Frankly, fishing last month was on the tough side. The crazy weather unsettled the local lakes and had the river levels bouncing up and down like a pogo stick. Still, I got out fishing when I could and had a few surprisingly good days for steelhead, and these days any good day for steelhead is a big surprise! As I’m writing this the sun is shining, all the trees have leaves and the nice spring weather raises my hopes for good fishing to come; May is one of my personal favorite fishing months!
When we had that one nice day last month luck was with me I ended up being part of a future episode of Angler West TV & a Salmon Trout Steelheader YouTube video, which is online now. I’m on from 5:40 to 8:30, click the link above if you want to check it out. I’m talking about swinging beads for steelhead, which was taught to my by master angler Phil Senatra, plus you can see my crazy boat.
We don’t have a speaker for our May 17th meeting as High Rocks had a big group book the meeting room and more power to them during these tough times! We can still have an informal & fun “flies and lies” meeting down by the fireplace. The “first beer free” rule will still apply.
Our May 21st Fish A Long will be at Clear Lake on Mt Hood. The last couple years its fished very well in May and by the time we have our fish a long it will have been stocked with thousands of trout varying from standard planters to brood stock hogs. While it’s possible to catch fish from shore, its best fished from a float tube and this time of year the best patterns are chironomids & callibaetis fished slow or small leeches stripped & trolled.
Good fishing reports are startig to roll in from the Deschutes. No big bug action yet but nymph fishing has been fair to good. Darryl reports a #16 green Perdigon has been best. Rich reports the OFC lakes are starting to fish very well and besides trout, the warmwater fish are getting active. Eric & Jack at NWFFO have been getting some nice bass pre-spawn largemouths recently. Being a steelhead nut, I have foolish hopes that summer steelhead will be cruising in the Clackamas. Early summer steelhead are the best fish of the year and since most folks are either chasing spring chinook or heading to the Deschutes it’s common to have the river to yourself.
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.
We’ve fixed the search funcion on the Fly Tying articles so if you type “fly tying” in the search box you’ll get all the old articles. There’s good stuff in there. Here’s a link to the Shad Fly: you’ll want a couple dozen of these for the June 11th Fish A Long at Bonneville.
Please remember our sponsors, 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.
Good fishing!
Dave Kilhefner