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.
Our October 21st meeting is at High Rocks. Social hour starts at 6pm and the program at 7pm.
This months October 21st Fish A Long will be at Beavertail Campground on the Deschutes River. Historically, this has been a very popular Fish A Long. It’s become a tradition that several of us 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 “October” or “November” in the Clackamas Fly Fishers website search box you’ll get all the past reports for that month.
Please remember our sponsors, they are the lifeblood of the club. Stop by their shops and let them know you appreciate their support. Better yet buy something or book a trip.
An ocean caught silver taken on a sand lance streamer.
Summer is winding down and my favorite fishing season, fall, is almost 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 19th meeting is at High Rocks. I’m hoping to have Josh Linn do a presentation angled towards fly fishing the Metolius River. Social hour starts at 6pm and the program at 7pm.
The September 23rd 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 sponsors, they are the lifeblood of the club. Stop by their shops and let them know you appreciate their support. Better yet buy something or book a trip.
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. The picture above was taken last week from a Dory trip with Connect Outfitters. George & I got our limit of Black Rockfish before 8am then spent the rest of the day chasing silver salmon. We hooked about a half dozen, most of which we lost. It was a great day on the ocean.
Our July 18th meeting is at High Rocks. I don’t have a speaker lined up yet but will let you know when I do. Social hour starts at 6pm and the program at 7pm.
The July 22nd Fish A Long was scheduled to be at the north arm of Timothy Lake. However, hot weather and warm water have put the damper on this fishery so we will go to Harriet Lake instead.
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 “July” or “August” and you’ll get all the past reports for that month.
Please remember our sponsors, they are the lifeblood of the club. Stop by their shops and let them know you appreciate their support. Better yet buy something or book a trip.
Every year it seems like summer will never get here but once it does it starts flying by! Then I find myself scrambling to squeeze in all the things I wanted to do once the weather gets nice.
We don’t have a speaker for the June 20th meeting and instead will have a swap meet. I’ve got quite a bit of stuff that has been donated, mostly fly tying materials, books and other odd & ends too.
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 will get an email out with the details; heres a link to last years report: https://clackamasflyfishers.org/2022/07/27/july-2022-fish-a-long-report/
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 sponsors, they are the lifeblood of the club. Stop by their shops and let them know you appreciate their support. Better yet buy something or book a trip.
My apologies for the late presidents message. April went by so fast that its hard to believe May is here. Just like last year, crazy weather unsettled the local lakes and melting snow has the rivers flowing high. Still, there is good fishing around, but you have to be flexible, do a little research plus pay attention to the river gauges & weather reports.
Our speaker for our May 16th meeting will be Micole Jensen. His website is www.kayakflyangler.com and thus he’ll be talking about Kayak Fly Fishing. Also, he has some new cool kayaks to talk about and I’m looking forward to his presentation and hope to see you there.
Our May 20th Fish A Long will be at the Rainier Lakes, an Oregon Fishing Club property out past Vernonia. Just like last month, several of us will be camping. It will be a good time!
As soon as the Deschutes drops a little it should be game on. The big bug action isn’t happening just yet but nymph fishing is always dependable this time of year. Lane fished Rocky Ridge Lakes recently and had a good day. Lake Billy Chinook is producing good to excellent action for bull trout; this is the first time I’ve reported that. The point is, everything is changing these days and it’s important to be on the lookout for new fly fishing opportunities. They are out there!
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 “May” or “June” and you’ll get all the past reports for that month.
Please remember our sponsors, they are the lifeblood of the club. Stop by their shops and let them know you appreciate their support. Better yet buy something or book a trip.
This year has me asking the question “is 2023 the worst steelhead year ever?” It’s been a very tough season! In spite of this, we will have a few good steelhead photo’s in the March fishing reports. However, when April rolls around my mind shifts to trout fishing. The OFC lakes are beginning to come to life as the water warms up plus the Deschutes and other local streams will pick up too. We have above average snow pack this year so remember to check the water flows before you head out, plus be stocked up with some high water patterns like squirmy & san juan worms.
Our April 18th meeting at High Rocks will feature Garrett Lesko as our speaker. He’ll be talking about stillwater fishing and of course, will bring lots of his great flies to check out. I’m looking forward to his presentation.
Our April 22nd Fish A Long will be at Schmedeke Pond. We went there last year at this time and everyone had a great time and some big fish were caught.
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 “April” or “May” and you’ll get all the past reports for those months.
Please remember our sponsors, they are the lifeblood of the club. Stop by their shops and let them know you appreciate their support. Better yet, buy something or book a trip.
It’s no secret that Fly Fishing in 2023 has been a little challenging so far. We have low steelhead numbers plus the cold weather has made both the fishing and the drive over to the Deschutes challenging. Never-the-less I’m optimistic it will get better; it always does if you keep casting!
We’ll have a regular meeting March 21st at High Rocks. Our speaker is Michole Jensen, owner of KayakFlyAngler.com. He’s also the communications director for the Deschutes River Alliance.
This month marks three years as your club President. Over the past few years local fishing has been in a constant state of change, so it’s more important than ever to be flexible, roll with the punches and be ready when a window of opportunity opens.
Adapting to changing conditions is more important than ever and has become “the new normal.” For example, in years past the Crooked River was our go-to fish a long destination in March, but due to the low water fish kill last year we’ve had to shift gears so and go to the Deschutes around Maupin. There’s good camping & restaurants nearby plus it will be good to bend a rod after this year’s super slow winter steelhead season.
March signals the beginning of spring and many local fisheries begin to wake up and turn on. Trout in our local lakes will begin to get active as water temperatures rise from the low 40’s to the high 40’s. The Deschutes will have good fishing if water levels are stable & warming. Last but not least, March is the best month for trophy steelhead so keep flinging flies with your spey rod.
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 “March” or “April” and you’ll get all the past reports for that month.
Please remember our sponsors this, they are the lifeblood of the club. Stop by their shops and let them know your appreciate their support. Better yet buy something or book a trip. Good fishing!
Currently winter steelhead water conditions are low, cold and reports across the state continue to signal slow fishing. That said, warming weather and rain is in the forcast and since you can’t catch them from the couch, now is the time to get out and start chasing them.
One of the consolations during these slow years is most of the fish you do see caught are bigger than average, so when you do get out there beef up those tippets with at least 12lb Maxima or 15 Fluorocarbon. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve heard sad stories of big steelhead lost to light tippets.
This may sound strange, but when the numbers of steelhead are below average I would rather fly fish for them. The reason for this is when I’m fly fishing, I expect to work for every fish and this holds true no matter how good the fishing might be, plus fly casting passes the time and relaxes the mind. This helps me settle in for the long haul and enjoy more time on the water, which is what it’s all about.
Last months “steelhead school” Fish A Long went very well so we might do the same thing again this month. Another option would be an early trout fishing excursion. Let me know your preference before Valentines Day and I’ll get an annoucement out. Either way, the Fish A Long date will be Saturday, February 25th.
This months speaker will be George Krumm talking about Lake Billy Chinook Bull Trout Fly Fishing. It’s a fishery many of us have wanted to try so I hope to see you at the February 21st meeting.
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; type the word February or March in the search box and you’ll get all the past reports for that month.
Please remember our sponsors this, they are the lifeblood of the club. Stop by their shops and let them know your appreciate their support. Better yet buy something or book a trip. Good fishing!
At last the December reports are out. The big news was Ed and Lane’s trip to Venice…Louisiana. Pictures are first with the reports below.
From Lane Hoffman and Ed Rabinowe: we had a great trip to Venice LA! Fishing was very good with fish up to 36lbs!
From Rich Harvey: Big and Little tree lakes produced trout on Chironomid emergers. Fishing wasn’t hot in terms of numbers, but Dave and I landed some big ones.
From Mike Shiiki: Schmadeke Pond in mid December with my friend Christian… had some good runs with orange olive half wit… in the afternoon it was slow and then remembered Dave did well with a white leech… caught a bunch including the two XLs on a white half wit.
From Darryl Huff: got a bright winter run from the lower Sandy on a bead.
From Chris Brehm: my brother Santa Steve had a good time on the Sacramento River at Redding.
From Mike Shiiki: went to Ranier Lakes & the middle lake only had this little spot that wasn’t iced over… decided to fish it since I drove all the way there and landed a few nice trout.
From Dave Kilhefner: caught an old native silver on the Sandy while prospecting for steelhead.
Happy New Year! I hope everyone was able to enjoy some festivities even with the unusually stormy weather. I had my power knocked out for a few days but that didn’t slow me down too much.
I’m looking forward to the New Year and have a couple “fishing resolutions” to share. First is to go on 4-5 cool fishing trips and I already have 3 on the calendar. Second is to use my boat more. I have a pretty cool little boat that is good for chasing Steelhead on the Clackamas and Bass on the Willamette. Lasty, I’m going to make a half dozen fly tying videos & maybe even a few fishing videos.
It’s time to think about paying your 2023 membership fee. However if you joined as a new member in 2022 it will be good for 2023 too; we are on the honor system so please let me know. Here is the membership link plus I will be sending membership notices out to everyone. 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 “big 3” activities our club focuses on are meetings, fly tying and fish a longs (the 2023 schedule is on the website).
Just like last month, everyone that comes to the January 17th meeting at High Rocks will get a free beer on me. The speaker will be Michole Jensen. A couple years ago he gave us a presentation on Kayak fly fishing and he’s also the new communications director for the Deschutes River Alliance.
Our January 21st Fish A Long will be at my place on the Sandy River for a “steelhead school” with some hands on instruction on Spey Casting plus swung fly and nymph fishing presentations. In the past we’ve had this Fish A Long at Oxbow park but it gets pretty dang cold, so we’re having it at my place so we can warm up by the woodstove if the fishing is slow, and lets face it Winter Steelhead fly fishing is always slow!
As I’m typing this the water conditions are good but the steelhead are little scarce. Still, fish are being caught and nobody can cast far enough to get one from the couch, so you gotta get out there and pound the water! 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; type the word January or February in the search box and you’ll get all the past reports for that month.
January is a great month to get good deals after Christmas so get out to your local fly shop buy all the stuff that Santa forgot. Please remember our sponsors, they are the lifeblood of the club. Stop by their shops and let them know your appreciate their support. Better yet buy something or book a trip.
