Columbia Gorge Fishing Report - September 12, 2025

Deschutes Steelhead

The weather is changing out in the desert.  It's even been periodically rainy as of late!  Look for stable weather patterns to produce the best fishing.  One thing Deschutes steelhead hate is change.  Even theoretically positive weather changes.  Dark and rainy for several days in a row is good.  So is bright and sunny.  The day when the weather changes drastically from one to the other tends to be tougher.  We get that a lot later into the fall and it's just a part of the program. 

On the plus side, water temps on the lower river couldn't be much better.  Temps have been hovering in the 56-59 degree range down at the mouth and it doesn't get any better than that!  All methods are viable, but it's hard to deny how good the dry line fishing has been.  Be ready with some smaller comeback flies.  If you find a biter and can't seal the deal with your go-to searching pattern, show the fish something small and buggy, like a Steelhead Coachman or Undertaker.  And don't be afraid to go really small.  Sometimes it seems like the only limitation to how small of a fly they'll grab is having a hook stout enough to hold a fish!

Deschutes Trout

It's an awfully sporty time to be trout fishing out there right now!  The cool and rainy weather has spurred some BWO activity.  Caddis are still present to some degree.  There have been a bunch of October Caddis around, too.  Though the adult is sadly not a huge part of the game, the trout definitely love the pupa.  If you do some indicator fishing out there, mix a big October Caddis pupa into the program.  They love 'em!  

Fall is also a great time to streamer fish.  With much colder weather impending, some of the bigger trout are looking for more of a mouthful.  Smaller sculpins and a variety of leech patterns will do the trick

Mount Hood Lakes

The local stillwater season is winding down.  Check the regulations as many of the alpine lakes close to fishing at the end of the month.  With colder weather up high, expect many of the lakes to be in the process of turning over if they haven't done so already.  This tends to mean there will be some color in the water.  If that's the case, stick with darker leech patterns.  Slowly strip them along on an intermediate line, or fish them below an indicator.  

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Columbia Gorge Fishing Report - September 5, 2025

Deschutes Steelhead

September is here and it's full-on steelhead time.  It's been up, it's been down, it's been...well, normal steelhead fishing!  There was a wave of fish in the lower Deschutes a couple weeks ago that yielded some pretty unbelievable fishing for a while. That faded after a bit and settled in to a pretty standard good bite.  Anglers putting in shade sessions in the morning and evening have been rewarded with approximately 1-3 opportunities per day.  Sometimes more and sometimes less.  Call it standard steelhead fishing.  It's been great!  Particularly the dry line fishing.  The high sun sink tip bite will improve here shortly as the water temps come down.   

Angler etiquette is certainly worth mentioning at this point in the season.  The reality of the Lower Deschutes, especially the lower 10 miles, is that if there are a good number of fish going over the Dalles Dam, it's going to be busy. Hikers, bikers, rafts, drift boats, float tubes, gear and fly...anglers abound down there. With this in mind, everyone needs to be attuned to fishing with and around others.  You hear the term "Low Holing" thrown around a lot, but it's important to know what the definition of low holing actually is.  If you are fishing a distinct pool with a defined start and finish, that's your spot.  If someone jumps in below you within that defined piece, that is low holing.  Plan A is always to fish a run above the first angler, but that's not always possible.  The gray area is if there is another run below the first one that is technically a separate and unique spot.  Some people will be totally fine with you jumping into the second spot below and some will not be!  Good courtesy is to simply talk to the other angler and hash out a mutually agreeable plan if possible.  If that's not possible, party on.  It's not worth getting into a confrontation over.  Along these same lines, it's also important to recognize that you can't expect to have a gigantic stretch of water all to yourself for an extended period of time.  Sometimes people don't show up and you might get a few back-to-back runs, but that's not the norm.  Furthermore, do not under any circumstances be afraid to fish behind people.  Maybe you're casting a little further, swinging at a different speed or using a different fly.  All these factors and some others contribute to you hooking one.

Deschutes Trout

The trout have been noticeably active in spite of the recent heat.  You do not want to be a hapless caddis on the water at first or last light!  The trout have been on them like glue.  Most of the surface activity has disappeared during the high sun, but you'd likely do well nymphing faster water during the day. We're just a few days away from a major cooldown that will make the trout fishing much better through the entire day instead of it being a first and last light deal.  Steelhead steal the show in the early fall, but the trout fishing is not to be ignored.  It can be just excellent!

Mount Hood Lakes

Well, we're coming out of the longest spell of heat we've had the entire summer.  Surface temps on the local lakes have been a bit on the warm side.  A lot of the active trout will be at or below the thermocline until things cool a bit.  This means it's time to go deep.  Heavier sinking lines and extra long leaders with slip strike indicators will be the ticket to get you in the zone.  The impending cooler weather along with the shorter period of daylight should drop water temps here shortly.  There is still plenty of good lake fishing to be had this season.  With schools back in session and most summer vacations wrapped up, the traffic on the lakes should be on the slide.  The remainder of the stillwater season will present some excellent opportunities with relatively low fishing pressure.  Pretty fun!  

          

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Columbia Gorge Fishing Report - July 3, 2025

Deshutes Steelhead

Here we are again.  The front end of Summer Steelhead Season!!!!  It's a truly magical time of year for its devotees, but per usual, fraught with a bit of uncertainty.  Most of this is related to warm water in the lower river again.  The Moody gauge at the mouth has already hit 70.  Sadly, not an uncommon situation for this time of year.  The lower Deschutes was once a coldwater sanctuary for its native fish and for salmon and steelhead headed to other locales further east.  Now, it's not terribly uncommon for the lower river to be warmer than the Columbia, making it unappealing for any migrating fish.  Not to be all doom and gloom here as this all can change with the flip of a switch, more or less.  There was a breif yet notable drop in temp out of the dam in early July last year.  Hopefully this will happen again.

So what's going on with the front end of the run?  Early numbers of fish moving through the Columbia are a fair bit below where they were at this time last year, but that could easily be weather-related.  We've had some heat, but it's been fleeting.  Certainly not enough heat to bring up the Columbia temps enough to make steelhead move quickly upriver.  Recent counts over Bonneville are starting to go up.  As are numbers over the Dalles.  Hopefully this is the tip of the spear!

If you're ready to give it a shot for the first time, go early.  Fish for a few hours starting at first light when the water temps are at their coolest.  This is a dry line game.  Fish heavy tippet and stout hooks.  If you are lucky enough to come in contact in the next few weeks, be prepared for a serious battle.  Early summer fish are truly about as good as they get in every conceivable fashion!  They can be borderline unlandable in a lot of situations....and that's a risk worth taking!

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Deschutes Trout

As we slide into steelhead season, Deschutes trout tend to take a back seat.  The beloved anadromous cousins steal the limelight, but don't forget how good the trout fishing can be!  We're settling into the standard summer trout program which largely entails dead caddis early in the morning and swarms of mating bugs in the evening.  Look for the best dry fly fishing of the day to be in low light.  The last hour of fishable light often has the river very alive with trout looking for caddis.  Dead drift it...skate it...sink it and swing it.  Lots of techniques can be effective when they're into them.  

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Mount Hood Lakes

The stillwater fishing continues to be steady.  Callibaetis are present area-wide and the warmer weather is starting to spur more damsel activity.  The last few days have presented some interesting conditions.  Lighter winds with sporadic bug activity.  Fish were rising here and there.  Blind-casting a Callibaetis dry and letting it aimlessly drift was drawing the most attention.  Random small terrestrials were working, too.  Below the surface, fish were definitely looking for Callibaetis nymphs both under an indicator and creeped along on a midge tip line.  

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Columbia Gorge Fishing Reports - April 24, 2025

Stillwater Trout

We are fortunate to have so much access to stillwater trout fishing here in the Northwest and we're happy to report that it is game-on for the '25 season!  Some of the Mt. Hood lakes opened to fishing 4/22 and things are off to a great start.  Water temps are spring cold but notably warmer than they were at this time last year.  Slow presentations have been drawing the most attention.  Wind drifting with a balance leech under an indicator produced the best results.  A split shot 3-4 feet above the fly to hold depth was very helpful.  The bites, especially later in the day, were rather aggressive, but they seemed to want everything to be slow.  Hovering the boat and barely moving with the wind was the ticket.  Row trolling leeches on an intermediate line worked, too, but did not seem be quite as productive.  That bite should gain a lot of steam in the very near future as things warm up.

On the bug front, chironomids are present in good numbers and Callibaetis are right around the corner.  The pesky wind was impacting the surface fishing the last few days, but there were a few brief periods of evening glass.  The windows were narrow, but the trout started looking up as soon as the wind went away.  Ample chironomids on the water had plenty of fish rising and they were not fly-selective in the least bit.  If you could get your bug near the rise quickly, they ate it....and it didn't seem to matter what it was.  A size 16 parachute with a darker body worked just fine.  They will progressively get a little more selective as time wears on and the pressure increases, but there's a great window here for a while.  Consider the fish hungry and willing! 

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Deschutes Trout

We've been fielding a lot of phone calls regarding the trout fishing on the Deschutes as of late.  After a lengthy period of high water, the river is back down to a comfortable level for people to wade.  The water is warming up and things are shaping up for everyone's favorite time....stonefly season!  Something worth mentioning is how good the fishing is in the few weeks leading up to the hatch.  It can be outstanding and something that really adds to the experience is that it's not slammed busy on the river.  No, you will not have a bunch of fish attacking giant dry flies, but the stonefly nymphs are very active leading up to their transition to adulthood.  The water is warmer than its been in months and the trout are happily feeding. If you're itchy to go, don't wait...go now!  The weather is spectacular and there is a lot of wildlife to see. There's always a lot to love about being in the Deschutes Canyon, but seeing it before everything is brown again is pretty special.  

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Fishing Report 03/05/19: Guide Edition

Ready for Spring?

My reports have been pretty intermittent. Fishing conditions have been tough in the the Gorge and rivers in close proximity to the cascades. We’re in some kind of weird arctic vortex that’s brought subfreezing temperatures in the gorge and daytime high’s in Portland 15-20 degrees below normal. The result of this weather anomaly is very low cold and clear water conditions. There are fish around but for the most part they are locked down in the deepest channels and unwilling to move. Reports from the coast where temperatures are warmer and snow can actually melt are somewhat better but conditions are also tough.

In a normal weather year March is the most consistent winter steelhead fishing. At some point it will warm up, rivers will rise and the fish will be happy. Until then, it’s tough going.

Current river conditions on the Sandy 1000 cfs, Clackamas 1800 at Oregon city. The NOAA forecast shows no increase in the forecast.

I like the end of the week for some good Blue Winged Olive action on the Deschutes mid-day, that’s where you’ll find me.


I can’t wait for spring.


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

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