Redside Rainbows

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.

January 2020 Fishing Reports

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From Tim Morton: Last month I was able to go on a bucket list trip to Patagonia. The Brown Trout is from the World End Lodge, and the Sea Run Trout is from Las Buitreras Lodge. The sea run trout was 13.5 lbs.  Didn’t get the weight on the Brown,

Fish a long Report: You can see from the river level screenshot that we had some higher than normal water for our Fish a long. While this didn’t impact our spey casting, it did put a damper on our Euro Nymphing as it was hard to find any decent nymphing water. On the good side, for January we had a surprisingly warm and dry day. This made it easy to set up for morning coffee plus Chef Cheryl’s delicious lunch of homemade soup, Texas toast and salad. Thank you for everyone that came out!

From Ed Rabinowe: Duck season ended and my got a new knee. I think I have a fishing rod somewhere!

From Dave Kilhefner: Got lucky on my first steelhead trip of the year with this 12lb hen; she was a jumper! The following week I fished the Oregon Fishing Club ponds and caught a nice trout dragging a Booby Fly along the bottom. Saw another angler doing OK fishing a woolly bugger under an indicator.

Brad Jonasson and David Hopkins had a good outing to the Deschutes River by Maupin.

From Greg O’Brien: My brother visits once or twice a year to go steelhead fishing and we hire a guide to get to water we normally can’t get to on foot.  We fished 2 days on the Sandy, floating from Dodge to Dabney with Travis Johnson of All Waters Angling. Monday was tough with just one solid pull & no hookup.  Tuesday was a slow morning but landed a big wild hen around noon, followed by another nice wild fish in the afternoon.  

From Darryl Huff: A nice wild steelhead caught just before New Years.

From Greg O’Brien: Hugo and I hit the Deschutes for a trout spey session and I got this nice one.  It ate the caddis emerger dropper of a swung 2 fly rig.

From Henry Muehleck: fished the north coast with Gil Muhleman.  We were gear fishing and had a great day. I hooked 8 and landed 3. Two of these were 14 to 15 pound natives. Gil is a great guide and definitely goes the extra mile to get you fish! 

From George Krumm: Fished the lower Sandy with gear. Landed a couple, a smaller hen and this nice buck. The buck went to the broodstock program.

2019 October CFF Fishing Reports

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October is always a great month to get out on the water!

From Richard Harvey: Sea run cutthroats moved into the coastal rivers well in October plus bigger fish began to show up. Also got a surprise silver.

From Phil Bartsch: Gary Stein and I went up to the Crooked River last Thursday (10/24).  Water was really low and super clear, but we managed to catch more trout than white fish.

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From Greg O’Brien: I got a little swung fly steelhead action, some excellent trout fishing, and even a some predawn saltwater action at Barview Jetty.

Hit some trout lakes too: the trout on Timothy Lake and Rocky Ridge were big and hungry for small black leech patterns.  Diamond Lake was tough fishing when snow and wind came in hard but managed a couple of rainbows, but no tiger trout before getting off the water in a hurry.  

From Dave Kilhefner: went back to Beavertail for the last Westfly Rondi. It was a repeat of the fish a long weekend the weekend before. Egg patterns were the ticket with great fishing Friday afternoon and steady fishing the rest of the weekend. The sheep were out in force on the rock wall during the day plus saw a very nice buck on the drive home.


December Speaker George Krumm travelled to the Naknek River in Alaska with a few friends for some fall swinging for big ‘bows.  Some large fish were landed up to 32.5” on big leeches using switch rods, commando heads and sink tips. George fished out of Katmai Trophy Lodge.  The weather was sometimes challenging with conditions ranging  from below freezing some mornings to wet and windy with winds up to 35 mph.


October 2019 Fish A Long Report

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Sometimes you get really lucky and hit everything just right. This Fish a Long was one of those times! Water conditions were very good, the trout were biting & stacked up thick below schools of spawning salmon. This weekend, finding spawning salmon was the key and we did this with no trouble.

I arrived and Friday afternoon and found a note waiting for me on Darryl Huff’s windshield that said “Dave, fishing upriver. Bring egg patterns!” Darryl had been having an epic day and ended up landing over 100 trout. To rack up these impressive numbers he started at 8am then fished hard all day. By the time I set up camp there was only about an hour of daylight left but I managed to hook a trout on the very first cast then bring another dozen or so to hand using and egg fly provided by Mitch Moyer, who was featured in Jim Adam’s September Fly Tying article.

It rained pretty hard late Friday night but fortunately stopped before Saturday morning. The rest of the day we had periods of intermittent rain and wind gusts but for the most part the weather and water conditions were good. The trout bite held up but was not as red hot as the day before. Still, we all got fish and Darryl had another good day, bringing an 18.5” fish to hand. My fish story of the day happened using a two fly rig & hooking two fish at the same time. Thanks to luck and heavy tippet both fish made it into the net.

Besides good fishing with good friends, it wouldn’t be a proper CFF Fish A Long without a good lunch! Cheryl provided fresh cooked juicy burgers, homemade macaroni salad and chips. Across the river seven mountain sheep were putting on a show, chasing each other and doing their mating dance. Aided by Paul Brewers Leupold binoculars & spotting scope, it was quite a sight.

After lunch the bite slowed down but we still ground out a few. Cheryl and I stayed Saturday night and enjoyed a nice campfire under starry skies. I had hoped to fish a little more Sunday morning but the White River blew out and the river was out of shape. I’m sure it would have been possible to grind out a few more but after being spoiled the last couple days I was content to drink coffee & pack up camp.

Thanks to everyone for coming and making this a fishing trip to remember!

CFF October 19th Fish A Long

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This months Fish-A-Long will be held Saturday October 19th on the Deschutes River at Beavertail Campground.

The plan: meet at Beavertail Campground between 8am and 9am. We’ll provide coffee and doughnuts then we hit the river! After morning fishing a hot lunch will be served.

Beavertail campground has ample parking and lots of good fishing water. It’s located 21 miles north of Maupin on the Lower Deschutes Access Rd. From Maupin to Shears Falls is paved and the last 10 or so miles to Beavertail is gravel road.

Gear: 4 to 6wt rods with matching reel & floating lines. Euro nymphing has become very popular but indicator nymphing rigs with small glo- bugs and/or standard nymphs like Pheasant Tails and Hair’s ears work very well too. Swinging for steelhead is a possibility too but reports indicate steelhead fishing has been slow. Bring waders with felt or cleated boots and layered clothing (can be cool in the morning).

This is a very nice time to fish the Deschutes River for trout – they’re usually hungry and can be concentrated below schools of spawning salmon, making for excellent fishing.  This is also a great fish along to make an overnight trip and we will probably have a few overnight campers in our group.

Please email Paul at ponzdog@icloud.com if you plan to attend so we can get a head count for the food.

April 2019 CFF Fishing Reports

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  • Paul Brewer with a nice rainbow
  • It was very windy at our last outing at Rocky Ridge, but the fishing was great!
  • Lane Hoffman with a Rocky Ridge lunker.
  • A nice Rocky Ridge rainbow caught by Carson Taylor

The Clackamas Fly Fishers board retreat at Rocky Ridge was a big success with many large trout landed. The wind was blowing hard but the trout were on the bite. There’s lots of room on the Rocky Ridge schedule so get over there!

Don Lewis with a Yakutat Steelhead on his father & son trip with Gary Lewis.

Don Lewis traveled to Yakutat to fish for steelhead with his son Gary. They had a great father/son trip and hooked many steelhead!

  • Chris Dudley fishing Omak Lake
  • Chris Dudley with a beautiful Lahontan Cutthroat
  • A nice Lahontan Cutthroat

In mid April Chris Dudley made the journey to Omak Lake to fish with his sister Cynthia and other friends. The fishing was a little slow with 6 fish landed in two days, but all the fish were big! The best techniques were slow trolling a woolly bugger on an intermediate line or suspending balanced leeches below an indicator. Wind was a problem for the pontoon boats so most fish were taken from shore on this trip.

  • The Jolly Rancher Fly
  • One of many Justesen Lakes trout caught by Chris Dudley and his son

Chris Dudley and his son Jason and fished Justesen Ranch Lakes April 19-21, with four pairs of fathers and sons. They did very well with suspended leeches, chironomids and dark woolly buggers, but by far the best fly was the Jolly Rancher, obtained a the  Deschutes River Fly Shop in Maupin. The largest was 22 inches, with many at 16-19″. A great time had by all. The best chironomid patterns were chrome, snow cone and black in medium sizes fished just before dark.

Darryl Huff got this net busting Redside on the Deschutes River opening weekend.

Darryl Huff fished the Warm Springs section of the Deschutes when it opened on Monday April 22nd. The water was high running at 6300 CFS but the color was ok. Crowds were expected but the high water and Monday opener kept most away. No single fly was best Darryl caught trout plenty of 12-18″ trout on the san juan worm, zebra midge, blue perdigon, olive sculpin, glow bug plus multiple stone fly patterns.