Month: April 2020

April 2020 CFF Fishing Reports

/ davekilhefner / 2 Comments

Hi Everyone, the Coronavirus lockdown is still with us! During the month of April some CFF members ventured out on the water, kept their distance and enjoyed good fishing. Here are their stories with the pictures on top and the report below:

From John Warren: (from March, I missed this one in my email inbox) My grandsons have been taking advantage of their extend spring break and doing well on Fall River and Crooked. This one is from Fall and will send additional pics from each after this ( you should be able to tell which river.) I met them Sunday in Maupin and showed them around. No pics from there, but I got around 10 trout and one of boys got around 8 with a few whitefish mixed in. Truck thermometer read 71 in the afternoon!.

From Richard Harvey: Like last month the OFC properties fished well.  The key was to go small with your flies.

From Lane Hoffman: Fished Rocky Ridge Ranch it’s fishing the best I have ever seen! Really big fish, I’m talking about 5 to double digit Rainbows! Fished both the upper & middle lakes, both were excellent. Size 10 olive “Seal” bugger & a size 12 olive jig fly. Both were fished on an intermediate sinking fly line and a 1X fluorocarbon leader, don’t go light on the leader & use a loop knot! A fished Krumbo Reservoir on the south end of the Malheur Refuge in SE Oregon which fished very well. Two size of fish, 12 to 13 inches & 20 plus all footballs; great float tube lake. By myself so no pic’s.

From George Krumm: I fished RRR three days this month.  There are good numbers of large rainbows this year.  I didn’t make it down to Mullein, but both of the other two lakes fished well.  On my best day, I landed about 20 fish which doesn’t sound all that great, but at least a dozen were over 5 pounds, with a few much larger than that. Black leeches, olive leeches, and black chironomid pupa imitations all worked.

From Dave Kilhefner: George Couts and I hit a couple Oregon Fishing Club lakes. We met at Oregon City Home Depot, put on our masks and carpooled to the Highland Lakes area. Fishing was a little slow but we both managed to land a few plus it was great to get outside. Chironomids and small leeches were the best flies. The next day I fished the Sandy River. Shared the water with a guy fishing jigs and beads, so tried something different and threw a spoon and caught this beauty.

From Darryl Huff: I frequently hook sturgeon on the Sandy while steelhead fishing. This one was a little larger than most. This one took a bead and was landed on a 10 pound leader.

From Greg O’Brien: Not much fishing for me this month, but did manage a few trout on a recent outing to Rainier Ponds. 

From Kevin Rogers: My one time out I fished Sauvies on opening day before it got crowed. Worked on fishing dry flies for a change, they were hitting non stop for about an hour.

Hope everyone is tolerating the social distancing requirements, masking up when out in public and maintaining a positive outlook. This lockdown won’t last forever!

April 25th Fish-A-Long Cancelled

/ davekilhefner / Leave a comment

Due to the ongoing Coronavirus this weekends Fish-A-Long has been cancelled.

We were supposed to fish the Rainier Lakes at the Oregon Fishing Club. I called Bruce Harpole and he advises there has been a big increase in fishing pressure at the OFC due to all the public access closures in Oregon. Given this it would be very difficult to maintain social distancing guidelines and he asked us to postpone this event.

If anyone is getting cabin fever and is interested in getting out on the water shoot me an email and we can put something together. We can still fish the OFC properties in small groups plus there are a few public fishing access areas open on the Clackamas River.

Presidents Message April 2020

/ davekilhefner / Leave a comment

This month’s Presidents message will focus on some ways we can help and maintain our club and our fly fishing community thru the Coronavirus situation. Hopefully you’ve been staying safe and healthy as we practice social distancing to flatten the curve. These efforts seem to be working with one exception, which is described at the end of this message where it fits better.

First off, please remember to support our sponsors as these are very difficult times for anyone and everyone in the outdoor industry. While most shops are closed to walk in traffic they are still open for online ordering and several are conducting online seminars that are worth tuning into.

Speaking of online fishing info, CFF has an online forum In the past it’s focused on fishing reports and fly tying but it’s also a good way to keep in touch. Check it out, reply to a post, keep in touch and stay sane.

As you have probably already guessed we won’t have our April 21st meeting. While the restaurant ban in Oregon is scheduled to expire on April 14th it’s quite possible this will be extended. Even if the ban is lifted, gatherings are probably not advisable for a while.

On a more positive note, our April speaker Dennis Dauble recently won first place in the Northwest Outdoor Writers Association Excellence in Craft Contest for his book Bury Me With My Fly Rod. CFF has a copy in its library or you can order one online at https://dennisdaublebooks.com/   

Another positive note, the April 25th Fish A Long at Rainier Lakes is still going on as The Oregon Fishing Club is open, but the club reminds everyone to stay safe and practice social distancing so we will take extra care and stay at least a fly rod length away from each other.

Locally, steelhead fishing is remains open and bright fish are being caught but it’s still a slow year. Personally, I’ve been out fishing a few times without success, but have seen fish caught plus it’s great to get out of the house. Paul Brewer reports trout fishing on the Deschutes is OK, that it’s a little surreal as he is about the only angler on the river and as expected, Euro nymphing is working best. Police are patrolling along the road looking for people camping or using the boat ramps. The Oregon Fishing Club reports all the ponds have been stocked and fishing has been good.

This brings me to driving; for unknown reasons there are A LOT of crazy drivers on the roads right now. If you venture out on the roads, be doubly vigilant.

Dave Kilhefner