July has a variety of good fly fishing options and we have a lot of great reports to share. Pictures are first with the report below.
From Chris Brehm: We ended the month in fine style with a couple of 16-17” beetle eater bows at Paulina. Grandson Ranger caught his first fish: a Crappie at Twin Oaks pond. Early in the month brother Steve and I got limits of Rockfish on Fly rods with Joe Warren out of Depoe Bay. Steve also won a tough battle with a Starfish. We were able to get limits of Coho off the mouth of the Columbia on gear…next we’ll get one on a fly rod.
From Rich Harvey: Did well on Crappie at Twin Oaks pond several times in July with Dave and Lane.
From Mike Shiiki: Landed an XL trout at OFC Rainier Lakes along with other nice sized rainbows. My friend Michelle landed some nice rainbows at Timothy Lake.
From Jan Jacobs: Participated in the NFS Molalla River Trash and Bass Cleanup. Managed to reel in the prize-winning catch of the day at 17 inches…caught on a 5 weight with a wacky fly that was a cross between a clouser minnow and a worm. A fun event and the fish tacos were excellent!
From George Krumm: fished out of Ilwaco with Marcus W for a limit of black rockfish plus a bonus lingcod. Caught a nice Willamette springer on a chrome Pro-Troll flasher and Simon 3.5 spinner (Mex Hat color). The lower Willy was rather productive in July. The mouth of the Sandy produced a mix of springers and summer Chinook in mid-July when the Columbia opened back up.
From Ken Kelley: Had a fun trip to the Trask for Cutthroat. Later in the month did some gear fishing Hagg Lake for Trout. No hookups – beautiful fishing spot until the Paddleboarders took over.
From Matt Baker: Got out quite a bit this month and had a great times. Most success was on dry flies (elk hair caddis was my friend) but also some nymphing and streamers. Harriet lake with the club was a lot of fun but also fished the Clackamas and Salmon rivers. Did a lot of exploring on small creeks too.
From Wayne Hughes: Had a heck of a week before my yearly trip to Montana. My garage door spring broke & had to wait three days to get it fixed. Finally got to Montana and only two days in our home AC decided to stop working cutting my whole trip short; only got two days fishing. The days I had left were meant for Smallmouth bass; no trout fishing or chasing pike. Did have one hell of a day hooking tons of smallmouth on poppers on the 5 weight. Landed several over 18” and one 22”. Its was fun but a very long drive for two days on the river!
From Joe Warren: Went on a great horse packing trip into the Southern Sierras; 17 miles on horseback into the backcountry for big rainbows & golden trout.
From Greg O’Brien: A lot of hiking for this guy to get to some beautiful California trout in their very small native range. Great times with great people
From Bob Beswick: Had a new kidney installed in June & doing great! Hope to participate this fall!
Thanks to everyone for contributing your reports!