Float Tube Fly Fishing

June 2020 Fishing Reports

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The Corona virus situation is still very much with us and it looks like it will be for a long time. Since fishing access has been a little confusing the last couple months, Brad Jonasson contacted the ODFW and put together some great Covid Fishing Info. Thanks Brad!

Also, the Oregon Fishing Club sent a copy of their Covid policy.

With everything going on, June still remains a very good fishing month so club members got out and caught fish while of course maintaining responsible social distancing.

As always, pictures first with the report following below. Enjoy!

Several Club Members traveled Justesen Ranch early in the month, using Maupin as their base camp. Fishing was very good for rainbow trout. Chironomid fishing was the most consistent tactic but the trout were hungry and taking a little bit of everything from stripped streamers to dry flies.

From Greg O’Brien: Fished on the Feather River in CA with my brother at the beginning of the month.  Caught tons of Shad on swung fly/trout Spey setup plus a few stripers on stripped streamers; the stripers weren’t large but they were super aggressive.  

Also fished the Deschutes, mostly trout speying with streamers and soft hackles. It wasn’t lights out fishing, but got a decent number of tight line takes. Also got a big lazy bass, easily over 5 lbs and a 24”+ squawfish. 

Shad fished at a John Day dam from bank and got some, also Hamilton Island at Bonneville where I got a couple Swinging with my trout Spey rod.  

From Richard Harvey: The OFC properties produced some big rainbows this month. They were taking larger and larger flies as the month progressed  

From Darryl Huff: Been fishing the Deschutes on a weekly basis, doing well with perdigons sub surface and caddis on top. Also fished the Sandy river with spinners and drifted beads , finding an occasional summer steelhead. 

From George Coutts and Dave Kilhefner: We fished an Oregon Fishing Club lake late in the month that held bluegill, bass and trout. The surface temperature was 75 degrees, so to find the trout we concentrated on the deeper water creek bed channel where there was cooler water and found some nice trout. Red Chironomids were best, but trout were caught on a variety of flies.Around lunch time the fish stocking truck showed up. It was interesting to see how the lakes are stocked and naturally we tried fishing for some of the freshly stocked trout but didn’t have any luck with them.

From Ron Woodke: Fished at Timothy Lake for 2 days using both fly and spin fishing techniques. Caught 5 the first morning before it got to hot. Started earlier the second morning and caught three over 18 inches float tube fishing out of the Pine Point area.

From Lane Hoffman: Fished the lakes off Century Drive and also East Lake for a few days. The fishing was good but the area was WAY to crowded!

From Kevin Rogers: Decided to check out Frog Lake for the first time and did pretty good. Had on a small orange damsel nymph and tossed at the shore line and along one of the trees. Hooked into a 3-plus pound trout; the rest varied in size. Nice day out on the water. 

From Mike Longacre: I want to give a shout out to Korkers customer service! Some of my wading boots studs came loose. They forwarded new new studs at no cost and advised using blue lock tite on the threads would keep this from happening in the future. Thanks again to Mark at Korkers!

May 2020 Fishing Reports

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The Corona virus situation made getting out and going fishing a bit confusing this month and many of us could not figure out what access points & waters were open or closed. Still, some folks managed to crack the code, get out and catch a few fish plus some 2020 Fly Fishing Challenges were met.

Here are their reports. As always, pictures first with the report below.

From Darryl Huff: May delivered fabulous fishing on the Deschutes! Most were taken on the dropper below a stonefly dry; occasionally the fish would key on the surface fly. Camped on the river when the big thunderstorm blew thru, the river got off color but the fishing was OK until the river got really ugly.

From Michael Longacre: Drove to Timothy Lake on May 29th. The Campgrounds were supposed to be open but they were not. I left around 1 PM and the gates were still closed. Trucks and Trailers were lined up to get in. I parked at a day use area and carried my boat in. The morning was wind free and warm and the lake had an algae bloom. Fish were jumping every where but I didn’t get any bites. Saw a bank angler catch a 13 inch rainbow on power bait.

From Richard Harvey: Been relegated to OFC properties due to all the closures but they haven’t disappointed. Been catching lots of big trout, bass, and bluegills.  The fish are starting to take bigger flies this month.

From George Coutts and Dave Kilhefner: we fished the Oregon Fishing Club ponds several times. Fishing was hit and miss as the water got very warm on the hot days. Chironomids and streamers seemed to be the best producers.

April 2020 CFF Fishing Reports

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Hi Everyone, the Coronavirus lockdown is still with us! During the month of April some CFF members ventured out on the water, kept their distance and enjoyed good fishing. Here are their stories with the pictures on top and the report below:

From John Warren: (from March, I missed this one in my email inbox) My grandsons have been taking advantage of their extend spring break and doing well on Fall River and Crooked. This one is from Fall and will send additional pics from each after this ( you should be able to tell which river.) I met them Sunday in Maupin and showed them around. No pics from there, but I got around 10 trout and one of boys got around 8 with a few whitefish mixed in. Truck thermometer read 71 in the afternoon!.

From Richard Harvey: Like last month the OFC properties fished well.  The key was to go small with your flies.

From Lane Hoffman: Fished Rocky Ridge Ranch it’s fishing the best I have ever seen! Really big fish, I’m talking about 5 to double digit Rainbows! Fished both the upper & middle lakes, both were excellent. Size 10 olive “Seal” bugger & a size 12 olive jig fly. Both were fished on an intermediate sinking fly line and a 1X fluorocarbon leader, don’t go light on the leader & use a loop knot! A fished Krumbo Reservoir on the south end of the Malheur Refuge in SE Oregon which fished very well. Two size of fish, 12 to 13 inches & 20 plus all footballs; great float tube lake. By myself so no pic’s.

From George Krumm: I fished RRR three days this month.  There are good numbers of large rainbows this year.  I didn’t make it down to Mullein, but both of the other two lakes fished well.  On my best day, I landed about 20 fish which doesn’t sound all that great, but at least a dozen were over 5 pounds, with a few much larger than that. Black leeches, olive leeches, and black chironomid pupa imitations all worked.

From Dave Kilhefner: George Couts and I hit a couple Oregon Fishing Club lakes. We met at Oregon City Home Depot, put on our masks and carpooled to the Highland Lakes area. Fishing was a little slow but we both managed to land a few plus it was great to get outside. Chironomids and small leeches were the best flies. The next day I fished the Sandy River. Shared the water with a guy fishing jigs and beads, so tried something different and threw a spoon and caught this beauty.

From Darryl Huff: I frequently hook sturgeon on the Sandy while steelhead fishing. This one was a little larger than most. This one took a bead and was landed on a 10 pound leader.

From Greg O’Brien: Not much fishing for me this month, but did manage a few trout on a recent outing to Rainier Ponds. 

From Kevin Rogers: My one time out I fished Sauvies on opening day before it got crowed. Worked on fishing dry flies for a change, they were hitting non stop for about an hour.

Hope everyone is tolerating the social distancing requirements, masking up when out in public and maintaining a positive outlook. This lockdown won’t last forever!

September 21st Fish-a-long Coffenbury Lake

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Coffenbury Lake, located in Fort Stevens State Park by Warrenton, will be the location for the September 21st Fish-a-long. The lake contains rainbow & cutthroat trout along with warm water fish. Coffenbury was recommended by CFF speaker Jeff Morgan plus it’s due to be stocked with 500 trophy rainbow trout right before the fish-a-long.

This is a new location for us. Given the number of new float tubes at the Round Lake fish-a-long this summer, I wanted to schedule one more lake trip this year.

Those planning to attend, please RSVP to Dave@kbi-ins.com by Sept 17th so we know how much food to bring.

What: Cutthroat & Rainbow Trout and Warmwater Fish.

Were:  North Boat Ramp at Coffenbury Lake in Fort Stevens State Park

When:  Saturday, September 21. Meet at the boat ramp area between 8am and 9am. I will probably be there a little earlier to catch the first light bite.

Equipment: There are two fishing docks but the lake is best fished from a float tube or small boat & 4-6wt rods . The lake is not deep so a floating line is all you’ll need but if you prefer an intermediate line that will work too. The weather should be OK but rain is always a possibility.

Flies: Standard lake patterns.

Food Provided: Coffee & donuts for breakfast and CFF executive chef Cheryl will make us something good for lunch.

Directions: It’s an easy 2hr drive from Portland with paved roads the whole way. Drive to Ft Stevens Park then stay on Peter Iredale Rd to the boat ramp. There is a $5 day use fee.

Round Lake Fish A Long Report

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This year’s Round Lake Fish a long was very well attended and a lot of fun. A big Thank You for everyone who made the long drive to make this event a success.

Several of us decided to drive over Friday afternoon and camp and it was a lot of fun. John Warren’s wife Linda made a pot of beef stew and everyone else pitched in for a tasty pot-luck dinner. The weather was clear and Dave brought his spotting scope and we were able to check out Jupiter’s Moons in the southern sky.

On Saturday everyone rolled in between 8 and 9am and we enjoyed a light breakfast of hot coffee, donuts and lemon bars before hitting the lake.

Fishing at the lake was tougher than expected. One big surprise was a couple of otters had taken up residence. Otters are great fun to watch but if you’re a fisherman it’s both a good and bad sign; they know the fishing is good but they put a big dent in the fish population!

David Mullins was one of the first anglers on the lake and did well for a while on Simi-Seal Leeches that he tied at Jim Adam’s fly tying class in March. Green and brown were his best colors.

Another thing that made the fishing a little tough was the usually plentiful Callebaetis hatch wasn’t really happening. However, there were still enough of these bugs around to fake you out; they were like a small “decoy hatch” and lots of trout were jumping but it was hard to figure out what they were taking.

The most successful dry fly was discovered by Kevin Rodgers, who had good success along the far shaded shoreline by casting a Black Flying Ant close to sunken logs close to the bank and the overhanging fir trees. There were also lots of Blue Damsels flying and a few club members had some action fishing those, plus its fun to watch trout jumping a foot or more out of the water trying to snag one!

Round Lake is one of the few high lakes that have brown trout along with the usually more plentiful brook trout. One this day, most of the catch were brown trout about 12” long and we only caught a couple brook trout. Usually, it’s the other way around.

Cheryl Kilhefner put together a tasty deli sandwich style lunch and Paul Brewer helped her pack it up to the lake, where we all enjoyed good food and good company on this very fine day.

CFF Justesen Ranch Fish A Long Report

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Another great fish a long is in the books! Last weekend we traveled to the Justesen Ranch Lakes located by Grass Valley. The weather was very nice and the fishing was good and the company even better. Everyone had a very good time.

We stayed in a nice farm house and had a hearty dinner of Sloppy Joes and Ceasar Salad provided by Cheryl Kilhefner. We also had a great apple cake for desert provided by John Warren’s wife Linda. A big thank you to everyone that chipped in with food, snacks and spirits!

The fishing was a mix of hot action at times mixed with periods of selective trout when a different kind of bug started hatching, giving us all a riddle to figure out…or not!

On Sunday the fish went selective on us and while they were jumping everywhere, we could not buy a strike! On this day Trux Dole earned top honors for staying with it and finding the hot fly: a blue damsel dry pattern that the fish absolutely hammered.

For subsurface patterns, most of the time the hot fly was a Red Snow Cone Chironomid fished about six feet under and indictor. When that stopped working casting and stripping green damsel nymphs drew strikes. Green Devils and Callebaetis nymphs also worked well.

This weekend the water temperature was in the mid 60’s producing good damselfly and mayfly activity. And as always, Chironomids were a stillwater staple. Some of the lakes have very clear water and have better dry fly/hatch matching opportunities. Other lakes have a higher nutrient load and while the water isn’t as clear, they have better subsurface fishing as the fish are not as picky. One of the best things is Justesen Ranch offers many lakes to choose from so there is no shortage of water to explore.

May 25th Fish-A-Long Report

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Thank you to everyone who came to this months Fish-A-Long. Also, a double thank you to CFF members Kevin and Joey who did some extra recon over the last couple weekends to help us find the right place to go today and also to Robert Campbell, co-author of Fishing Mt Hood Country, who generously shared his knowledge of this lake.

For several years I’d been hearing good things about Timothy Lake so I was excited to finally get to fish here. On the way to the lake I stopped in at The Fly Fishing Shop where Tony gave me some good advice and hot flies (#8 AP Emerger) that worked all day long.

Even thought the weather was cool and a little windy, all the other stars aligned to make this a great day. The lake had been recently stocked, the water was very clear and 55 degrees; perfect for good trout activity. Everyone caught fish, a couple trout over 20” were landed and to top it all off we saw a pair of eagles teaching their young how do dive bomb the surface of the lake and snag a trout dinner. Richard Harvey did a great job capturing a video.

Hagg Lake Fish-a-long Report

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We had a great day at Hagg Lake last Saturday. The weather was good with mild temperatures, no rain and very little wind.

About 12 people joined the Fish-a-long including a new member Sue Deering. Sue was first on the water and did well casting & also trolling green/black woolly bugger on intermediate line, which was the best fly fishing tactic this day.

The Simi Seal Leech, featured at our March Fly Tying night, was a good pattern too.

Fishing was interesting and everyone had lots of strikes but relatively few hookups. Short strikes, lots of them, were the norm this day. The trout that were caught were about 12 inches long and fought stubbornly. We heard from some other local fly anglers that trout to 18” were possible.

The water was a pea green in color but it was clearer than it looked with 5’ to 6’ of clarity. The temperature was 55 degrees. There were no visible hatches. Those of us with fish finders noted the almost all fish were about 9 feet deep.

Hagg Lake has a good population bass and we hoped to catch some, but the water was a little too chilly for good bass activity. Common wisdom says Smallmouth’s like water temps around 65 degrees and Largemouth’s closer to 70.  

This is a good place for float tubing and kayaking. There is really not enough room to fly cast from the bank. Also, the banks are clay and a little slippery.

The parks are nice and we were able to set up a good place for lunch, which was Taco’s with ingredients provided by Cheryl. We had a ton of food and everyone enjoyed seconds. Thanks again for everyone that came to make this fish-a-long another successful event!

Henry Hagg Lake Fish-A-Long

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This month’s Fish-A-Long will be this Saturday at Henry Hagg Lake, located near Forest Grove. Hagg Lake was stocked April 1st with 7,000 legal rainbows and 400 trophies. Beside trout, good size Largemouth and Smallmouth Bass are available. This is a new location for us and we are looking forward to exploring new water!

What: Rainbow trout and bass

Were:  Henry Hagg Lake near Forest Grove

When:  Meet at the Sain Creek picnic area at 8:30 AM. There is $7 day use fee.

Equipment:  Best fished with a float tube and standard lake patterns. The weather should be OK but rain is always a possibility this time of year.

Lunch: Coffee, donuts and Lunch will be provided.

Directions:  About an hour’s drive west of Portland: you can take either Hwy 26 to North Plains then head south on Hwy 47 past Forest Grove to Scoggins Valley Rd then on to the lake. There are several alternate scenic routes on Mapquest. Once at the lake, pay at the fee booth for your day pass then go left drive across the dam then follow West Shore Drive to Sain Creek  Picnic Area.

If possible send me a text or email so I know who will be there. Paul 503-635-3156 or ponzdog@icloud.com

Fly Fishing Hagg Lake Video by Micole Jensen, who did a presentation on Kayak fishing for CFF a while back: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=84Th1W3H6fM

CFF October 20th Fish-A-Long

/ davekilhefner / 3 Comments

This months Fish-A-Long will be this Saturday at Pine Hollow Reservoir. Pine Hollow was stocked with 2,500 legal + 375 trophy trout on October 6th so there are a lot of fish in the lake and fishing should be good.

What: Rainbow trout and largemouth bass

Were:  Pine Hollow Reservoir in Wamic Oregon

When:  Meet at the South Boat Ramp at 8:30 AM There is parking and a restroom there.

Equipment:  Best fished with a float tube and standard lake patterns. The weather should be great, but will most likely be cold in the morning. (I will have coffee)

Directions:  About 2 hours from Portland: you can take either Hwy 26 over Mt Hood or I-84 up the Gorge and the driving time is about the same. Both routes are on Google maps. Use Wamic Rural Fire Department as the destination; the ramp is next door.

Make a weekend out of it ther is camping and hotels close and there is Rock Creek Reservoir 5 min away and the Deschutes is only 25 min away.

If possible send me a text or email so I know who will be there. Paul 503-635-3156 or ponzdog@icloud.com