Great presentation last night by Jay Nicholas!
Here are the requested links from his presentation:
Pacific City Fly Fishing: http://www.pacificcityflyfishing.com/contact.html
Jay’s Book Kickstarter Campaign: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/701338975/salmon-fishers-journal-by-jay-nicholas
Jay’s website: https://fishingwithjay.wordpress.com/
Jay’s YouTube videos: https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=jay+nicholas+fly+fishing
What- Carp Fishing
Where- Sauvie Island
When- 8 Am Saturday 22 July
This month we’ll be fishing for Carp on Sauvie Island. We’ll meet at the Sauvie Island store then head out to the different lakes.
This is wade & sight fishing to carp feeding in shallow water. These fish will average 5 to 10 pounds and fight like a bull dog.
Equipment
-5 to 8wt rods with matching reel & floating line. You will need at least 50yds of backing.
-9ft leader tapered to 10lb test.
-Waders, if warm enough you can wade wet.
-Wading staff, helps you in the mud along the edges.
-Proper Sun protection clothing & sunscreen.
-Flies will be provided.
Questions & carpooling will be discussed at the July CFF meeting.
Jay Nicholas is a retired fisheries biologist. The facts read something like this: four decades a professional scientist; five decades a passionate angler; four decades a dedicated fly tyer; honored for fisheries science and conservation accomplishments; artist; author of a dozen self published books related to fly fishing, salmon conservation, and fishing culture; recent contributor to Steelheader’s Journal, Fly Fishing and Fly Tying Journal, and Salmon Trout Steeheader; featured in over a hundred You Tube videos on fly tying; regular contributor to the Oregon Fly Fishing Blog.
Most of his fishing experience is focused on steelhead and salmon in western Oregon, especially in the coastal rivers and (recently) the nearshore waters near Pacific City. Jay’s passion for all things related to fly fishing and fly tying is matched only by his passion for family. He lives in Corvallis and Pacific City Oregon.
It will be a great presentation you won’t want to miss!
Meeting details: https://clackamasflyfishers.org/meetings-events/
Jason Osborn will be the CFF’s guest speaker Tuesday, June 20th. Jason is the owner of Ozcast Outfitters plus he’s the shop manager and head guide at CFF’s Gold Sponsor, Northwest Fly Fishing Outfitters.
Jason’s presentation will be on Catching More Steelhead; specifically the differences between summer steelhead, winter steelhead, high water & low water conditions and where to find steelhead in each of those scenarios.
It will be a great presentation you won’t want to miss!
Meeting details: https://clackamasflyfishers.org/meetings-events/
Put this on your calendar!!!
This month the fish along will be a Laurance Lake. This is a beautiful lake that sits on the north side of Mount Hood and provides you with a view of the mountain that you don’t always see. This lake is known for fly fishing and is a new place for our club to visit.
We will meet on Saturday morning in the main parking area. There is a $5 fee per car for using the park so you may wish to look at carpooling with other members.
The lake is large (127 acres) and contains rainbow, cutthroat, and bull trout. There is bank access but it is best fished from a floating devise such as a float tube. If you do not have a floating devise the club now has a small fleet of float tubes that you can use, so don’t use that as an excuse to not get out and fish!
The best fishing is at the top of the lake close to the inlets. It is probably best to use an intermediate lake line. As for flies a leach pattern works best….callibaetis nymph, seal bugger, woolly bugger, and chironomids fished sub surface with an indicator. There is the possibility of a callibaetis hatch as well.
We will talk about this at the next meeting so come for the details. If you just can’t wait please call Paul Brewer at 503-635-3156 for more information.
This months Fish-A-Long was a huge success with warm weather, good food and fun company. We had a strong turnout and everyone got into fish.
Special thanks to Lane Hoffman for cooking dinner Friday night, Phil for Saturday breakfast and Paul for grilling burgers for Saturday lunch.
Some of us arrived Friday evening. The wind was calm and there was a good chironomid hatch going on. Fish were rising all over, some only feet from the shore in less 2 feet of water. It was hard to sit and watch but technically our fishing did not start until Saturday. We enjoyed a few libations on the deck, told lies and enjoyed a tasty chicken & dumpling dinner prepared by Lane.
The sun is up early this time of year so to get on the water at first light the early risers were up at 4:30 and on the water by 5am to target some of the big cruisers on the main lake. Lane had good action early on Seal Buggers and the rest of us caught a few.
The upper lake had been freshly stocked with trout; some real big ones! They were hanging around the boat ramp. It didn’t take long to figure this out and since space at the ramp is limited we took turns catching fish.
The lower lake was uncrowded. Dave and Phil ventured down there and had steady action for most of the day. Dave caught a 25” rainbow on a Green Devil streamer.
The water temperature was around 60 degrees with about 4 feet of visibility. At this water temperature you expect to see the damsel migration going. While there where good numbers of adult damsels out, only a few fish were caught on damsel nymphs; not what you’d expect if the fish were looking for them. Later in the afternoon Lane and Nancy tried some blue damsel dry patterns; this didn’t produce fast action but the strikes were vicious and worth waiting for.
The Rocky Ridge lakes have lots of quality fish in them and fishing is good right now!
http://rockyridgeranchoregon.com/
Dave Kilhefner will be the CFF’s guest speaker Tuesday, May 16th. Dave will present “Fly Fishing Hacks—Small Shortcuts to Big Success.”
We are also having a small Fly Tying Materials Swap so don’t forget to bring your surplus materials and equipment. We will have some tables set up to display everybody’s goods starting at 6:00 pm. Please clearly mark your materials with your name and what your intention is for your materials (swap, sell, give away, etc.). We will try to have all of the swapping, selling, and donating completed in time for the meeting’s starting time of 7:00 pm.
We will also have another chance to sign up for our Fly Fishing Challenge. 25 members have already done so – some have already recorded their first catch from April’s fish-along at Rainier Lakes. Most streams open May 22nd. It’s free, easy and rewarding (patch and certificate). Start the season off by embracing the Challenge.
It will be a great meeting you won’t want to miss!
Meeting details: https://clackamasflyfishers.org/meetings-events/
The Rocky Ridge Lakes have some very big trout and the best time to get one of these pigs is when they are active for a short time before dawn. I arrived at the main lake at 6:30 to find Jim Adams fighting his second of two big trout; both were hooked on Chironomids.
That got the blood pumping so I quickly got into my float tube, kicked out of the shallows and started fishing with Chironomids as well. I got a couple average size trout, then the sun came up and the bite slowed.
Today the weather was clear with some high clouds. This place is famous for wind and there is really cool breeze blowing, but fortunately it’s not blowing too hard. The sun is up early this time of year and after our long winter this catches me by surprise. The water temperature was 56° with about 4 feet of clarity.
I tried several different Chironomid patterns and they just don’t seem to be working the way they should. After an hour or so of experimenting with different Chrironomid patterns and presentation styles with little to show for it I go in a completely different direction and tie on a Green Devil, which is basically a 1/32nd oz micro jig; green in color with an orange head. A fish grabbed it on the first cast! The fish are on this fly and by lunch it is mangled beyond repair.
It’s now closing in on lunchtime and needing more Green Devils, I kick in, set up my vice and tie 5 more. Then Lane cooks up some good burgers and we dine overlooking the lake. Full and tired, it was time for a siesta. Got back out on the lake at 2:30 and caught 4 trout on my first 5 casts! This fast action held up through the rest of the afternoon. Back on shore at the end of the day we were all smiles and agreed the fishing today had been epic. The hot flies were green toned leeches and woolly buggers. Carson got a steelhead sized fish on a Chironomid down by the earth dam.
Paul and Henry went down to the lower lake and had excellent action as well. The Rocky Ridge lakes have all been recently stocked and fishing is very good.
http://rockyridgeranchoregon.com/
It is time again for our annual fish a long at Rocky Ridge Ranch. This is one of the few events that the club has where there is a limit on the number of people. This year we are only going to have the lakes on Saturday with a limit of 10 people.
If you have not fished these lakes in the past it is something you should not miss. The ranch is located in Central Oregon and is about 40 miles south of The Dalles so the weather should be great. The lakes are well stocked with large trout for catch and release fishing. This is your opportunity to get into a real monster.
The cabin is available for both Friday and Saturday evening for $30 per person. There is a limit of 6 people so let me know if you are interested in spending the evening.
The fishing is limited to 10 anglers and we currently have 7 people signed up.
The cost for fishing these private lakes is usually $135 but with your club membership the cost is $100.
Please get your payment to Paul Brewer prior to the 20th
The club will provide a light breakfast as well as lunch on Saturday.
If you have any questions contact Paul Brewer ponzdog@icloud.com
Directions: VIEW IN GOOGLE MAPS
First a BIG THANKS to the Oregon Fishing Club for letting us fish the Rainier Lakes this weekend!
We met at 8am in the Tualatin Cabela’s parking lot then convoyed to the lakes, which took about 90 minutes. We had some heavy rain during the drive and it was starting to look like more of the rain gear test than a fishing trip. Fortunately when we arrived at the lake the rain had tapered off and we could see fish rising as we geared up—a good sign for sure!
This year the lake had been stocked with a good number of large size Albino Rainbow Trout. They really show up in the water, making for some interesting sight fishing. But, these albino trout are very finicky. Even when you do everything right they mostly just follow your fly without taking, but it really gets your heart racing.
Everyone caught fish today and one club member caught his biggest rainbow ever! Most of the trout we caught were healthy rainbows in the 14 to 20+ inch range.
The hot flies were dark colored Chironomid patterns in size 12 & 14. Both indicator and sink & slow retrieve presentations worked. Later in the day the Chironomid bite died and the trout started hitting woolly buggers with green patterns being the most successful.
We had intervals of rain, sun, wind throughout the day; it was typical crazy spring weather!
The water temperature of the lake was 52 degrees. The water had a nice green tint with about 4 feet of visibility.
This was another fun Fish-A-Long. Thanks to everyone for coming!
