Month: May 2023

May 2023 Fish A Long Report

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This months Fish A Long was about more than fly fishing. Besides catching fish in a beautiful coastal forest setting,  we had a steak lunch, camp fires plus some very good weather.

Several of us decided to have a long weekend, starting off with a late lunch at Copper River in Hillsboro on Thursday before hitting Howell Ponds for Bluegill. We fished for a few hours then headed to Rainier Lakes, arriving about 8pm, pitched camp and started a fire. 

On Friday we slept in then enjoyed coffee and conversation around camp. There didn’t seem to be any reason to rush as the early morning anglers were not catching anything, so we eased into the day and started fishing around 10:30 then quit for lunch at 2:30, all of us doing pretty good on Chironomids, both cast & slowly strip or dangled under an indicator. With the warmer weather many of the trout were six to eight feet down in the cooler, deeper water near the dike.

We made a run to Longview and had a late lunch at this great place called Porky’s then picked up a few supplies for our Saturday lunch at Fred Meyer. 

On Saturday I went down the hill to open the gate, made coffee and waited for people to arrive from 7:45 to 8:30 while listening to an Audible book. It was a relaxing way to start the day. 

With the warm weather all week the bite was a little slow but everyone got fish. 

The best flies were Red V-Rib Chironomids, Brown Snow Cone Chironomid and an Olive Chironomid w/red tail, all around size 12-14. 

Our steak lunch was a big hit and we had a perfect day for it. Afterwords several of us had a strong case of food coma. This lead to the invention of a new effective technique; dock nymphing. This is nothing more than being too lazy to put back on your waders and fins to float tube, so you sit on the dock, soak an indicator rig close by and tell jokes & lies until a cooperative fish comes along. It’s surprisingly effective! 

The weather turned cooler on Saturday evening. Sunday dawned cool & cloudy. We each caught a few in the morning before packing up and heading home.

Thanks to everyone for coming and making this months Fish A Long a success!

CFF April 2023 Fishing Reports

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For the most part April continued to be unseasonably cool but good times were had and nice fish were caught! Pictures first with the reports below.

From Dave Kilhefner: finally caught a winter steelhead on the Sandy!

From Chris Brehm: hit Lake Billy Chinook for bull trout with my brother Stevie.

From Rich Harvey: had a very nice day on the Deschutes at Maupin in early April. Found this really cool old CFF hat at Northwest Fly Fishing Outfitters. The OFC lakes are really picking up with the warm weather; Dave Hopkins and I did really well on our first trip to Turner Lake throwing streamers. Later in the month we went back and they were taking a red chronimids about 3’ deep in 5-6 ‘ of water.

From Darryl Huff: got my granddaughters out fishing at Commonwealth Pond by Beaverton.

From Matt Baker: Got out the west fork of Dairy creek, Williams creek and some other creek. We had a number of strikes on all three creeks and were able to land a few using elk hair caddis and blue wing olives.  Be prepared for LOTS of stinging nettles. Here is my friend Ben on the un-named creek with a fish and another with him walking along Williams creek.  

From Ian Porteous: Carp season is on. It’s seriously fun fishing, I’m hooked!

Thanks to everyone for contributing your reports!

May 2023 Presidents Message

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My apologies for the late presidents message. April went by so fast that its hard to believe May is here. Just like last year, crazy weather unsettled the local lakes and melting snow has the rivers flowing high. Still, there is good fishing around, but you have to be flexible, do a little research plus pay attention to the river gauges & weather reports.

Our speaker for our May 16th meeting will be Micole Jensen. His website is  www.kayakflyangler.com and thus he’ll be talking about Kayak Fly Fishing. Also, he has some new cool kayaks to talk about and I’m looking forward to his presentation and hope to see you there.

Our May 20th Fish A Long will be at the Rainier Lakes, an Oregon Fishing Club property out past Vernonia. Just like last month, several of us will be camping. It will be a good time!

As soon as the Deschutes drops a little it should be game on. The big bug action isn’t happening just yet but nymph fishing is always dependable this time of year. Lane fished Rocky Ridge Lakes recently and had a good day. Lake Billy Chinook is producing good to excellent action for bull trout; this is the first time I’ve reported that. The point is, everything is changing these days and it’s important to be on the lookout for new fly fishing opportunities. They are out there!

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 sponsors, they are the lifeblood of the club. Stop by their shops and let them know you appreciate their support. Better yet buy something or book a trip.  

Good fishing! 

Dave Kilhefner