April 2024 Fish A Long Report

This is really more of an eat-a-long report with a little fly fishing thrown in. Why? The beautiful weather we had was the result of a front rolling thru and it put both the insect hatches and the fish down. Still, fly fishing is more fun in good weather we throughly enjoyed ourselves plus managed to catch a few fish.

On Thursday I met Rich at Howell Pond for some Bluegill & Bass fly fishing. Rich did really well on the bluegills fishing a #14 Blue Nymph a few feet under and indicator, working it close to the shoreline weeds. I did well on bass with a White Halfwit Leech working the weeds and structure. Afterwards we hit the Gales Creek Tavern for Burgers before heading to Schmadeke Pond to set up camp.

Friday morning dawned clear but a little chilly & breezy and while the weather warmed up later in the day, the fishing didn’t. We had a few skunkings and no on caught more than two trout. Desperate for some action, I duplicated Rich’s bluegill rig, worked the woody shoreline areas and caught a bunch of crappie. Afterwords we headed to Smokehouse Chicken & Guns for good food and live music. That night we enjoyed some time around the campfire.

Saturday morning started out with a lot fishier feel with warmer temps, high clouds and rising fish. After some time around a morning campfire with hot coffee and snacks, we got to fishing. Unfortunately is was still tough, but sticking with it paid off. Brad Jonasson caught his largest trout to date, a heavy bodied 23 incher. Today, smaller size dark chironomids produced the best results.

Thanks to everyone for coming and making this fish a long a fun event. The next fish a long is May 25th at Lake Harriet.

2024 CFF March Fishing Reports

We had some great weather and great fishing in March! Pictures first with the reports below.

From Chris Brehm: Bull Trout fishing on Lake Billy Chinook has been very good with multiple fish days. Bunny and M.O.A.L Leeches worked well.

More From Chris Brehm: March was a productive month for me: Got out on the ocean out of Newport for some Lings and Black Bass. Caught a few Rainbows and Whitefish on the Deschutes and the Crooked where this fatty was caught and released using a Black Mini-Leech under an indicator. Water on the Crooked was running high (+-450 cfs) but dropping. Caught Steelhead on the Sandy and this one on the Wilson too!

Congradulations to Garrett Lesko for winning Fly Tyer of the Year award!

From Dave Kilhefner: hooked some nice steelhead on the Sandy. Lost most of them but they all stayed on long enough to give me a rush!

From Andy Wilder: Andy is the owner of Wilder Lake out by Dunee. He said he restocked his lake and fishing has been fantastic for 18-22” trout. They are taking emerging chiromomids just under the surface plus there are a few mayfly hatches too. We had a really good fish a long there a couple years ago!

Thanks to everyone for contributing your reports!

March 2024 Fish A Long Report

The goal for springs first outing is fish, food, fires and fun! To be honest, fishing was a little on the tough side. While we saw a variety of bugs, the hatches were sparse. The fish were not active so you had to grind them out. But the work paid off as several good size trout & whitefish were landed.

Nymphing tactics were best with Euro nymphing edging out Indicator tactics. When the wind picked up I relied on drop shoting, the extra weight helps keep the line tight. Our best patterns were tried and true favorites; hares ear, pheasant tail & prince nymphs around size 14. To switch things up Rich tried swinging steamer and got a ripping strike from a big trout that threw the hook on the surface.

For the most part the weather was nice but we did have a pretty good rainstorm blow thru Friday night and another one late Saturday afternoon.

The water was a touch off color and on the high side, flowing at 4,700cfs. This is just high enough that we needed to hunt for new spots as most of our usual productive places had too much current. The water temp was on a rising trend, maxing out at 48 degrees in the afternoons.

Even with the fishing being a little slow, the Deschutes canyon greening up in spring is a great place to be. We heard lots of chuckars, saw plenty of deer and the weather was good. Our goal of fish, food, fires and fun was achieved!

Next months Fish A Long will be at Schmedeke Pond. Here’s a link to last years report to whet your appetite. Hope to see you there!

CFF February 2024 Fishing Reports

Apparently February’s weather had a lot of folks staying home. I was able to get out several times and ended up doing OK. As always, pictures first with the report below.

From Dave Kilhefner: got out on the Sandy river a few times in early February and got a couple on spoons. An aquantance had a fun father/son day, hooking a nice fish then handing off the rod to his son who landed this chrome beauty.

From Dave Kilhefner: traveled to the Kona coast of Hawaii and did some fishing off the rocks. Every time out I managed to catch a variety of reef fish using wheat bread smashed on the hook for bait (a local favorite). Also threw castmasters hoping to catch a bluefin trevally but they were scarce this trip.

CFF January 2024 Fishing Reports

The crazy weather last month put a damper on our fishing efforts but a few of us managed to get out and make some good things happen. Pictures are first with the report below.

From Darryl Huff: Got my 1st steelhead on the swung fly January 4th on the Sandy. Went back out the next day got a Wild steelhead on the swing. Had the drag a bit too loose on this one. It went airborne immediately with line coming off the reel too fast. Got out one more time on the 8th before the Sandy blew out & caught one of my top 10 best fighting hatchery steelhead. It had a left max clip and weighed 14.2 pounds.

From Chris Brehm: Spent several days chasing winter Steelhead. Got one little hatchery fish on the Sandy. Released some chrome natives on the Wilson. Stopped by Pyramid Lake NV on a road trip with my wife. No luck for me but I saw some nice fish landed. Hope to get back there soon.

Thanks to everyone for sending in their reports!

CFF December 2023 Reports

Hope everyone enjoyed the Holidays and was able to get out and do some fishing. The big news was Ed and Lane’s trip to Venice…Louisiana! Pictures first with the reports below.

From Lane Hoffman: Did well on some big Lousianna Redfish with Ed, Tom & Ken.

From Wayne Hughes: Fished Hagg lake and found some fat hold over rainbows willing to take some leach patterns fished on a type 3 full sinking line.

Spent a couple of days with the reintroduction of Chum salmon group at the Big Creek Hatchery. We helped relocate about 190 adult Chum salmon back into streams that historically had Chum runs in the past. This program might have some implications on some Willamette river tributaries.

From Darryl Huff: got a nice steelhead on the Sandy in late December. The steelhead run on the Sandy is late this year. The left max clip on this fish indicates that either the sperm or the egg came from a wild fish. 

From Rich Harvey: hit Blue Den Lake for some big trout. Cool/cold weather slowed down the fishing but grinding it out with white streamers paid off.

From Dave Kilhefner: Rich & I hit Big Tree Lake for some afternoon trout fishing for our last trip of 2023. The cold water had the fish moving slow but we managed a few each. Afterwards we got some good food and a cold one at the Clarkes General Store.

Thanks to everyone for sending in your reports!

CFF November Fishing Reports

November is often a sleeper month that can produce some very good fishing when the weather cooperates. For the most part it did. Pictures are first with the reports below.

From Greg Obrien: Went to the Delta with my brother in early November. He did great on stripers up to about 10 lbs and I scratched out a few smaller ones. We also got a few large mouth bass up to 5 lbs; 2/0 clousers with rattle beads were the ticket. Ventured east with a buddy for the only summer steelheading of the year for me and we got a couple, one 29” swinging a floating line/wet fly and one 32” swinging a bunny leech with a sink tip.

From Dan Colish: Hit the Deschutes in late November. It was a good day on euro. Easy to forget how close we are!

From Tanner Kennedy: Fished the Kilchis November 10 & 11th swinging for chum.  I’ve been fishing that river since the late 1980’s and I don’t think I have ever seen that many chum present before; also don’t know if I have ever seen that many drift boats on the river! Friday the 11th was crazy from Logger Bridge down, there were at least 50 boats on the river. On the 10th I was fishing with my son in his boat and we managed to also find some chinook and a beautiful specimen of a native coho.

Thanksgiving morning I took my Son to an OFC Stillwater and we landed some nice rainbows on tiny bugs under indicators. It was really good. We landed 26 fish and made it home in time for Turkey and a nap.  We decided to try again 2 days later and found several more using indicators and stripped fly tactics.

From Darryl Huff: Made multiple trips to the Warm Springs area in November. We caught quite a few nice trout in the 15-19″ range, primarily on egg patterns.

From Craig Kerschen: Catching a Chum Salmon was my bucket list. I was able to make it down to Tillamook Bay for the last day of that season…Nov 15th.

I had hunted Elk up both the Miami and Kilchis rivers so I was familiar with those rivers. It did not take long to find Chum near the 3 mile marker up the Miami. What a thrill! Got a beauty, my first Salmon on a fly rod. 

From Chris Brehm: Spent a cold late November day on Diamond Lake. The Browns are gorgeous this time of year.  

From Mike Shiiki: Had a great day in Warm Springs watching Darryl hog all the hogs, again! It was a great day. My son Nathaniel did well too with a 20+” Redside. 

Also had a good day at OFC Big Tree Lake. The cabbage is starting to die down making it easier to get around.

From Dave Kilhefner: Rich Harvey, Dave Hopkins and I hit OFC Blue Den Lake a couple time. Both days were cold and the fishing was a little slow. We all managed some nice fish but Rich caught two exceptional trout measuring 34” and 31” on big white streamers.

Thanks to everyone for contributing thier reports. We already have some good ones rolling in for December as well.

October 2023 Fish A Long Report

This October Fish A Long is one for the record books! Besides landing hundreds of trout and whitefish, the weather was exceptional with clear skies, temps in the low 80’s and very little wind. We even hooked a couple steelhead & landed one.

To top it all off, we burned lots of firewood and barbecued lots steak. Plus the road had been freshly graded and there were plenty of bighorn sheep putting on a show across the river.

While nymphing tactics worked best, in the evening Rich threw dries and was rewarded with some dry fly action.

The eggstravaganza should hold up for a while as the salmon spawn is in its early stages. I’m already looking forward to returning for the November 11th Fish A Long!

CFF September 2023 Fishing Reports

September is always a good month and this year was no exception. We’ve got some great reports to share; pictures are first with the written reports below.

From Joe Warren & George Krumm: Fishing was pretty good on the Naknek last week. Best fish was 33″! These trout are just like steelhead! Three of our 4 angler group landed trout in excess of 30”. Caught my first arctic char, 28″. I definitely want to go back!

Three of the four anglers in the group landed fish in excess of 30 inches. If you’re interested in going, email George at gkrumm@gci.net.

From Dave Kilhefner: Rich Harvey and I hit the Clackamas above North Fork Reservoir. Fishing was slow but we got a few. The river was lower than ever before and wading was very slippery.

From Lane Hoffman: There are some good reasons to get up early!

From Craig Kerschen: Laurence Lake has fished well all summer. The stocked rainbows are very healthy with 16″ fish fairly common along with small Bull trout and cutthroats. Afternoons will usually have a good Calibaetis hatch. Fishing the west end in float tube on the west end is my favorite approach.

From Dave Kilhefner: managed to combine business with a fishing trip to the St Joe River in the Idaho panhandle for Cutthroat & Whitefish. Fishing was off and on but when it was on, it was on!

From Chris Gardiner: spent 3 nights camping on the Metolious with friends at Lower Bridge campground. Fished between the Hatchery and LB campground. Tons of bug hatches but picky fish for the dry fly action. Picked up all my fish euro nymphing. The big ‘Bow pictured put up a hell of a fight with some screaming reel moments. Fun stuff!

From Matt Baker: I was able to find a few sea run cutthroat on the Wilson with the help of a few past trip reports.  The water was low and fishing somewhat slow but there were a few willing to bite.  Also went up and explored Fish Creek a bit; water was very low but I can confirm there are a few small fish in Fish Creek. 

From Ian Porteous: a mid September personal best coho!

Thanks to everyone for contributing reports this month!