November 2025 Fishing Reports

November produced some very good fishing! Some of us traveled to warmer climates and some waited for the northwest weather to cooperate, which for the most part it did. Pictures are first with the reports below.

From Joe Warren: Had a blast in Baja and it was the best fishing I’ve ever experienced down there! The marlin fly fishing was epic and fierce; hooked 8 and landed one! It was 115 lbs and took 1 hr and 10 min to land. We fished 4 days for marlin and 4 days inshore for roosters and other species. Inshore, roosters were the best! Learned a lot about the marlin too and can’t wait to go back; 80-85 deg days, gorgeous!

From Lane Hoffman: They still have “Big”Reds” in Louisiana! Landed fish to 25lbs and our last day was the best day with beautiful weather & around a dozen caught. Had some really good takes, gotta love a big Red chasing down a fly in 18 inches of water!

From Greg O’Brien: Hit the coast, the Chum were in and we got a few on flies. A highlight was a pretty hen that annihilated a little beadhead Comet. Had another trip to an OFC lake for bass and trout

From Craig Kershen: Had the best 2 night camping trip with my son Aaron 3 days before Thanksgiving. After a quick stop at the Maupin store then a beer and wings at the Rainbow, we headed downstream. Great weather, empty roads and campsites, stars, campfires, wood fire meals, cocktails and of course big horn sheep. Got a big bonus, my first steelhead on a fly rod! Took and egg pattern down at the Macks launch. 

From Wayne Hughes: spent the first part of the month fishing local lakes. Found some nice Trout & Bass stripping leeches plus under indicators with Vampire balance leeches and Blobs. 

From Patrick Leonard: fished Big Tree at the OFC. There’s an eagle that has been very active lately.

From Mike Shiiki: We had some pretty good days on the Deschutes at Warm Springs, mostly redsides with a few bullies mixed in too!

From Darryl Huff: hooked 11 and landed seven the day before Thanksgiving.

From Dave Kilhefner: Rich Harvey and I had some good trout fishing at Big Tree before the November weather cooled the water and slowed down the trout bite. We also saw a nice rutting buck while driving to the lake.

Thanks to everyone who contributed reports this month!

Presidents Message December 2025

Hope everyone enjoyed a nice Thanksgiving and was able to get out and do some fishing with friends. Fishing last month was pretty good as you’ll see when the November fishing reports come out next week.

It’s time to think about paying your 2026 membership fee. However, if you joined as a new member in the second half of 2025 it will be good for 2026 too; we are on the honor system so please let me know. Here is the membership link. If you participate in the club I will guarantee you’ll get a solid value for the $35 you pay to be a member.

The main activities our club focuses on are meetings and fish a longs.

I’m looking for input on the 2026 Fish A Longs schedule. With the warming trends fishing opportunities are changing. Check out the 2026 fish a longs schedule. The dates for 2026 have been updated so you can mark your calendars. You’ll notice some fish a longs have “TBD” in front of several choices; take a look and let me know your preferences or if you’d like to see any changes.

December is shaping up to be decent fishing month. My crystal ball says the most dependable local fishing will be at the Oregon Fishing Club ponds for trout, especially after a warming trend (the pic above is me with a recent trout from an OFC lake). The key to winter fishing is to be ready when a good weather window presents itself. Several coastal streams are already producing steelhead plus the Clackamas and Sandy get random shots of late summer and early winter steelhead this time of year, plus some late running native coho. Here’s a link to the PGE fish counts so you can see for yourself.

We don’t have a club Fish-A-Long in December or January but I’m open to helping folks with their spey casting and winter steelhead presentation basics. If you are interested in this email me and I’ll put you on the list.

For several years now we have been posting monthly fishing reports. Looking back on them is a good way to get ideas for local fly fishing opportunities currently happening or coming up. I’ve tested it out and it works! Type the word December or January in the search box and you’ll get all the past reports for that month.

Now is the perfect time for Christmas shopping plus don’t forget to get your wish list out so you get all the stocking stuffers you want. Please remember our local fly shops and sporting goods stores.

Dave Kilhefner