May 2026 Fishing Reports

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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!

June 2026 Presidents Message

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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!

Dave Kilhefner

April 2026 Fishing Reports

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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.

Thanks to everyone for contributing your reports!

May 2026 Presidents Message

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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.

Our speaker for the May 19th meeting will be the always popular Garrett Lesko.

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!

Dave Kilhefner

April 2026 Fish A Long Report

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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!

February & March 2026 Fishing Reports

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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.

Thanks to everyone that contributed reports!

April 2026 Presidents Message

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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 21st meeting at High Rocks will feature Marty and Mia Sheppard of Little Creek Outfitters. They offer exceptional fishing trips on the Sandy, Deschutes and John Day River’s plus are the hosts of the Sandy River Spey Clave on April 24th & 25th at Oxbow Park.

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!

Dave Kilhefner

March 2026 Fish A Long Report

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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!

Presidents Message March 2026

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This month marks six years as your club President. I’ve been having a great time running the club and going to all the Fish A Longs. This year, steelhead fishing has been pretty good when the weather cooperates. Now we are finally having good, stable weather and it’s time to get out there and fish hard!

We’ll have a regular meeting Tuesday, March 17th. George Krumm will be talking about the Pacific Salmon Flyfishing Grand Slam: all five species of Pacific salmon on a fly in a single day! It’s a very original subject that’s interesting and informative.

March signals the beginning of spring and many local fisheries are waking up and turning on. Trout in our local lakes get active as water temperatures rise from the low 40’s to the high 40’s. March is the best month for trophy steelhead so keep flinging flies with your spey rod.

Our March 21st Fish A Long will be on the Crooked River (pic above from the Crooked). This has always been a good destination but we haven’t been able to go since May 2022 and I’m excited to go back! Several of us will be camping. If you can come a little early we’ll have our traditional Mexican dinner in Prineville on Friday night.

Here is another reminder that Marty & Mia Sheppard of Little Creek Outfitters are resurrecting the Sandy River Spey Clave. Mark your calendars for April 24th & 25th at Oxbow Park.

Here’s some other timely info: If you like fishing the Justesen Ranch Lakes, they are ice free and fishing very well. Also, the Clark-Skamania Fly Fishers is having their Annual Fundraising Banquet, “A Flyfisher’s Folly”, on March 28 at the Black Pearl on the Columbia, 56 S 1st Street in Washougal.  

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!

Dave Kilhefner

December 2025 January 2026 Reports

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We’ve had some crazy weather the last couple months: a big flood in December followed by a drought. It’s made local fishing a little tough but there are fish to be had, especially for our traveling club members. Pictures are first with the reports below.

From Greg O’Brien: made a trip to Florida for a family birthday and squeezed in a little Scuba diving and a morning of flyfishing. Went with a guide on the Intra Coastal Waterway and got into bluefish and jacks. The Jack pictured was on a popper, all else were on baitfish patterns and an intermediate line.

From Ed Rabinowe: Tom Phipps, Ken Baker and I plus 3 other friends traveled to Campeche Mexico to fish for baby tarpon. Tarpon of any size are great game fish. The lodge, the town, and the company were worth the trip!

From Mark Rasmussen: January fishing was cold and sparse, but had some fun!

From Wayne Hughes: Fished mainly Hagg lake throughout January. Had some good days and bad days as winter trout fishing can be. Landed some nice trout & one rare Kokanee on stripped leech & balanced leech patterns. 

From Dave Kilhefner: the big flood in December set back winter steelhead fishing for me. Rich and I hit the OFC Lakes when the weather was good. Fishing was generally on the slow side but we got a few!

Thanks to everyone for contributing your reports!