

Deschutes at the mouth:

USGS

NOAA

Columbia River

Bonneville Dam Water Temps
Columbia @ Hood River (The mouth of the Hood backs up at 75 feet)

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.  541.386.6977

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

"Fly Fish the World with Us"

Columbia Gorge Fishing Report - 07/31/2016

Our first heat wave since early June made fishing tough in our area, but relief from the heat is here and it will provide us with good fishing opportunities.

Please join us for a river cleanup on August 20 on the Hood River.  Info can be found here

The Hood and the Klickitat Rivers are both dirty as of Sunday morning.  The Hood has a little tint of green to it which is an improvement from the cement color that it has been most of the week.  If we continue to have cool evenings and highs under 90 degrees, clarity should improve and fishing may be a possibility on our two favorite glacial rivers.  The good news is that there are plenty of summer steelhead in the area.

The Deschutes River has its own problems caused by the heat wave.  Water temps topped 74 degrees in the lower river last week (see pictures), but conditions are looking better now as both the water and air temps are lower.  

Happy Birthday Hendrix

I fished the Cowlitz for two days last week for summer steelhead.  Water flows increased right when I arrived which made it hard to entice steelhead to eat my fly.  Flows of 2500 cfs are ideal for swinging flies on the Cowlitz, but the flows were at 5000 cfs.  It was still a great time.  I floated Barrier Dam to Blue Creek Hatchery on the first day.  That section of river was completely barren; not a single other boat until I got a half mile above Blue Creek... which I heard is due to the flows being higher than what anglers' prefer for that section, but I could care less.  I was hanging out with my dog; we swam, and I went off a rope swing, saw eagles, osprey, beavers and deer.  That is a great day on the river anywhere.

There was plenty of good swinging water in the upper section, even if it was a bit too high to fish effectively.  The next day I floated Blue Creek to Mission Bar.  There were a pile of gear boats within a mile of the hatchery, but once I floated through the "gauntlet" of bait huckers, the river was wide open.  I got to fish every run that looked good without anyone else around.  Occasionally a big power boat would buzz by, but they didn't ever get in my way.  I saw two other guys with fly rods that I never had to compete for spots with.  

The Cowlitz is an amazing river with a reputation for not being fly-friendly.  There are miles of good swing runs.

My idea was to get out of the heat and float a cold river full of steelhead.  It was my dog's tenth birthday, so I wanted to float with him and not have it be too difficult on his failing hips.  I accomplished that, and it was certainly a good spot to be during a couple of the hottest days of the year.  Another bonus is that I was pulling into my campsite at Barrier Dam Campground two hours and ten minutes after leaving Hood River.  Not bad at all.  

The John Day River is still kicking out tons of Smallmouth Bass.  It is still the best place to take new anglers or anglers that really need a confidence booster, plus it is a gorgeous spot to spend a day or two.

This little trout was hungry for the first dry fly it saw

Ryan fished a local small stream for trout with his family over the weekend.  It was loaded with hungry trout that were more than willing to eat a dry fly.  Small streams are fishing really well right now and small trout are eating a nice variety of general attractor dry flies.  X-Caddis, Stimulators, Royal Trudes, Grasshoppers and Parachute Adams are all must-have flies for this time of year in small streams.  

Carp fishing has been really good when the wind is not blowing.  Unfortunately, that has not been very often lately.  A nice warm afternoon with no wind is ideal for carpin' along the Columbia River.

Trout fishing in the lakes has remained phenomenal.  We thought that there was potential for the lakes to warm up too much, but they are in fantastic shape for the most part.  Lost Lake has been very good this summer and will continue to produce trout all summer.  Laurance Lake is another great choice.  

Trout fishing on the Deschutes has been great, especially up above Maupin.  I say above Maupin because the water temps around the mouth of the river have been too hot for good trout fishing, but the temps have been much more reasonable once you get 50 miles upstream or so.  Caddisflies are hatching and fish are on them.  The best fishing has been very early and very late in the day, but you can catch a nice trout any time of the day if you work a little for it.  

Flows:  The USGS sites give us real-time flows, while the NOAA site shows us predictions based on weather patterns.  Both are invaluable tools.  You can also check water temps here too...

Hood River:

USGS

NOAA

Klickitat
USGS
NOAA

Deschutes near Madras:

USGS

Deschutes at the mouth:

USGS

NOAA

Columbia River

Bonneville Dam Water Temps
Columbia @ Hood River (The mouth of the Hood backs up at 75 feet)

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.  541.386.6977

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

"Fly Fish the World with Us"