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

"Fly Fish the World with Us"

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"

Columbia Gorge Fishing Report - (07/17/2016)

Gorgeous sunrise on the lower Deschutes

Fishing remains fantastic throughout the area.  The local rivers have stayed in decent shape considering it is mid July and the Hood, Klickitat and White Rivers will all typically be flowing dirty this time of year.  However, cooler weather has kept them all in good shape so far this month.

Apologies for the lack of reports weekly, the Sage closeout sale has been keeping us all very busy.  We also received our first shipment of Tom Larimer's new casting DVD: Skagit Revolution.  It is a very good video that breaks down spey casting and gives you everything from the basics to some advanced techniques.  It is very clear and easy to understand as Tom is a great instructor, plus the Gorge Fly Shop is a sponsor of the video.  Pick it up while its hot!

Trout Lake Creek is one of the hidden gems of our area.

On to the fishing:  Ryan and I went up to Trout Lake Creek last week with a couple of Tenkara rods.  We caught a couple dozen little trout on a good variety of attractor dry flies like stimulators, hoppers and royal trudes.  It is a fun creek to spend a day chasing small rainbow trout.  While you won't run into any monsters in our small creeks, the scenery, abundance of trout and remoteness make it a little gem in our backyard.

Chris and I also spent a day fishing the lower part of the Deschutes for summer steelhead.  Conditions were great on the river, although it was bright and sunny.  We swung flies all day and all that we caught were a handful of smallmouth bass!  This was very surprising considering the first bass we caught was 8 miles upstream.  That is a considerable amount of whitewater for a bass to navigate in order to end up that far from the Columbia.  We also caught another one over 6 miles from the mouth of the river...  No steelhead landed, but there was one brief hookup on a small purple leechy pattern.  The Klickitat and the Hood are still in decent shape and there are a few steelhead showing up.  As long as we stay under 90 degrees, our local rivers should stay in shape.  The Hood doesn't get a ton of summer fish, but it is an option when there is decent visibility.

Lake fishing for trout has been absolutely phenomenal.  Damselfly and dragonfly nymphs are a huge food source for trout in most lakes this time of year.  Trolling a Carey Special, ultra damsel nymph or even a woolly bugger should get you some nice fish in our local lakes.  Lost Lake has been fishing very well from what we have heard, as well as Laurance, Goose (WA), Timothy and Clear Lake.

Smallmouth Bass are snapping on the John Day (as well as the Deschutes apparently, LOL!).  They are eating everything you can throw at them.  Most anglers prefer to use a small bass popper, but grasshopper patterns, streamers and nymphs work just as well.  Cottonwood Canyon is a great place to get started on the JD.

The Columbia River has been a bit windy this past week, which hampers bass and carp fishing out there, but the fishing has been good when we get a break from the wind. The wind can dirty up the river, so having a full day where it is not "nuclear" out there would be preferable...

The Deschutes has not been fabulous for trout fishing, but it hasn't been awful.  The caddis hatches have not been prolific recently.  Cooler, inconsistent weather has led to smaller hatches, but the trout are still eating...

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 Reports (07/03/2016)

Happy Fourth of July from all of us at the Gorge Fly Shop.  

In case you have been out of the loop, we are having a huge Sage Sale.

We couldn't ask for better conditions on local lakes and small streams.  The temps are nice and mild, the fish have been cooperative and the water levels are just right.

The bad news comes from the Hood and the Klickitat if chasing summer steelhead is your thing.  The Hood has been coloring up and looks something like wet concrete this morning.  The turbidity in the Klickitat has also been increasing over the past few weeks and is borderline fishable this morning.

The Deschutes is in decent shape, although effort and catch rates have been sparse.  Water temperatures have been high, but not as high as last year.  They popped above 70 for a few days last week, but have stayed under 70 for the most part this week.  We are still a month or more away from decent numbers of fish showing up in the river, but it is a nice place to be, especially when it is not scorching hot outside.

Lake fishing for trout has been excellent across the region.  High lakes like Lost, Timothy, Goose and Laurance have all been fishing extremely well.  There has been good dry fly action early and late in the days with woolly buggers or damsel nymphs on sinking lines being a productive technique in the heat of the day.  The hexagenia mayfly hatch has been happening on many of our local lakes, and a few guys have come in with wide grins as they quietly pick up a handful of hex dry flies without spilling the beans on which lake they have been fishing.

Trout fishing on the Deschutes has been great too.  Caddis hatches have been described to us as "epic" and "overwhelming".  Fish have been eating the dries during the day too, but the best action is as the sun leaves the water in the evening.

Carp fishing has been great.  Old Rubber Lips loves the hex hatch too, and the hatch on the Columbia has been excellent.  Carp will actively chase nymphs like a trout and can even let their normally cautious guard down.  The hexes hatch in the same areas that carp normally hang out too, so get on out there!

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 Reports (06/06/2016)

Columbia Gorge Fishing Reports - (06/05/2016)

We hope that everyone if finding some relief from the heat out there.  Fishing is about as hot as the weather is, so find a piece of cool water and get on it.  

Fish rising on a local lake at sunset.

Trout fishing is going well throughout the area.  Small streams are fishing well, the water levels are in generally good shape and the fish are happy.  Eagle Creek, Trout Creek and the East Fork Hood River are some good small streams with scrappy trout in our area that can keep an angler busy all day.  

Lakes are also fishing well for rainbow trout.  Lost Lake has been great.  Flying ants are keeping fish near the surface early and late in the day, while trolling slow and deep during the heat of the day will produce nice fish with consistency.  Goose Lake, Laurance Lake and Kingsley are the usual haunts for locals here and are all fishing well.  

The Deschutes River is still fishing well for rainbow trout.  PMD patterns in the morning, caddis in the afternoon/evening, and stoneflies opportunistically throughout the day.  Try a spent caddis really early in the morning too.  

Summertime rainbows on dries!

No reports of any summer steelhead in the Deschutes, but the Klickitat opened up last week and there were a fish or two caught from what we heard.  It was fairly busy for early June, but most people just wanted to get out on the river as did Ryan and I.  I did hook one steelhead on the swing, but it popped off after ten seconds of glory.  The river is in decent shape as of Sunday morning, but this warm weather can cause some clarity issues in both the Klickitat and the Hood River as glacial melt can dirty up the river pretty quickly in these hot spells.  

The Washougal opened up on Saturday and it tends to produce some nice summer steelhead in June as well as the Sandy and Clackamas.  

Ryan and I spent the early morning hours on Sunday sturgeon fishing with Josh Frederick of Big Fish Guide Service.  June is the best month to catch a true river monster.  Sturgeon in the Columbia can reach over ten feet in length, and the big ones go crazy for the shad that are running in the river now.  While we didn't hook any huge fish, we did catch plenty of smaller fish.  Fishing with Josh is a lot of fun and a good change in pace from trout and steelhead fishing that tends to rule the area.  He has plenty of openings throughout the summer, so don't hesitate to give him a call.  

June is the best month to hook into a giant sturgeon

Speaking of shad, they are running pretty thick now.  Still not really sure how to get them on the fly with ease around here, but it can be done.  People tend to do well upstream near Rufus and near the John Day Dam, as well as off the mouth of the Washougal, but I don't know of any places right here in the gorge that an angler can get them shallow.  

Carp fishing has been turning on.  They are in the shallows feeding heavily throughout the day.  Many of the little ponds on the side of the Columbia are good spots to find carp as well as the main river.  Really, just about any piece of water with slow or little current around here will hold carp.  We have a nice selection of carp flies here in the shop now.  Stop by and check them out.  

Smallmouth bass are still snappy in the Columbia.  The topwater bite has been great early and late in the day, and fish are happy to chase buggers and baitfish patterns.  The weed growth is starting to be an issue, fishing will get a little more difficult in the Columbia over the next month, but for now it is still in good shape. Aquatic plant life can hamper angling efforts when the weeds get thick.  

Throwing a small popper on the John Day should put you into a few dozen bass and it is a wonderful way to get friends and family into fly fishing. 

Flows:  The USGS sites give us real-time flows, while the NOAA site shows us predictions based on weather patterns.  Both are invaluable tools.

Hood River:

USGS

NOAA

Klickitat
USGS
NOAA

Clackamas:

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"

Klickitat Fishing Report

Make your own fishing report, Get out and Fish!

One of the best fishermen I know came to visit last week for some fishing on the Klickitat. For Josh, its an annual trek out west after a season of guiding trout on the South Fork of the Snake. Some years have produced more steelhead than others for his trip. This was his least productive trip out here in the past 5 or 6 years.

A few days of swinging with limited success (one hook up, one nice grab) led us to hook up with a friend who guides the river. We fished the canyon, and I would think that three fishing guides in November should be able to do pretty well dredging the bottom with beads and swinging the juiciest runs on the river. Josh landed the only fish of the trip within sight of the ramp on a bead after two of us swung through the run with our spey rods. The rest of the day was staring at bobbers that didn’t move and swinging to empty runs.

Fishing has been spotty on the Klick this fall. There have been some good days and lots of days with one or no grabs. As we look forward to next fall, I am reminded that 2009 gave us an epic run of summer fish, and their children should be flooding into the river next summer in greater numbers than we saw this year.

Andrew Perrault

Gorge Fly Shop

Steelhead Fishing Gloves

"Fly Fish the World with Us"

July 2013 River Report

The Hood River: 
The Hood has been running low and somewhat colored although fishable. The summer run is not a strong one although it is worth trying. Few folks will fish it during the summer because there are so many other options. That being said if you’re tired of the Klickitat or the Deschutes and want to try some different water...give the Hood a shot. Now is also a great time to use your dry line...

View Full River Report for surrounding rivers including Deschutes, Klickitat and local Lake Fishing.

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

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