Shad Fly Fishing

July 2020 Fishing Reports

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July was a hot one but CFF members were able to get out, keep cool and have some good fishing. Thanks to everyone for contributing your fishing reports!

The Corona Virus has created some very crowded conditions in the great outdoors. When venturing out it’s important to be patient and maintain responsible social distancing.

Here are our July reports; pictures first with the report following. Enjoy!

From Trux Dole: (this got lost in my inbox, it’s a June report) 1st time fishing for Shad was a total hoot! Buddy took me out to Beacon Rock. It took 45 minutes to get dialed in on the right seam and then it was a fish per cast. Thankfully I was using two handed rod!

From Greg O’Brien: Clear Lake on the 25th turned on with a massive mayfly hatch at about 10 am and it was lights out fishing for about an hour.  Fish rising and slashing for a 200 yard stretch. 

Earlier in July my wife and I made a road trip to Montana for a couple days of fishing with a guide (a package she bid on and won at her school’s fundraising auction).  We fished the Clark Fork one day and the Big Hole the second day.  Fishing was good on the Clark Fork for scrappy rainbows, and excellent on the Big Hole for cutthroat, rainbows, browns and also a few whitefish.  

Also got a nice Smallmouth Bass on the Willamette.

From Darryl Huff: Fishing on the lower D has been great. This year’s return has produced a lot of fish in the 8-10 pound range. So far it seems that 75 percent are natives. Also, we are starting to hook a few salmon as well.

From Carson Taylor: Just got back from a family vacation at Sunriver. Fishing wasn’t great but this nice brown trout fell to a muddler minnow fished along the west bank across from Sunriver.  Also caught a cutthroat caught on a Carey Special at Hosmer Lake.  

From Lane Hoffman: Went to Badger Lake, a beautiful lake east of Mt Hood. The fishing was really good, caught 25 plus trout from 6 to 18 inches. Really fat & strong fighters, nice fish. Very few visitors because the last 12 miles of road is really rough. Went to Lost Lake for the Hex hatch in the evening but the hatch never really materialized.

From Rhona Dallison: Went to Badger Lake with Lane Hoffman but the wind was very strong. We couldn’t use our float tubes and ended up catching a few small ones from shore.

From Dave Kilhefner: I’ve been trying unsuccessfully to catch a spring chinook in the upper Sandy River. Glacial runoff from the hot weather has made conditions difficult.

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!

Presidents Message June 2020

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Greetings fellow Fly Fishers. Might as well get the bad news over with first: the June 16th meeting is cancelled. While this is unfortunate it does make some sense; Oregon has started to reopen and while this is great news my better half has informed me this has increased the number of Coronavirus cases in our state. Also, and this is the deciding factor, while High Rocks is open they are not permitted to open their banquet room yet. I learned this last week as I went in for a burger and a cold one and the owner relayed this news. 

On a more positive note, fishing has been pretty good and I’ll get the May fishing report out soon. While the summer steelhead run has been slow other fisheries have been picking up the slack, namely trout on the Deschutes, the OFC ponds plus Smallmouth and Carp on the Columbia & Willamette. Also, if you’ve seen all the boats out on the Willamette you know the Shad are in!

In spite of all the good fly fishing opportunites, COVID-19 has me hibernating a little and it’s slowed me down. If you’re feeling the same way send me an email and we’ll try to make some fishing happen. If you need some reading material for inspiration I have free Fly Fishing & Tying Journal magazines for anyone that wants one while supplies last; just send me an email and we’ll figure out how to get a copy into your hands. Also, you can take advantage of our well stocked Library.

Our local fly shops were able to open last month to walk in traffic. If you plan on going its good to call ahead to make sure they are open as business has been on the slow side so they sometimes close a little early, which is understandable. Also, please take a moment to read the rules posted on the front door and of course be courteous, maintain social distance even if you don’t believe in it and wear a mask.

We really tried to have the May 23rd Fish a Long at Timothy Lake happen but unfortunately the US Forest Service delayed the PGE parks opening. Given this, we’re going to try again this month and fishing reports are good. Be advised to be safe we will maintain social distancing so everyone will need to bring their own lunch & beverages. Stay tuned for details.

Dave Kilhefner

June Fly Fishing Reports

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Since we were not able to do a fish-a-long this month I asked our members to provide some June Fly Fishing Reports. The Clackamas Fly Fishers had a good month!

Lane Hoffman with a really nice early June Cape Code Striped Bass taken on a Sand Eel fly. He was fishing with Tom Phipps.

Carson Taylor with a Willamette Shad. This is from the CFF auction trip with Rob Crandall. The other winners Gary O’Brien and Carey Allison also got into plenty of shad that day!

Ed Rabinowe and Lane Hoffman hit Wild Billy Lake down by Klamath Falls for some good rainbow action. The largest trout took a #18 blood midge, but all the standard Stillwater patterns were working.

Nick Rowell hosted a trip to Christmas Island at the end of June. John Warren was supposed to join him but had to cancel due to breaking his hand–John can tell you how he did it for a free beer at the next meeting; it’s a pretty good story!

Bob Beswick had a great evening at the end of the Salmon Fly Hatch on the Deschutes with many trout landed, the largest over 18 inches.

Phil Bartsch had a good day up at Harriet Lake with his new float tube, netting 11 trout before the wind started picking up. A Teeny Nymph with a quick retrieve was the answer.

Trux Dole had a good afternoon on the upper Clackamas above N. Fork Reservoir with pocket water trout during a caddis hatch. A thunder & lightning storm added to the experience.

Jim Behrend and his wife fished the South Santiam River. Jim said the fishing was slow and several hours of fishing produced a few smolts and a couple small bass.

Thank you everyone for your June Fly Fishing Reports!

Nick Wheeler from Royal Treatment will be CFF’s guest speaker Tuesday, June 19th.

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American Shad are called the little tarpon of the Columbia River. This silver-sided finned friend is one of the most underrated game fish of the Pacific Northwest. With returns in the millions and eager to eat a swung fly what’s not to like?

Nick’s presentation will include a brief history of this patriotic fish, explain how it got to the west coast, and go through recommended tackle, techniques, and potential spots to catch these fish. American Shad are known for putting up a fierce fight and do not give up easily. Be careful, like popcorn, these fish can be addictive and will keep you coming back for more.

Nick Wheeler has been fly fishing for Shad for over 15 years and working in the fishing industry just as long. Growing up in Northern California on the banks of the Russian River chasing Steelhead and Shad had been his favorite pastime. Living just feet away from the best Shad run on the Russian he was lucky enough to spend most days of the season on the water. Now living in Vancouver Washington and working at Royal Treatment in West Linn Oregon, he spends his time targeting as many species as possible (trout, salmon, steelhead and even carp), but every year he still devotes the entire month of June to chasing American Shad.

Meeting details: https://clackamasflyfishers.org/meetings-events/

Royal Treatment: www.royaltreatmentflyfishing.com

Shad Fly Fishing Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S1yoXbpmIJ0