June 2026 Fish A Long Report

Luck was with us and we enjoyed nearly perfect weather for our annual Central Oregon Fish A Long. The overall bite & surface action was good plus fun times were had by all. Here’s a recap; pics first with the description below.

Thursday’s destination was Little Lava Lake. The water was very clear and you could see lot of fish cruising & rising, but they were challenging to figure out; eventually Laura and Dave K got some surface action on Callibaetis Cripples fished over some shallow weed beds. Rich had exceptionally good success fishing a Brown Perdigon nymph under one of the new Bung indicators; these indicators definitely raise the level of strike detection & lead to more hookups.

For several years we’ve wanted to go to the Cowboy Dinner Tree and we made it happen this trip. CDT features a huge 31oz steak & all the trimmings for $50. It was worth the hour drive & back from LaPine to Silver Lake.

On Friday we got up extra early to beat the paddle boarders to Hosmer Lake. It was just at the end of the summer fishing season with low water and weedy water defining the conditions. Laura did well on a Bumblebee Fly and Chris with a big Beetle. Interestingly, we hit all Brookies in the mid lake channels and Rainbows were only found cruising the lake edge.

Saturday was a little windy. Chris & Laura went up to East Lake and had their best success with chironomids using the “deep dangle” technique along a drop off. The rest of us explored the area; the petroglyph pictured is called “the spaceman.”

On Sunday most folks headed home. Chris, Dave & Lane decided to try for Bass on Davis Lake but the lake was too low to launch a boat so we headed to Crane Prairie. We fished the mouth of Cultus Creek and each of us landed 3-4 nice sized trout.

The best flies this trip were; Brown Perdigon Nymph, Red Snow Cone Chironomid, Green Leeches, Callibaetis Cripple, large & small Foam Beetles and Blue Dry Damsels.

Thanks to Chris B for hosting us and to everyone who came and made this another fish a long to remember!

May 2026 Fishing Reports

May is always a great fly fishing month as spring finally transitions into summer. Pics are first with the reports below.

From Joe Warren: had a great trip to Rufus Woods and caught many big triploids stripping streamers on a full sinking line.

From Craig Kerschen: It was a treat to fish with our son Aaron at Hartland Lake near Lyle WA. This big bow decided to fly off just as I hit the shutter. Great fun…great day.

From Chris Brehm: Caught a nice Smallmouth on a Chironomid at Lake Almanor CA. Then stopped at Klamath Lake and landed a nice Redband, also on a Chironomid. Caught two Springers caught on the same day in the Willamette on a a Spin Fish. 

From Patrick Leonard: spent two days fishing the salmonfly hatch on the Deschutes, it was a lot of fun. Fished the Upper Clackamas for 3 days is late May; lots of small fish but every once in a while you hit a monster.

From Bob Beswick: had some good Ling Cod and Rockfish action out of Newport with fishing buddies Neal and Mike.

From Wayne Hughes: Fished on the Willamette river for a couple of trips and found some Bass. Also took a trip to a local lake to chase trout and had success while stripping leech patterns. 

From Dave Kilhefner: Rich & I hit some of the OFC lakes and had some decent trout action. Most fish were on Chironomids but leeches and emergers also temped some fish.

From Tony Misley: Had fun fishing with the whole family at Lake Harriet.

Thanks to everyone for sending in your reports. It was a good month!

June 2026 Presidents Message

Hope everyone has been having a good spring. Fishing has been pretty good with lots of different opportunities available judging by the fishing reports we have coming in!

I’ll be our speaker for the June16th meeting. The presentation will be on Simplified Stillwater Fly Fishing and it will mesh together with Garrett Lesko’s Stillwater presentations.

We have a GREAT Fish A Long lined up this month. For the 4th year Chris B has generously offered to host a multi day fish a long at his place between Sunriver and LaPine. I am sending an email out with the details; here’s a link to the 2025 report.

This coming weekend is Free Fishing Weekend in Washington (June 6-7). Several years ago we had a Fish A Long on the Washington side of Bonneville Dam for Shad. While this not an official club activity this year, it’s a good fishing option and the water level looks good this year! 

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 “June” or “July” and you’ll get all the past reports for that month. 

Please remember our local fly shops and sporting goods stores. Hope to see you at a meeting or on the water!

Dave Kilhefner