Author: davekilhefner

Presidents Message October 2025

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Summer is officially over and the cooler days of fall are upon us. These are some of the best times to spend on the water and CFF has some great Fish A Longs coming up.

Our October 21st meeting is at High Rocks. Social hour starts at 6pm and the program at 7pm. Our speaker will be Joe Warren. He’ll be talking about Rufus Woods Reservoir in northern Washington. It’s famous for its Triploid Rainbow trout fishing. Joe has 20 years experience fly fishing there and I had a great trip up there with Joe earlier this year. It will be a great presentation you won’t want to miss.

This months October 25th Fish A Long will be at Beavertail Campground on the Deschutes River. It’s one of our most popular Fish A Longs. It’s become a tradition that several of us go a few days early, camp out and have a steak BBQ. Here’s a link to last years report. Hope to see you there!

Another fishing opportunity to note is Justensen Ranch Lakes will be opening to fishing on October 8th. Many of us have fished there and we had a great fish a long there several years ago.

It’s time for someone to think about becoming the new club president. I’ve been the club president since March of 2020 and can continue for another year or two, but not forever. If you’re interested in talking about this let me know. Naturally there are some obligations but it’s also a lot of fun plus has good perks too.

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 “October” or “November” in the Clackamas Fly Fishers website search box you’ll get all the past reports for that month. 

Good fishing! 

Dave Kilhefner

September 2025 Fish A Long Report

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On Thursday 5 of us arrived in the late afternoon & got camp set up. Only one of us fished but no fish were brought to hand.

Friday morning dawned clear and crisp. The morning temps were in the mid 40’s. The local wildlife showed up every morning to keep us company while we had our coffee.

Temps rose into the low 80’s in the afternoon and it was a great day to be on the water. The Metolius maintained its reputation as a tough river; fishing was good for some and not as good for others. The famed Green Drake hatch was light and finding the right fly was the key, but as I discovered having fish rise & refuse your fly can be a lot of fun too. In the early evening we had a delicious steak dinner provided by Ken. We couldn’t have a fire so we set a red lantern in the fire pit that provided surprisingly good ambiance.

Saturday as another very nice day; crisp in the morning and warm in the afternoon. In mid morning Ken cooked up some of this wife’s fabulous egg rolls. Today most of us got into fish, plus we had a few “bull trout encounters.” Chris got a couple 18″ bulls nymph fishing, Rich had a big one follow his streamer to the bank plus two other anglers in our group had big bull trout attack a hooked trout as they played it! Today the fire ban was lifted so we gathered up a little of the very plentiful wood laying around and enjoyed burgers by the fire while telling fishing stories.

Sunday the weather changed. Clouds rolled in plus there were a couple very short rain showers and wind gusts; a good day to head home. Our best flies this trip were smaller Green Drakes (12-14), Parachute Adams and dark olive X-Caddis. 6x was the best tippet size. Nymph fishing for whitefish with any small buggy nymph worked.

Thanks to everyone that attended and brought food to share, and a special thank you to Ken for bringing a lot of good food to share with everyone. It was another great Fish A Long!

Presidents Message September 2025

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I can’t believe how fast August went by! While we are still having hot weather, cooler days are on the way and summer will wind down. Soon my favorite fishing season, fall, will be here! It’s the best time of year to be on the water and CFF has some great Fish A Longs lined up the next three months.

Our September 16th meeting is at High Rocks. I’ll be giving a presentation on “The 60 foot fly cast.” A lot of people have asked how to improve their casting distance and this presentation will give you the tools to cast farther with less effort.  

The September 20th Fish A Long will be held on the Metolius River. Several of us are planning to go a few days early and camp out.

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 “September” or “October” in the Clackamas Fly Fishers website search box you’ll get all the past reports for that month. 

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

Good fishing! 

Dave Kilhefner

July 2025 Fishing Reports

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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!



Presidents Message August 2025

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Hope everyone has been enjoying summer! In spite of the occasionally very hot weather there have been some outstanding fishing opportunities; Willamette bass & carp, trout in the lakes & streams of Mt Hood and of course trout & steelhead on the Deschutes.

August is a “bye” month as many are on vacation or simply can’t make it with all the things on their calendars. Thus, our next meeting will be September 16th.

It’s a good place to point out September, October and November are our most popular and productive Fish A Longs. (click the link for the schedule & make plans to attend!)

While we don’t have an “official” fish a long in August doesn’t mean we don’t have some fishing plans in the works. For a couple months we’ve been talking about meeting in Coeur D Alene in north Idaho during the first half of the month to fish the local rivers there. If you are interested in this let me know.

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

If there is anything you want to see on our blog, shoot me an email and let me know.

Good fishing! 

Dave Kilhefner

Fish A Long Report July 2025

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Our July Fish A Long was a good time and well attended. We had excellent weather, delicious food but only OK fishing. According to the ODFW website the lake was due to be stocked but for unknown reasons that didn’t happen. This became apparent while kicking around the lake as we weren’t seeing the numbers of fish expected. A conversation with camp host Marilynn, who is also a fly fisher, confirmed that the stocking truck just didn’t show up this week. Quite a few other anglers that read the website & made the trip were disappointed to learn this.

Several of us camped out from Thursday evening to Sunday morning. It was nice to escape the summer heat. Morning temps were in the 50’s and rose into the low 80’s in the afternoon. The lake water was gin clear and 60 degrees.

Since we started out assuming we’d be targeting recently stocked trout used to eating pellets it took a while to figure out what the fish wanted. The winning combo was getting your flies down deep in the 7 to 9 foot range with indicator, countdown & slow trolling presentations triggering strikes. Chironomids, callibaetis nymphs & small streamers were the flies of choice. Lastly, the fish were not feeding aggressively and strikes were light with lots of short strikes between hookups. In spite of these challenges, everyone got fish. Most were stocked rainbows but a few brook trout and cutthroats were taken too.

Thanks to everyone for coming to the Fish A Long and making it a great weekend!

June 2025 Fish A Long & Fishing Reports

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Our much anticipated Central Oregon Fish A Long was a lot of fun in spite of some cold fronts that rolled thru and slowed down the trout bite. Here’s a recap; pics first with the description below.

Thursday we hit Hosmer Lake. I had some bad luck when my electric motor died in the channel halfway between the upper & lower lakes, so I had to use the oars. The extra excercise made the burgers taste that much better at the end of the day!

On Friday we enjoyed a big breakfast with Crepes supplied by Lane. Then we hit Crane Prairie and it got cold fast plus a rainstorm rolled in around noon. That night we had a spaghetti feed. After dinner Chris organized a poker game where the bets were flies. It was a lot of fun!

Saturday morning was cold with more bad weather predicted. We had a big bacon & egg breakfast then finished our fly exchange from last nights poker game. With the bad weather we fished on our own. Rich did OK on the Deschutes between Wickiup & Crane Praire. Then we enjoyed a Pork Loin Dinner supplied by Tim.

On Sunday we made the trip to Diamond Lake. Warmer weather was predicted but unfortunately it was late in coming and the bite didn’t start until around 4pm. That evening we enjoyed Mexican Food in LaPine. The next morning we all drove home. It was another fun Central Oregon Fish A Long. A big thank your to Chris and Stevie for hosting us again this year!

June Fishing Reports:

From Lane Hoffman: Went back east to go striper fishing. Had a really good day, landing around a dozen including one on a surface popper!

From George Krumm: Made a trip to Wasilla, Alaska to fish the roadside accessible lakes. It was another great do-it-yourself trip!

Thanks to everyone that attended the Fish A Long and submitted reports!

Presidents Message July 2025

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Every year it seems like summer will never get here but once it does it starts flying by! I find myself scrambling to squeeze in all the things I wanted to do once the weather gets nice. This summer I have some good fly fishing plans and hope you do too! These include hitting the Pacific Ocean for Rockfish to chasing trout in Oregon and beyond.

Our July 15th meeting at High Rocks will feature the always popular Garrett Lesko. His presentation will focus on the Crooked River. It’s one of our most popular fisheries that experienced a die off several years ago due to extremely low water but good fishing has returned and it’s time to get re-aquanted!

The July 19th Fish A Long will be on a Mt Hood Lake, most likely Harriet Lake as it’s due to be stocked the week before the Fish A Long. Several of us will be camping out a day or two before. Contact me if you’d like more info on our camping plans.

We have years of fishing reports logged on our website. Looking back on them is a fun way to get ideas for local fly fishing opportunities currently happening or coming up. Type “July” or “August” 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!

Good fishing! 

Dave Kilhefner

May 2025 Fishing Reports

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

From Laura McGuill: I was able to celebrate my birthday with a few Clackamas Fly Fishers at Howell Pond. We had steady action on Bluegill, Bass & a few trout all day long.

From Dave Hopkins: Rich H, Dave K and I camped out at Heartland Lake and had good fishing for Trout & good sized Crappie.

From Dave Kilhefner: fished Drano Lake with several hundred of my new best friends in early May. Had one spring chinook on but it didn’t stick. Dang!

From Ken Kelley: fished the upper Metolius with indicator & euro nymphing tactics. Its a beautiful place!

From Dave Kilhefner: I met up with Joe Warren at Rufus Woods Lake in northeastern Washington to fish for triploid rainbows. We had good weather during the 3 days we fished and each caught around 20 rainbows in the 8lb to 10lb range plus MANY smaller ones in the 16″ to 18″ range. The biggest trout I hooked made a run into my backing before straightening out the hook.

Thanks to everyone for contributing your reports!

June 2025 Presidents Message

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Hope everyone has been having a good spring. I just returned from a fun trip to Rufus Woods Lake in northeastern Washington. It’s been on my bucket list for a while and didn’t disappoint! The fishing was fantastic and the weather was perfect.

Our speaker for the June17th meeting will be from Northwest Fly Fishing Outfitters. The presentation will be on fly fishing opportunities in the Mt Hood National Forest; it’s in our backyard and has lots of untapped potential.

We have a GREAT Fish A Long lined up this month. 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; heres a link to the 2024 report.

This coming weekend is Free Fishing Weekend in Washington. Several years ago we had a Fish A Long on the Washington side of Bonneville Dam for Shad. Unfortunately I will not be able to attend but contact me for details (gear, flies & a fishing map). 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