As I write this we are experiencing some cool weather that will only do good things for fishing this summer. This summer I have some good fly fishing plans and hope you do too! These include hitting the Pacific Ocean for Rockfish to chasing trout in Oregon, Idaho and beyond.
Our July 21st meeting at High Rocks will feature the always popular Garrett Lesko. This will be his 2nd presentation on Stillwater Fly Fishing and will focus on more advanced techniques (his May presentation was on the basics).
For the July 25th Fish A Long we will target some of the small streams on Mt Hood. Afterwards we will have a BBQ at my cabin on Mt Hood. If anyone is interested in camping out or staying overnight let me know.
FYI, new this year you’ll need a Waterway Access Permit if you want to float tube publics waters/lakes in Oregon.
We have years of fishing reports logged on our website. Looking back on them is a fun way to get ideas for local fly fishing opportunities currently happening or coming up. Type “July” or “August” and you’ll get all the past reports for that month.
Please remember our local fly shops and sporting goods stores. Hope to see you at a meeting or on the water!
Luck was with us and we enjoyed nearly perfect weather for our annual Central Oregon Fish A Long. The overall bite & surface action was good plus fun times were had by all. Here’s a recap; pics first with the description below.
Thursday’s destination was Little Lava Lake. The water was very clear and you could see lot of fish cruising & rising, but they were challenging to figure out; eventually Laura and Dave K got some surface action on Callibaetis Cripples fished over some shallow weed beds. Rich had exceptionally good success fishing a Brown Perdigon nymph under one of the new Bung indicators; these indicators definitely raise the level of strike detection & lead to more hookups.
For several years we’ve wanted to go to the Cowboy Dinner Tree and we made it happen this trip. CDT features a huge 31oz steak & all the trimmings for $50. It was worth the hour drive & back from LaPine to Silver Lake.
On Friday we got up extra early to beat the paddle boarders to Hosmer Lake. It was just at the end of the summer fishing season with low water and weedy water defining the conditions. Laura did well on a Bumblebee Fly and Chris with a big Beetle. Interestingly, we hit all Brookies in the mid lake channels and Rainbows were only found cruising the lake edge.
Saturday was a little windy. Chris & Laura went up to East Lake and had their best success with chironomids using the “deep dangle” technique along a drop off. The rest of us explored the area; the petroglyph pictured is called “the spaceman.”
On Sunday most folks headed home. Chris, Dave & Lane decided to try for Bass on Davis Lake but the lake was too low to launch a boat so we headed to Crane Prairie. We fished the mouth of Cultus Creek and each of us landed 3-4 nice sized trout.
The best flies this trip were; Brown Perdigon Nymph, Red Snow Cone Chironomid, Green Leeches, Callibaetis Cripple, large & small Foam Beetles and Blue Dry Damsels.
Thanks to Chris B for hosting us and to everyone who came and made this another fish a long to remember!
May is always a great fly fishing month as spring finally transitions into summer. Pics are first with the reports below.
From Joe Warren: had a great trip to Rufus Woods and caught many big triploids stripping streamers on a full sinking line.
From Craig Kerschen: It was a treat to fish with our son Aaron at Hartland Lake near Lyle WA. This big bow decided to fly off just as I hit the shutter. Great fun…great day.
From Chris Brehm: Caught a nice Smallmouth on a Chironomid at Lake Almanor CA. Then stopped at Klamath Lake and landed a nice Redband, also on a Chironomid. Caught two Springers caught on the same day in the Willamette on a a Spin Fish.
From Patrick Leonard: spent two days fishing the salmonfly hatch on the Deschutes, it was a lot of fun. Fished the Upper Clackamas for 3 days is late May; lots of small fish but every once in a while you hit a monster.
From Bob Beswick: had some good Ling Cod and Rockfish action out of Newport with fishing buddies Neal and Mike.
From Wayne Hughes: Fished on the Willamette river for a couple of trips and found some Bass. Also took a trip to a local lake to chase trout and had success while stripping leech patterns.
From Dave Kilhefner: Rich & I hit some of the OFC lakes and had some decent trout action. Most fish were on Chironomids but leeches and emergers also temped some fish.
From Tony Misley: Had fun fishing with the whole family at Lake Harriet.
Thanks to everyone for sending in your reports. It was a good month!
Hope everyone has been having a good spring. Fishing has been pretty good with lots of different opportunities available judging by the fishing reports we have coming in!
I’ll be our speaker for the June16th meeting. The presentation will be on Simplified Stillwater Fly Fishing and it will mesh together with Garrett Lesko’s Stillwater presentations.
We have a GREAT Fish A Long lined up this month. For the 4th year Chris B has generously offered to host a multi day fish a long at his place between Sunriver and LaPine. I am sending an email out with the details; here’s a link to the 2025 report.
This coming weekend is Free Fishing Weekend in Washington (June 6-7). Several years ago we had a Fish A Long on the Washington side of Bonneville Dam for Shad. While this not an official club activity this year, it’s a good fishing option and the water level looks good this year!
For several years now we have been posting monthly fishing reports. Looking back on them is a fun way to get ideas for local fly fishing opportunities currently happening or coming up. Type “June” or “July” and you’ll get all the past reports for that month.
Please remember our local fly shops and sporting goods stores. Hope to see you at a meeting or on the water!
We have some good reports to share for this past April. Pics are first with the report below.
From Ed Rabinowe: Had some good Snook fishing near Chokoloskee Florida
From Bryan Dawson: On April 28, I caught two bull trout, a smallmouth, and a Kokanee on Lake Billy Chinook. We fished streamers on a Rio short sinking line too, which got a few bites. But all four fish took streamers 3’-5’ under an indicator.
From Patrick Leonard: In early April the dry fly fishing was amazing at Blue Den. We had good Callibaetis hatches in the middle of the day plus Blue Wing Olives in the evenings, especially near the levee.
From Jim Bennett: Had a good time fishing at Lanice Lake in eastern Washington. Didn’t catch as many as others, but did catch three of the biggest trout I’ve ever caught at about 18 inches. Also, the last photo shows an event that volunteered for called Kleinline fishing day for kids with special needs. They planted 14,500 fish in the lake and the kids each got to keep two fish. Fun was had by all.
From Rich Harvey: had some good fishing at the OFC lakes with emerger patterns and small soft hackles.
We’ve gotten lots of warm weather this spring, making for lots of good fly fishing opportunities! Pic above is from our last Fish A Long; I’m indicator fishing from shore so while I’m relaxing, I had to be fast on the strike. This “relaxed but ready” posture managed to convert a couple lite strikes into landed fish.
Usually we’d have the Fish A Long the weekend after our meeting, but that falls on Memorial Day weekend. On the good side, there is plenty of fishing opportunities happening so Check out our website for ideas. Also, if anyone wants to get out between the meeting and the weekend let me know; I’m an easy mark for a fishing trip!
For several years now we have been posting monthly fishing reports. Looking back on them is a fun way to get ideas for local fly-fishing opportunities currently happening or coming up. Type “May” or “June” and you’ll get all the past reports for that month.
Please remember our local fly shops and sporting goods stores. Hope to see you at a meeting or on the water!
We couldn’t have had a nicer day for the Fish A Long! We had everything lined up from very successful pre-fishing trip to the lake the week before to excellent weather and water conditions. Unfortunately the bite on Saturday was on the slow side. It happens!
Rich and I started out by fishing at Howell Pond Thursday, then camping out at Schmedeke. We had good weather and OK fishing on both emerger patterns and nymphs.
On Friday a couple people came out for the day on Schmedeke. We had good weather but the bite dropped off around mid day.
We had a good turnout on Saturday. Chris B was the first to arrive and he did OK in the morning with leech patterns. Then, like the day before, the bite died around lunchtime.
The slow fishing was a real head scratcher! We finally deduced that the air pressure had dropped over the last couple days. With nothing better to do we looked this up on our phones. It turns out air pressure at 30 & above is best, and a drop in air pressure below 29.92 (the average air pressure baseline) causes the fishes air bladder to expand, which in turn makes them feel full and lethargic. While this isn’t a reason not to go fishing, it’s one more thing to be aware of!
Slow fishing or not, it was a great time to be out enjoying the spring weather. We also hit our favorite nearby restaurant, Smokehouse Chicken & Guns.
Thanks to everyone that came out to make this a fun Fish A Long!
Here’s our February & March fishing reports. Pics are first with the reports below.
From Chris Brehm: Fishing at Chickahominy was fantastic when the wind cooperated. Fat and feisty trout in gorgeous colors were taking Chironomids in shallow water from shore. Brother Stevie demonstrating his two rod prowess. Also hit Lane’s secret spot on the Malheur. Great fishing with no one around. Chris Gardiner and I hit a very glassy Davis Lake and managed to harvest some nice Bass and one surprise Rainbow hiding in the reeds.
From Lane Hoffman: Fished Chickahominy Reservior in late March. Good but not great. The fish are in really good condition: fat, feisty, powerful ranging between 16 & 20 inches. Mornings have been nice with lots of big midges & a few mayflies. Whitecap generating winds started around 2pm and made fishing difficult.
Next we headed to the Malheur where we wacked & stacked the Redsides; probably caught over 50 fish in one day between 16 & 20+ inches. Nobody fishing the river but Chris and I. Great trip!
From Mike Shiiki: Had a great trip out to the Owyhee River with my son Nathaniel, nephew Elliot and Darryl Huff. Each of us had our moments with some good size browns.
From Dave Kilhefner: fished Lake Coeur D Alene for landlocked King Salmon for the first time. We did OK trolling with gear. It looks like fly fishing with streamers would work too…something to try another day!
From Matt Baker: Had fun on the club trip to the Crooked River with good luck on small dry flies. After that I spent a number of days in the Owen’s River valley. Fishing was great, mostly on nymphs.
From Rich Harvey: Dave and I hit Turner Lake and had a good day for trout plus a few bass. The afternoon chironomid hatch had fish sipping emergers and I was able to get a few nice trout on a small cripple pattern.
From Mark Rasmussen: Can’t seem to catch any steelhead, but crabbing has been good!
From George Coutts: saw this cool fish sculpture on a trip to Florence.
From Dave Kilhefner: Stopped at the Sandy on the way home from the Crooked River. Water conditions were good and luck was with me!
February 2026
From Mark Rasmussen: Lots of casting practice…
From Patrick Leonard: had one good day at Turner Lake for bass and trout.
From Dave Kilhefner: Rich Harvey and I had some OK days at the Oregon Fishing Club. We fished on days when the weather was good but the water temps were still cold which made for slow fishing.
We’ve had some very nice weather this spring which as created good water conditions on both streams and lakes. Mostly I’ve been hitting the OFC lakes, which have had some hot bites as the water warms. Stream fishing has been productive too for both trout and steelhead.
Our April 25th Fish A Long will be at Schmedeke Pond. We’ve been there several times in April and fishing has always been good. In the past there was a great hatch of bomber midges coming off. Everyone had a great time and some big fish were caught. Heres a link to that report to whet your appetite.
For several years now we have been posting monthly fishing reports. Looking back on them is a fun way to get ideas for local fly-fishing opportunities currently happening or coming up. Type “March” or “April” and you’ll get all the past reports for that month.
Please remember our local fly shops and sporting goods stores. Hope to see you at a meeting or on the water!
We had VERY good weather for our March Fish A Long. When several of us campers arrived on Thursday the temperature was in the low 80’s. Plus, the water conditions were perfect!
We brought lots of wood and were able to enjoy some good long campfires every day plus cooked most of our meals over the fire. The lone exception was our Friday night Mexican dinner in town.
Fishing was pretty good but the fish were a little on the picky side. Nymphs, soft hackles and dries all produced as long as they were small (size 18ish) and dark.
We saw plenty of wildlife too. Deer, eagles, geese, otters, muskrat plus plenty of birds. The warm weather had the mosquitoes out…they were not too bad but they were a little sneaky!
This Fish A Long was a great way to kick of spring fishing. Thanks to everyone who made the trip!
