During the month of October my mantra for fishing the Deschutes is “find the salmon and you’ll find the trout!” The weather can be bad, the White River can be blown but trout and whitefish can’t resist the egg bonanza when the Chinook are spawning.
Seven of us braved the chilly weather conditions and colored up water but the payoff was sweet! Everyone got into plenty of fish and most of us broke into double digits.
As an added bonus, the Bighorn Sheep were playing on the wall and Richard Harvey got a nice video of two rams chasing a ewe.
Thanks to everyone for coming! Next month we’ll try to hit the Kilchis River for Chum Salmon but if the water conditions are poor (like they have been the last 3 years!) we will go to an Oregon Fishing Club lake.
September was a difficult month with all the fires. In spite of everything, we have some good fishing reports to share. Thanks to everyone for sending them in! Pictures are first with the reports below.
Greg O’Brien was chasing Striped Bass in San Francisco Bay with his brother and got this Leopard Shark.
Greg O’Brien hit Willamette River for Smallmouth bass, landing some nice bass using an intermediate line and clouser minnow. Later in the month he landed a nice hatchery steelhead behind some spawning chinook then caught a Jack Chinook on the Deschutes while chasing steelhead.
Sadie Hibbard caught this huge bluegill in an eastern Oregon pond.
Ed Rabinowe claims he caught this beautiful Chinook trolling an October Caddis on his 3wt fly rod 😉
Darryl Huff fished the Deschutes at Warm Springs for some really good trout fishing and also hit the mouth for Steelhead.
Dave Kilhefner and George Coutts tried to fish the Deschutes at Warm Springs in late September but the smoke was thick, so they headed to Maupin and managed to land a few small trout.
George Krumm had a productive month on the Columbia, landing limits of Salmon and Crab.
Rhona Dallison got this great video of Chinook Salmon spawning in the Sandy River on Mt Hood.
Mark Bachmann of The Fly Fishing Shop sent in these “Steelhead Armageddon” photos from a very smoky Deschutes River. Kudo’s for sticking it out and making it happen!
Nick Amato provided these photos of the fire jumping the Clackamas River less than 1/2 mile from his home. It was a little too close for comfort!
My Friend Eduardo Barrueto Guarda from Chile put together a new video about his fly fishing lodge. It reminds me that someday life will get back to normal and that there are many beautiful places in the world to go and see.
This months Fish-A-Long will be held Saturday October 24th on the Deschutes River at Beavertail Campground.
The plan: meet at Beavertail Campground between 8am and 9am. Due to COVID you’ll need to bring your own food and beverages.
Beavertail campground has ample parking and lots of good fishing water. It’s located 21 miles north of Maupin on the Lower Deschutes Access Rd. From Maupin to Shears Falls is paved and the last 10 or so miles to Beavertail is gravel road.
Gear: 4 to 6wt rods with matching reel & floating lines. Euro nymphing has become very popular but indicator nymphing rigs with small glo- bugs and/or standard nymphs like Pheasant Tails and Hair’s ears work very well too. Swinging for steelhead is a possibility too. Bring waders with felt or cleated boots and layered clothing (can be cool in the morning).
This is a very nice time to fish the Deschutes River for trout – they’re usually hungry and can be concentrated below schools of spawning salmon, making for excellent fishing. This is also a great fish along to make an overnight trip and we will probably have a few overnight campers in our group.
Please email Dave at Dave@kbi-ins.com if you plan to attend so we can get a head count.
It seems like about 20 minutes after I hit the send key for the September Presidents Message Clackamas County erupted in flames. I’ve lived here since the late 70’s and have never seen anything like the wildfires last month. Several of my friends homes were seriously threatened. Cheryl was very fearful our cabin on Mt Hood would be lost but then PGE wisely shut down the power grid for more than a week and this probably saved much of the Sandy River corridor. My daughter evacuated her home on Oregon City for a few days because the smoke was terrible.
In spite of all this, several of us still wanted to have a September Fish A Long but chose not to. With everything going on, the last thing the great outdoors needed was more non-firefighting humans poking around.
But this month on Saturday the 17th we are going to have our traditional October Fish A Long at Beavertail Campground on the Deschutes River. I’ll get the details out the week before we go. For November, we’ll likely go to an Oregon Fishing Club lake.
Because this has been such an unusual year, the board has decided to extend paid memberships thru 2021; if you paid to be a member this year, it will be good for next year too.
The 2020 Fly Fishing Challenge is still going on. If you’ve completed the challenge or need the details please email me.
If anyone wants a free subscription to Fly Fisherman magazine, I received one of those free gift subscription offers. The first club member to email me gets it.
For several years now we have been posting monthly fishing reports. Looking back on them is a good way to get ideas for local flyfishing opportunities currently happening or coming up. I’ve tested it out; type the word September or October in the search box and you’ll get all the past reports for that month.
Speaking of reports, next week I’ll post the September 2020 club reports and I’m happy to report we have some good stuff.
Please remember our sponsors this fall, they are the lifeblood of the club. Stop by their shops and let them know your appreciate their support. Better yet buy something or book a trip.
