Fishing Report 01/30/19: Guide Edition

"Let's take the long way home"

Steelhead fishing continues to be pretty slow. Fish are being caught but it’s tough. There will surely be some improvement before the end of the winter season but the facts are the facts, this appears to be an off year. I will say the fish that are being caught include some very large winter fish. Take fishing real serious this winter. Fish the right gear like skagit fist lines or intermediate skagit’s, tips heavy enough to get down and stay down, keep the flies that you have confidence in on your line. Most importantly try to stay on well rested water. Conditions are going to be low and clear for the foreseeable future. Current snow pack is 50% of average. As always look for the next big push of water, take the day off and go fishing.

Fish On!

The 50% snowpack bids well for winter trout fishing. The Deschutes has been fishing great and guys are catching lots of fish. Czech or Euro nymphing has been incredibly effective, if you haven’t tried this you need to. It’s not about numbers for me so I still like to swing a sculpzilla on a micro spey, it’s just fun and who doesn’t need to work on their spey casting. Look for early afternoon dry fly fishing for BWO, cloud cover or an inversion preferred.


Tight lines.

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

Fishing Report May 17

Deschutes: It’s as good as it gets right now. Big bugs are out all the way from Warm Springs down through Mack’s Canyon. Mostly Golden Stones below Maupin and Salmonflies up higher on the river. Fishing has been consistent and some big fish have been reported. Clark’s Golden, Clark’s Stone, Henry’s Fork Salmon or Stone, Chubby Chernobyls and stimulators have been great on the surface. Jimmy Legs, prince nymphs and trout retrievers have been good subsurface flies. Nymphing or a dry/dropper will produce more fish than going with all surface presentations, but many of us would prefer to catch a few less fish on the surface than put on a nymph when avoidable. Look for the fishing to be good for the next week as no major temperature drops or sustained torrential rains are expected. It will be very crowded Memorial Day weekend, as some limited sections have almost sold out of boater passes as of 5/15. Remember, all boaters need to obtain a pass at boaterpass.com before going on to the river. It’s also a good way to see how crowded it will be on each section, as the number of permits sold and available is posted on the calendar.

Hood: Very limited effort has been seen, but the Columbia is still fluctuating between high and really high, backing up the run at the mouth occasionally. There are definitely Spring Chinook and Steelhead in the river. I saw a few fish at Punchbowl Falls on a little morel mushroom hunt last week. Give us a call if you need more info on fishing the Hood.

Wind River/Drano Lake/Klickitat River: Reports have been fair to good for Spring Chinook, especially at the mouth of the Wind and in Drano. The Klick has been a bit slow from the reports. The upper Klickitat is STILL CLOSED and will open JUNE 1. Only the mile or so below Lyle Falls is open (and only select days, check your regs) and has virtually no fly water. The Wind has a bit more water open for a motivated guy with a fly rod and a hankering for a Chinook, but it is still very tough access and fishing. Trolling flies near the bottom of Drano Lake in a float tube could produce Chinook, but little to no effort has been reported by fly guys.

Local Lakes: Lost Lake has been producing quite a few nice fish. It was heavily stocked last week and fishing has been really good for both recent planters and bigger “holdovers”. Laurence and Kingsley Lakes have also been kicking out some good fish. Olive and wine colored buggers, carey specials, hare’s ear nymphs and parachute adams have all been productive, as well as chironomids if you like staring at bobbers. There has been a good black carpenter ant hatch at higher elevations, as well as some nice damsels in the lower lakes such as Rowland and Spearfish. If you find yourself at a lake where they are keyed in on ants and you don’t have any, you might as well go home, so get some bigger black flying ant patterns…

Goose Lake: Heard that the road opened late last week from Trout Lake, but it is still snowed in from Carson. Fishing should be good this week. I was going to go up there Friday, but 30+ mph winds deterred me into doing some fly tying… Same as the other lakes hatchwise, although I wouldn’t expect the damsel hatch to be strong yet. A couple more weeks before the damsels and dragons really get moving up there.

Bass: Our own Greg Darling won the Kayak Shed’s bass tournament on Saturday in the Columbia. Fishboy Gabe Cunningham got 4th place. I hear that fishing wasn’t red hot, and Greg’s 20” smallmouth was enough for a first place finish. It is lots of fun if you have the ability to get out on the main river in a kayak or small boat. Focus on rocks, drop-offs, structure, and wood. Streamers have been more productive than topwater in the “Big C”. I am sure that Greg will be posting more on his experience with the bass tourney in the days to come.

Bass fishing on the John Day has been reportedly very good, with big fish and decent numbers. Overall numbers will increase and average size will decrease as it continues to warm up. I have received mixed reports on the topwater action. I have heard from a few guys that it has been good and a couple of guys have told me that they had to get fairly deep with buggers. I think it depends on the section you are fishing and the time of day. Early June is usually lights out for topwater action if you are going to plan a trip out there.

Shad: We got our first push of shad for the year. Fishing for them is tons of fun. Get a small, bright fly down deep in slower water around the mouths of the tributaries. Give it a couple of weeks for the numbers to improve, but it should be a good run. Mid-June is the best time to do it, but there should be fishable numbers within a few weeks.



If you ever have anything to add to the fishing report or have any questions about our local waters, please don’t hesitate to give us a call.

Sunset at Kingsley Lake

Chris Scott is at it again. Crushing bigguns is his thing…. He knows the Deschutes as well as anyone.

The Gorge Fly Shop Team

"Fly Fish the World with Us"

Fishing Report: May 10th, 2014 (+ Special Deschutes Report)

The weather last week was the biggest factor that affected the fishing last week. It was warm, then it rained, then it was warm, then it got really, really windy, then it rained again and then it got crappy…. If the weather can stay consistent for a few days, it will really help out the fishing. 

Chris Scott of Portland with a beautiful redside from the Deschutes May 7, 2014

Hood River: The Hood has been kicking out a few Steelhead and Chinook Salmon. Same problem as always… very little access available.

The Columbia is very high and has backed up the lower runs on the Hood River, leaving a lake where the most productive water is. A shot of rain on Thursday and Friday brought the Hood up to over 2500 cfs and should bring some fish in if anglers are willing to do a little exploring and walking. It drops quick this time of year and should be low and clear again within a day or two. Typically, 1200-1800 cfs at the Tucker Park gauge is a good level. http://waterdata.usgs.gov/or/nwis/uv?site_no=14120000

Fishing should be fair for early summer and late winter steelhead through May. Fishing for Chinook should continue to improve as water temps rise in the Hood and more fish show up. As always, catching Spring Chinook on the fly is not an easy task. If you are ever down for breaking out the spawn sacks, casting rods and bobbers, now is the time.

Other Lower Columbia Tributaries: The Wind, Drano Lake and the Lower Klickitat: The hatchery on the Wind River saw its first couple of fish last week, the hatchery on Drano had 242 fish as of May 6, and is expecting over 13,000, so get out there. Catching has been inconsistent. I trolled some plugs around Drano Lake for three hours and didn’t even see a hook up between the 20-30 boats circling around that evening; however, several people said that fishing had been really good in the morning. (You should have been here earlier!!!)

The Klickitat has been slow, hearing about a few caught in the Pine Tree Hole, fishing should really pick up this week. Another friendly reminder that it is only open on selected days below Lyle Falls, so DO NOT fish the upper river. There have been several reports of people fishing upstream. Please read the regulations and follow the rules so that everyone has the chance to enjoy. The rest of the river (up to the Yakama Nation Boundary) opens June 1 and should have a few steelhead and springers around when it does. The bulk of the steelhead won’t show up until August or September, and the run is predicted to be good this year.

Deschutes: Reports have been good. Salmonflies all the way up to Trout Creek. Fish were on dries down low. From Buckhollow to Beavertail on Friday, a single M’s Fluttering Salmonfly was all that was needed to consistently catch fish. Golden Stones were out too, along with some PMDs, Drakes, and Caddis, depending on the weather that hour…

Fish were not quite on the big dries up high, but its about to happen any second…. A friend of mine caught a bright steelhead way up high on a Jimmy Legs last week which made for a nice surprise. Fishing should be great for the next two weeks or so, although the crowds can get bad up above Maupin.

Sam Sickles Reports from the Deschutes

CFS 4350, water temps 54F...weather, well let's just say if you dont' like the water in Central Oregon then wait five minutes.  Rain, Sleet, hail, gail force winds, and yes calm and sunny, that's what yesterday was like.  This was my first trip on the upper Deschutes this season.  Got to the boat ramp early, put my rods together, double checked everything, loaded my boat and was so bored I asked Johnny Law for a safety inspection so I could get my sticker.

My guys showed up about fifteen minutes early, wadered up and after a brief lisence check by John Law we were off.  Did I mention we were the only boat launching from Warm Springs, crazy, I know!  Being that I hadn't been on the day stretch this year I figure it'd be a bit before we got dialed in on what the fish were eating.  First stop, nodda, second spot nodda...see where I'm going with this?  Well not so fast!

Three sticks fishing six bugs in the water we finally got our first fish about 11:AM.  This fish was extraordinary in it's proportions and skipped my first anglers set up and then crushed angler number two's jimmy legs nymph.  This is how it went most of the day, wide open river, slow fishing and all fish coming on the big rubber legged jimmy legs.  All told I think we landed ten or twelve really nice redsides, all on the big bug.  Did not hook a single whitefish which is odd givven the small beadheads we trailed behind Jimmy all day.

Salmonfly 5-9-14 (photo credit: Andrew Perrault - Gorge Fly Shop)

Here's what I know.  The adult Salmonflies and Golden Stones are present all the way up river to Warm Springs.  The fish are not keyed in on the adults yet.  Every fish we caught ate a stone immitation and every fish was gorged beyond belief.

Golden Stone 5-9-14 (photo credit: Andrew Perrault - Gorge Fly Shop)

Here's what I think.  As soon as there are more adults around than nymphs this thing is gonna bust wide open, probably next week when it warms up again.

My guys were fishing 590 and 690 Winston B3X's, Airflow Exceed lines, Sage Click reels.  I took the leaders down to 7.5 3x for the chuck and duck we were doing, definately easier to pitch than the standard 9 footers.

On a side note the access road down to TC boat ramp is in great shape!  Next report...next week.

Sam Sickles
Steelhead Outfitters

Lakes:

Fishing has been good on Laurence, Rowland, Horsethief and Kingsley Lakes. Trolling/stripping a woolly bugger or hare’s ear nymphs, or throwing a parachute adams when a callibaetis hatch goes off in the evening has been productive. Chironomid fishing should be successful on lakes.

Lost Lake was stocked on Thursday the 8th and catching has been good according to a quick call to Lost Lake Resort.

Goose Lake should be accessible within the next week or so as snow has been melting rapidly with this warmer weather. Expect good fishing when it becomes accessible.

Big Black Carpenter Ants should be flying with the first good heat of the year. Make sure you get a handful of patterns if you plan on hitting the higher elevation lakes like Lost, Laurence or Goose. Fish can go nuts on them when they are around. It’s a good option for an angler that may want to avoid the crowds on the Deschutes.

Bass fishing: Smallmouth fishing has been fair in the area although the Columbia River has been really high. Late May into Mid-June is the best time for a guy with a fly rod to catch some nice smallies from the shore of the Columbia. Reports of big smallies (is that an oxymoron?) on topwater in the John Day…. Big fish are around now, and fishing will get better. Average size will decline, but numbers will increase.

Give us a shout if you have any questions, need some fly recommendations or want more specific details about any of our local waters. 

Gorge Fly Shop Team

541 386-6977

"Fly Fish the World with Us"

Fishing Report: May 5, 2014

"Get out and Fish ~ Make your own report"

Fishing in the Gorge has been good. There are a lot of options open for anglers around here. For the most part, fishing will continue to improve for Chinook, bass and trout, and decline for steelhead as the spring run comes to an end this month.


Spring Chinook: Numbers have been good going through Bonneville Dam. 109,000 total for the year so far (as of 5/5). http://www.fpc.org/currentdaily/HistFishTwo_7day-ytd_Adults.htm

These are well above last year’s numbers (45,000) and the ten year average (69,000). Options are fairly limited for the fly angler, as most known holding runs are pretty busy, and there is not a ton of great access. The Wind River, Drano Lake and the Klickitat River have been kicking out some fish on the Washington side. Drano has been particularly good for the plug-pullers, however a guy with a small boat, sinking line and some bright flies can have a good chance at catching a “Springer” or two if they can stay out of the way of the big boats. The Wind and the “Klick” are only open in the lower few miles, and the Klick is only open a few days a week (Drano is also closed on Wednesdays), so be sure to check the regulations before you go as emergency closures are common. The Hood River is currently open for Spring Chinook, but effort has been light and reports have been limited. Mid-May is typically when catch rates increase in the tributaries.

Trout: There are rumors that Salmonflies have been spotted below Sherar’s Falls on the Deschutes River. This is just a little bit early than normal. We have heard that releases from Pelton Dam apparently have been keeping water temps up enough, along with the nearly 90 degree days we had last week, to get the bugs moving. Get ready, get geared up, they will be here soon. We have a good selection of Salmonfly dries and nymphs for you.

Lost Lake, Kingsley Reservoir and Laurence Lake have been fishing well. We heard of a few big trout and steelhead caught at Kingsley last week (I heard of a few 26” and a 31”). Stripping Woolly Buggers on a full sinking line off the edges of drop-offs has been productive. The Callibaetis hatch can be good if the weather cooperates. A Hare’s Ear Nymphs or a Parachute Adams should produce. Damsels should start popping if the weather is warm for a few days. Dragging a Carey Special around should start taking fish soon on the smaller, lower elevation lakes in the area (that warm up quickly), and later in the month for Lost Lake and other higher elevation lakes. Goose Lake is still inaccessible (snow) along with most of the lakes around Mt. Hood and Mt. Adams.

Steelhead: The Hood River is still producing a few steelhead, both late winter and early summer fish. The run is traditionally late here and fishing should be fair to good through May, especially after some rain. Access is always the main problem with the Hood River, but fishing the mouth of the river for a few hours is always a good way to spend an afternoon. No reports from the Sandy or the Clackamas. The Klickitat is closed until June 1 and normally has a few early fish around for the opener. The Deschutes won’t see any steel until August or September.

Cowlitz: Just throwing this out there, because I went up there last weekend. Numbers of steelhead have been excellent through Barrier Dam and at the Blue Creek Hatchery, and the “Springers” are just starting to show up. Also quite a good number of decent sized cutthroat around (saw a nice fat 21” fish). Worth a go if you want to try something new. The floats from Barrier to Blue Creek, or from Blue Creek to Spencer/Massey both have great fly water. Look for flows under 10,000 cfs below Mayfield Dam.

Bass: Haven’t had too many (any) reports, but we saw a convoy of bass boats heading up the gorge last weekend, so assuming there was a tournament of some kind. It’s a good time of year for smallmouth. The impoundments on the sides of the Columbia can be good, as well as the main river if you have a bigger boat. Fish should be looking up and fairly aggressive with the warmer weather. Poppers, Woolly Buggers, Clousers, and Chernobyl Ants should work just fine if you can find the fish. Hopefully, a floating line would be all you need, as they should be in shallow this month. Icehouse Lake, Little Ashes Lake, Rowland Lake, and Horsethief Lakes are good bets on the Washington side of the river. Look for structure near the shore. No reports on the John Day, but I would think that has to do with people keeping their mouths shut instead of a lack of effort.

Shad: We are about a month away from a really fun, underrated fishery. The annual shad run in the Columbia can be really fun, and the action can be non-stop. Small bright flies fished deep and slow near the mouths of the tributaries can make for a really good day if you get the chance.

Give us a shout if you have any questions, need some fly recommendations or want more specific details about any of our local waters. 

Gorge Fly Shop Team

541 386-6977

"Fly Fish the World with Us"

Fly Fishing Report: End of June, 2013

Columbia River:
Oversize sturgeon for the gear guy has been "off tha Hook!" - no pun intended. Ridiculous, I mean the good kind of Ridiculous!

Fly guys...want to try something different? Go out to the mouth of the Klickitat River, or the Hood River, with your heaviest fly rod (not kidding) and a heavy sink tip (like T-17 or T-20) let it sink near the bottom just off the sand bars, with a monstrous marabou fly or cut up washcloth, marinated in shad oil and you won't have to go deep sea fish for "Big Game".

Flies at the Gorge Fly Shop

Hold on for dear life. You have the potential of hooking a legit 150# to over 600# fish, I kid you not! Nothing traditional about this...for perspective, according to fish & wildlife biologist, the average 10' sturgeon in the Bonneville Pool weighs 600 pounds!

Do It!...You know you want to!

View Full Report

Gorge Fly Shop team

Fly Fishing Report: 6.11.13

Raft waiting at the launch for a sweet float down the Klickitat River....

FULL REPORT: 6.11.13

Stay tuned for upcoming reports... if you call the shop wondering if its worth the trip to head out to the river or lake, I'll tell you ahead of time... "YES!"... I'll ask you if it's time for you to get out of the office away from your desk, I'll ask you if you love fishing, I'll ask you is there anything better to do with your time off...get out there...it's ALWAYS worth it! There is so much to do outside in the Columbia River Gorge it not even funny... I've lived here most of my 50 years and folks come into the shop and ask me if I've ever fished here or ever fished there and there have been a few times I've had to honestly say "No" and they look at me like..."What?"...and I just have to tell them that there is so much opportunity, I haven't got to that spot YET...

John Garrett

Gorge Fly Shop

Fishing Reports