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Jun 25, 2018

Columbia Gorge Fishing Report 6/25/18

Photo courtesy of Central Oregon Fire Information

Deschutes River/Maupin Area Fire Update- There is an unfortunate fire brewing over near the town of Maupin caused by lightening this last week, which has currently engulfed over 87,000 acres. Our thoughts and prayers for those in the area and hopefully it subdues soon before much more damage is done. It's likely to be another strong fire season here and while fires occur naturally, I sure hope we can eliminate some complacency and human-caused fires. Parts of the river remain open, however camping is not recommended and certain areas are on a Level 1 evacuation. For more up to date info, head over to Central Oregon Fire Info / Blogspot

Now for the Fishing Report...

Chelsey spotting a nice steelhead holding in a tailout. It wouldn't play though.

Steelhead- Local waters have a couple moving through and pressure has remained fairly light. Personally, I'd rather fish for less fish with less pressure than lots of fish and lots of pressure. They just seem to respond better to the swung fly. People certainly like stats and graphs and such so if we check out the dam counts, there's almost 200 fish per day crossing over Bonneville. Which soon means the lower Deschutes will be fishing. Early on in the season, I can't recommend a Jet Boat up from the mouth enough... You simply get to chase the canyon shadows for much longer, which is partly what makes the dryline fishing on that river so renowned. A lot of strays enter the lower 15 miles of the river, and that means that despite the difficult access on foot down low there are just more fish available. Fish generally seem to transition pretty fast through the lower few miles until they get over a couple good rapids, upon which they tend to hold and are more aggressive to the fly. The mouth is already approaching 70 degrees at Moody Rapids, and I hope anglers will also be able to self-regulate themselves as the water warms up to lethal steelhead temperatures in the coming weeks.

Still early, but remember last year was one of those low-return years that provided great fishing...

The Klickitat has been churning out some color lately with these hotter days and full snowpack on Mt. Adams, so turbidity is a bit high come mid-day. However, floating lines are still moving fish and the Klick fortunately hasn't seen much bobber pressure yet either. A buddy of mine recently nabbed a 10# hatchery fish on a single-hander and a swung size 10 soft hackle in about 2ft of visibility- proving its not always about skagit heads, tungsten tips, and lead eye intruders... Sometimes its the archer, not the arrow that makes a difference.

Trout- Over on the Deschutes action is still plentiful, but I would try to avoid some of the fire action so crews can continue to contain the flames. Below Sherars Falls is probably a better bet, and one I go to more often as Maupin seems to be more of a magnet for anglers and pressured trout. Yellow sallies are dwindling, but the mayfly hatches of PMD/PED's are still strong. Caddis hatches are also doing very well this year. Nymphing is a productive way to spend some time on the water when the hatches aren't cooperating. As the river warms up, trout will seek the refuge of colder and deeper water where many of the nymphs reside.

Trout happy water void of anglers if you're willing to look for it...

Other trout opportunities exist among the countless streams and lakes surrounding Mt. Hood and Adams. If you grab a map, virtually any blue line or dot represents a fishable area. While many of the streams don't boast large trout, a small 1-3wt trout rod is a blast on those smaller creeks. In the lakes you'll find some larger fish around, but as our days get hotter they'll be seeking the sanctuary of the cooler water deeper down. Make sure you've got a lake line when the heat is out as they don't seem to rise too readily mid-day through the heat of summer.

Hazy light on a nice mountain lake.

Warmwater- The top water bass bite on the Columbia has turned on! Get out there with some big poppers and watch the violent attacks from some big ol' smallmouth. If there isn't any wind to kick up silt which tends to push them deeper, I would also go check out the carp fishing along the Columbia and in the side lakes.

Jacob with a dandy. Do you even two-hand carp fish?!

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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Cody Booth
Gorge Fly Shop | Product Specialist
541.386.6977

Jun 12, 2018

Columbia Gorge Fishing Report - 6/12/18

Pit stop on the way to some mountain lakes...

Steelhead- A handful of folks have been out hunting for their needle in a haystack on various "home" waters. So far catch numbers have been low, but we've been hearing of a couple hot fish hooked and lost. While I'm not exactly a numbers guy when it comes to steelhead, I have noticed the Bonneville counts have a decent number of wild fish that have passed over so far and we are closer to the 10-year average (which is heavily skewed from the historical average anyways).

The Klickitat River opened up last week and it's been a slow start. The river has been running low and relatively clear since the opener, which leaves the few steelhead in there to hunker down into the deeper salmon water. If we get a little bit of color or better yet a spike in flows, that will push some fish around and catch rates should jump up a little bit. Nevertheless, it's nice to see an old friend and I was out floating a couple days ago in some beautiful weather. If venturing out, be mindful of private property and especially on the South end of the river as locals are fairly territorial- I even got yelled at for just stopping briefly at a run that was allegedly private, though no signs were posted, and turns out the gentleman didn't own the property anyways. The lesson learned is to just be mindful and know the boundary lines. Politeness goes a long way if you're ever trying to access tricky spots, and I certainly like to keep a couple hard to access spots in my back pocket when water gets crowded.

It's dryline/dryfly season!

A underutilized method for summer steelhead I believe is the dry fly. Dead drifted, grease lined, riffle hitched, waked/skated, twitched, chugged, or down in the surface film. If you've caught a few steelhead before but never on a dry fly, I can't recommend it enough! Indeed, a couple anglers will tie on a dry to work a quick run and after no avail will quickly swap back to a wet fly and maybe a sink tip for the rest of the day. The reality is if you fished dries as often as you're wets, half the fish you get will on the dries. In fact on some of the waters I fish I find more summer steelhead show themselves to the dryfly than a well presented wet. Some will say the surface attack is like crack... While I can't speak from experience on that, I will say watching top water disturbances is fully addicting!

A favorite perch to watch summer-run steelhead rise to skated flies.

Trout- The fishing has been fantastic lately! While many of the big bugs on the Deschutes have simmered down, there are some that are still out. If you're needing to toss big Salmon/Stoneflies focus some of your attention up higher on the river as the hatch migrates upstream. Just because the big bugs have dwindled doesn't mean that the dry fly fishing is over yet! Currently, Yellow Sallies (a smaller stonefly) have been fishing very well, lots of Pale Morning/Evening Duns are out, and Caddis flies are rounding out the dry fly action. Sub-surface a lot of stuff will work, though this time of the year Hares Ear Nymphs, and emerging caddis in the evening are some of my favorites.

The lakes around Hood are a great place to spend a hot day cooling off on the water!

Lake fishing has also been excellent lately. On hot summer days, heading up to a lake is a favorite way of mine to cool down. I haven't really seen the big push of Carpenter Ants but rather just a few here and there. Callibaetis cripplers and leech patterns seem to be a go-to of mine, though I've found some of the trout aren't too particular up in the lakes as they have a limited food season- often a Purple Parachute Adams or Caddis fly works great for me up there.

"Hero Shots" are out, #keepemwet photos are in...

Warmwater species- The John Day River has been great place to explore smallmouth bass fishing and a wonderful place to take somebody out for their first time. If you're not having a good time on the JD fishing for smallies, something's wrong... Top water stuff works great out there, however my favorite pattern on the JD is really just a small dark Bead Head Hale Bopp Leech, or a natural colored muddler on the top. On the big river we've finally seen some levels drop- Friday was the first day in a couple weeks that I've actually seen water flowing out at the mouth of the Hood River and not backed up from the Columbia. The top water bite is about to be on for the Columbia, and best time of the day is usually nearer to the evening. Carp and Largemouth are also readily available in lots of the side lakes/ponds to the Columbia and can be a fun way to try something new.

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.

-Cody