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 and CFF has some great Fish A Longs coming up.

Our October 21st meeting is at High Rocks. Social hour starts at 6pm and the program at 7pm. Our speaker will be Joe Warren. He’ll be talking about Rufus Woods Reservoir in northern Washington. It’s famous for its Triploid Rainbow trout fishing. Joe has 20 years experience fly fishing there and I had a great trip up there with Joe earlier this year. It will be a great presentation you won’t want to miss.

This months October 25th Fish A Long will be at Beavertail Campground on the Deschutes River. It’s one of our most popular Fish A Longs. It’s become a tradition that several of us go a few days early, camp out and have a steak BBQ. Here’s a link to last years report. Hope to see you there!

Another fishing opportunity to note is Justensen Ranch Lakes will be opening to fishing on October 8th. Many of us have fished there and we had a great fish a long there several years ago.

It’s time for someone to think about becoming the new club president. I’ve been the club president since March of 2020 and can continue for another year or two, but not forever. If you’re interested in talking about this let me know. Naturally there are some obligations but it’s also a lot of fun plus has good perks too.

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. 

Good fishing! 

Dave Kilhefner

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. This summer I have some good fly fishing plans and hope you do too! These include hitting the Pacific Ocean for Rockfish to chasing trout in Oregon and beyond.

Our July 15^th meeting at High Rocks will feature the always popular Garrett Lesko. His presentation will focus on the Crooked River. It’s one of our most popular fisheries that experienced a die off several years ago due to extremely low water but good fishing has returned and it’s time to get re-aquanted!

The July 19th Fish A Long will be on a Mt Hood Lake, most likely Harriet Lake as it’s due to be stocked the week before the Fish A Long. Several of us will be camping out a day or two before. Contact me if you’d like more info on our camping plans.

We have years of fishing reports logged on our website. 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 local fly shops and sporting goods stores. Hope to see you at a meeting or on the water!

Good fishing! 

Dave Kilhefner

Hope everyone has been having a good spring. I just returned from a fun trip to Rufus Woods Lake in northeastern Washington. It’s been on my bucket list for a while and didn’t disappoint! The fishing was fantastic and the weather was perfect.

Our speaker for the June17th meeting will be from Northwest Fly Fishing Outfitters. The presentation will be on fly fishing opportunities in the Mt Hood National Forest; it’s in our backyard and has lots of untapped potential.

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 am sending an email out with the details; heres a link to the 2024 report.

This coming weekend is Free Fishing Weekend in Washington. Several years ago we had a Fish A Long on the Washington side of Bonneville Dam for Shad. Unfortunately I will not be able to attend but contact me for details (gear, flies & a fishing map). The water level looks good this year! 

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 local fly shops and sporting goods stores. Hope to see you at a meeting or on the water!

Dave Kilhefner

We’ve gotten a lot of water this spring and it’s made stream fishing challenging. When this happens its important to be flexible! The warm weather has the local Bluegills getting active and they can provide lights out action; the other day I hit a local pond and had a great time!

I’ll be giving a presentation on Euro Nymphing at our May 20th meeting at High Rocks.

Usually we’d have the Fish A Long the weekend after our meeting, but that falls on Memorial Day weekend. I’m unable to go the weekend before like we did last year so we won’t have a Fish A Long this month. On the good side, there is plenty of fishing opportunities happening so Check out our website for ideas.

Another reminder that Marty & Mia Sheppard of Little Creek Outfitters are resurrecting the Sandy River Spey Clave and it’s happening this week. Hope to see some of you 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 local fly shops and sporting goods stores. Hope to see you at a meeting or on the water!

Dave Kilhefner

It’s been a cool & wet spring, making stream fishing challenging with much higher than usual flows. Given this I’ve been hitting the OFC lakes, which are coming to life as the water warms. Eventually our local streams will drop putting spring trout fishing and steelhead fishing back on the menu.

Our April 15^th meeting at High Rocks will feature the always popular Garrett Lesko. His presentation targets fishing Diamond Lake in southern Oregon (pic above), a timely subject for the Central Oregon Lakes Fish A Long in June.

We will probably have to cancel our April 19^th Fish A Long. I’ll be out of town and we don’t have anyone else to run the Fish A Long. On the good side, there is plenty of fishing opportunities in April. Check out our website for ideas.

Another reminder that Marty & Mia Sheppard of Little Creek Outfitters are resurrecting the Sandy River Spey Clave. Mark your calendars for May 9^th & 10^th at Oxbow Park.

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 local fly shops and sporting goods stores. Hope to see you at a meeting or on the water!

Dave Kilhefner

Happy New Year! Hope everyone was able to enjoy good holiday festivities plus have some new fishing stuff to try out.

I’m looking forward to the New Year and have a couple “fishing resolutions” to share. First and most importantly is to fish more this winter, specifically at the OFC ponds (pic above) and local steelhead rivers. Next is to continue to improve our Fish A Longs calendar. Fishing opportunities continue to change over the years and it’s important to change with them.

Our January 21st meeting will feature a run down of our planned Fish A Longs for the coming year. While we have a schedule, it’s not set in stone so if you have any ideas let me know (call/email/text) so we can discuss them at the next meeting.

Our January 25th 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. Last year the weather was cold & wet and it was mostly fishing talk around the woodstove with a good lunch. It was a good time!

As I’m typing this we’ve had heavy rains and the water is a little high. Before this there were a few good steelhead reports and I expect more to roll in this month.

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. Type the word January or February in the search box and you’ll get all the past reports for that month.

It’s time to think about paying your 2025 membership dues if you haven’t already. Here is the membership link. If you participate in the club I will guarantee you’ll get a solid value for the $35 you pay to be a member.

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. Good fishing!

Dave Kilhefner

Hope everyone enjoyed a nice Thanksgiving and was able to get out and do some fishing with friends. Fishing last month was pretty good as you’ll see when the November fishing reports come out next week.

It’s time to think about paying your 2025 membership fee. However, if you joined as a new member in the second half of 2024 it will be good for 2025 too; we are on the honor system so please let me know. Here is the membership link. 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 main activities our club focuses on are meetings and fish a longs.

I’m looking for input on the 2025 Fish A Longs schedule. With the warming trends fishing opportunities are changing. Check out the 2025 fish a longs schedule and let me know if you’d like to see any changes; it’s not set in stone!

December is shaping up to be decent fishing month. My crystal ball says the most dependable fishing will be at the Oregon Fishing Club ponds for trout, especially after a warming trend (the pic above is Rich Harvey with a pig of a trout from Blue Den Lake). The key to winter fishing is to be ready to fish when a weather window presents itself. Several coastal streams get good early runs of steelhead. The Clackamas and Sandy get random shots of early winter steelhead too plus this year there are a good number of native, late running coho. Here’s a link to the PGE fish counts so you can see for yourself.

We don’t have a club Fish-A-Long in December but I’m open to helping folks with their spey casting and winter steelhead presentation basics. If you are interested in this email me and I’ll put you on the list.

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 and it works! Type the word December or January in the search box and you’ll get all the past reports for that month.

Now is the perfect time for Christmas shopping plus don’t forget to get your wish list out so you get all the stocking stuffers you want. Please remember our local fly shops and sporting goods stores.

Dave Kilhefner

November is the month fishing transitions from fall to winter. It presents many good opportunities for big trout putting on the feed bag for winter plus it can be the best month to catch a steelhead on a fly rod.

With the holiday season upon us we will have the Fish A Long early on November 9th so it doesn’t conflict Thanksgiving weekend. Once again we will be at Beavertail Campground on the Deschutes River. Several of us usually go a few days early and camp out. It can be chilly so bring warm clothes and some extra firewood.

Several members have asked about Chum salmon fishing on the coast. We used to always go there in November but the unpredictable fall rains or droughts prompted too many cancellations the last 6 years. That said, if you want to catch one of these bruisers in the fly the best option is to head over as close to the November 15th season closure as you can and be ready for crowds. For more info hit one of our local shops or type “Chum Salmon” in the search box to get our past reports and fly patterns.

Our November 19th meeting at High Rocks will feature George Krumm talking about swinging flies for Togiak Kings with two handers in Alaska. As always, social hour starts at 6pm and the program at 7pm.

It’s time for someone to think about becoming the new club president. I’ve been the club president since March of 2020 and can continue for another year or two, but not forever. If you’re interested in talking about this let me know. Naturally there are some obligations but it’s also alot of fun and has it’s perks too.

Speaking of transitions, Henry M is stepping down after many years as our club treasurer and Tim M has volunteered to take his place. A big thank you to both of them!

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 “November” or “December” in the Clackamas Fly Fishers website search box you’ll get all the past reports for that month. 

Good fishing! 

Dave Kilhefner