November weather is always a crapshoot…but this year we got lucky! After a couple short squalls on Thursday we had nearly perfect fall weather the rest of the weekend.
The turnout was very good. Fishing wasn’t hot but everyone got fish. One reason for the slower bite was the big bright Beaver Moon each night (pics below). Also, the water was up a little and slightly more colored than last month; flowing at 4,355 cfs (last month it was 4,100 cfs).
Egg patterns were the best producer, but we also had action on nymphs, emergers and even dries.
Trout made up most of our catch but when you could find a pod of whitefish, they were cooperative! On Saturday we shared the water with Gills and Gals Pdx organized thru Northwest Fly Fishing Outfitters. It was a fun day and before leaving Shannon gave us her leftover gourmet sandwiches which were delicious!
There were not as many sheep running around as last month but we saw a few. It’s always fun the scan the cliffs looking for them.
Thanks to everyone who made the trip over the mountain, it was another fun Fish A Long!
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!
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!
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!
Our first Fish A Long was a big success. It was very well attended and I don’t think we could have squeezed another car into the driveway. The weather was a little on the cold side but the predicted east wind never materialized. We did a little fishing and I’m happy to report as a group our spey casting is getting better! The low cold water had the steelhead sulking but we did see otter working the lower end of the pool.
Expecting cold weather, for the most part we spent most of our time inside enjoying the warm wood stove and then a very good lunch while talking fishing. Good times were had by all. Thanks to everyone that came and made it a fun day!
Our November Fish A Long was well attended. It was more of a camping trip with a good fire to sit around, eat really good food and enjoy good conversation…with a little fishing thrown in. The weather was dry and the wind was down but as you’d expect, it was a little chilly. Fishing wasn’t hot but everyone got fish. Here’s a rundown.
Most trout were taken drifting egg patterns. The salmon spawn was mostly over but good afternoon hatches of small bugs had small nymphs producing action too. Rich did well swinging small size 14-18 soft hackles in the afternoon. These shorter days sneak up on you and the bite was over around 3:30. Fortunately we had a lot of firewood for evening campfires.
We had our BBQ steak dinner on Friday night. Everyone contributed and it was a meal to remember. The moon was down early this weekend which made for excellent stargazing.
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Besides fishing the local wildlife was out. There weren’t as many Rams running around as last month but we saw some every day.
Beavertail is always a good fall destination. Thanks to everyone for coming. Until next year!
This months Fish A Long was well attended. We had good weather, good food but somewhat challenging fishing conditions with a huge full moon (the pic below was taken at night!) and a spike in the water levels. Everyone got fish, but we had to work for them. Here’s a rundown.
On Wednesday afternoon I met Rich at Beavertail. Unfortunately the fire ban was still in effect. Thursday was a nice day but it was very windy in the afternoon. We hit the Macks Canyon boat ramp area and each got about a dozen fish. With the chilly wind we decided to drive into town for dinner.
Friday was another nice day and no wind. Perfect! People started arriving around noon and we hit the river. Then we had a fancy fireside dinner of fried potato’s, chili and grilled steak.
Saturday we got lucky with a second day of no wind. Ken brought delicious homemade egg rolls that we decided to have for breakfast. Since everyone is staying tonight we moved our steak lunch to dinner.
Fishing was good but not hot and we worked for our fish. I had a double on redsides and Rich got a 5lb steelhead down at the Macks Canyon ramp but these fish didn’t cooperate for the camera! It warmed up and the afternoon temp hit 70 degrees.
The bighorns were active in the canyon and put on quite a show. One strange coincidence is that 4 people needed jumps this weekend…lots of dead/dying batteries.
As expected the hot flies were smallish egg patterns in red, orange or pink. Ken had this cool new beadhead pattern called a Shlush Jelly Egg that worked well.
Best tactics were indicator nymphing with standard fly tackle and for euro nymphing drop shot rigs worked best. With the extra current and slippery rocks covering water was challenging but it did pay off.
Thanks to everyone who came and made this a great October Fish A Long!
Rich and I arrived on Wednesday afternoon. That evening we were greeted by the Harvest Moon, one of two “supermoons” to appear in 2024. While a full moon is great for camping, it’s been known to shut down the daytime fishing. Thus, we expected the fishing might be a little slow and were not disappointed!
After a good nights sleep Thursday morning dawned brisk and sunny. We had some coffee then went to the Camp Sherman store to talk flies & lies at the fly shop counter, check out some premium tackle then get a breakfast burrito. After that we found some unexpected entertainment by watching 18′ to 22″ trout slam Cheetos drifted under bridge. Then we drove into town as the hatch really doesn’t get going until the early afternoon. We got back around 2:30 and a few fish were rising. Fishing was on the slow side and after missing some trout on emerger patterns, Rich decided to throw his Kelly Galloup “Triple Articulated Boogieman Streamer.” A huge bull trout crushed it on the 4th cast and promply broke a 13lb tippet off. We think a sharp rock may have helped it!
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I spent Friday morning drinking coffee and organizing flies. I decided to stick with dry flies today. Haven’t done that in a while so it took a while to find the groove. Had about a dozen misses & refusals on drake emerger patterns. By the end of the day I had 3 respectable trout in the 14” range. A very fun afternoon!
Friday evening we had a good turnout that made for fun evening conversation. We couldn’t have fires so we sat around Riches lantern. Not as nice as fire but on the bright side there was no smoke to dodge.
Saturday morning was chilly; the overnight temperature got down into the 30’s. We walked down to the rivers edge by camp and discovered a couple nice trout working under the trees & brush. It was impossible to get a cast in there, but by wading carefully and feeding line into the current it was possible to drift a foam beetle into the zone and a healthy 17” specimen gobbled it down. It was the kind of catch that makes the whole trip worthwhile.
Hatches were sparse today but managed a few whitefish euro nymphing egg patterns. That’s about as down and dirty as you can get and still be fly fishing!
Rich and Dave hit the Bend Whiskey Fest in the afternoon and said it was a lot of fun. Then they fed more trout with Cheetos at Camp Sherman on the way home.
Sunday was another nice day. We had coffee, talked about the fishing then went down to look at the river. That nice trout from yesterday was back under the trees sipping on whatever the current would bring it. It was hungery for everything except our flies. Another time!
Thanks to everyone for coming and making this another great Fish A Long!
Best Flies: Whitefish: #12-14 Red Glo Bugs, #12-14 Olive Hares Ear Resides: #12 Green & Grey Drake Cripples, #14ish Foam Beetle Bull Trout: Big articulated streamers (6” +)
One of my favorite outdoor programs to watch is Meat Eater for the simple reason that when Steve Rinella has an unsuccessful outing, he still makes the show. You come to realize you don’t have to catch a fish or drop an animal to enjoy the outdoors, just like our July Fish A Long.
The weather over the weekend of July 20th was very hot! Thus, all the lakes up on Mt Hood were very crowded, especially Timothy. The day started with a drive up the Clackamas to Ripplebrook, up the recently opened road to Lake Harriet then on to Timothy Lake. I tried finding some relief on some of the small streams in the area but due to time constrants and the desire to enjoy the air conditioning, mostly I scouted out good spots to try in the future.
Even without a fish to put a bend in my fly rod, it was a good day!
We had another great Central Oregon Fish A Long hosted by Chris B. Thanks again Chris for the wonderful time!
On Thursday most of us arrived. Those that got there early enough fished Lava Lake. There were Callibaetis hatching and fish were rising…but they were a little tough to catch! It was a perfect summer day and the views were breathtaking. Our day ended with a delicious steak barbaque meal.
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On Friday we hit upper Hosmer Lake. Early the fish were mostly keyed in on Damsel nymphs. Rich was doing well on an olive brown micro leech that mimiced damsels and other tasty morsels. Both Chris and Stevie started doing well on beetles when the wind came up a little. I tried my trusty blue damsel and was rewarded with a couple good sized rainbows. We had an otter crusing around the lake for the better part of an hour that was fun to watch. We ended the day with a big spagetti dinner, the perfect meal for a bunch of hungry fly fishers.
Saturday morning we made the drive to Diamond Lake. It was the first time several of us had fished this lake and it didn’t disappoint. Rich got his first Tiger Trout in the morning. This fish stopped biting from 10 to 2, then in the afternoon Stevie started doing well on Callibaetis nymphs, and we caught several sizeable brown trout. Rich rounded out the day by catching a good brown on one of his big streamers. Tonights dinner was Mexican food in LaPine, a fine ending to a great day on the water.
On Sunday we had our traditional pancake breakfast before heading to East Lake. It was a little windy and the best fish of the day was Laura’s beetle eating brown trout, pictured at the beginning of this report.
The best flies this trip were; Olive Brown Damsel Nymph, Olive Brown Micro Leech, Callibaetis Nymph or flashback Pheasant Tail Nymphs, Beetles and Blue Dry Damsels.
Thanks to everyone who came and make this another fish a long to remember!
