Steelhead Fly Fishing

September 2020 Fishing Reports

/ davekilhefner / Leave a comment

September was a difficult month with all the fires. In spite of everything, we have some good fishing reports to share. Thanks to everyone for sending them in! Pictures are first with the reports below.

Greg O’Brien was chasing Striped Bass in San Francisco Bay with his brother and got this Leopard Shark.

Greg O’Brien hit Willamette River for Smallmouth bass, landing some nice bass using an intermediate line and clouser minnow. Later in the month he landed a nice hatchery steelhead behind some spawning chinook then caught a Jack Chinook on the Deschutes while chasing steelhead.

Sadie Hibbard caught this huge bluegill in an eastern Oregon pond.

Ed Rabinowe claims he caught this beautiful Chinook trolling an October Caddis on his 3wt fly rod 😉

Darryl Huff fished the Deschutes at Warm Springs for some really good trout fishing and also hit the mouth for Steelhead.

Dave Kilhefner and George Coutts tried to fish the Deschutes at Warm Springs in late September but the smoke was thick, so they headed to Maupin and managed to land a few small trout.

George Krumm had a productive month on the Columbia, landing limits of Salmon and Crab.

Rhona Dallison got this great video of Chinook Salmon spawning in the Sandy River on Mt Hood.

Mark Bachmann of The Fly Fishing Shop sent in these “Steelhead Armageddon” photos from a very smoky Deschutes River. Kudo’s for sticking it out and making it happen!

Nick Amato provided these photos of the fire jumping the Clackamas River less than 1/2 mile from his home. It was a little too close for comfort!

My Friend Eduardo Barrueto Guarda from Chile put together a new video about his fly fishing lodge. It reminds me that someday life will get back to normal and that there are many beautiful places in the world to go and see.

Feb 18th Speaker: Mark Bachmann

/ davekilhefner / Leave a comment

This months speaker is Mark Bachmann from The Fly Fishing Shop in Welches, Oregon. His presentation is called A Brief History of the Sandy River As Related to Fly Fishing.

The Sandy River may be the best kept urban river in the world, flowing into a population center of 1.5 million people, much of its personality is wild.

The Sandy is located half way between the North Pole and the equator, giving this region the perfect climate for trout, salmon and steelhead fly fishing every month of the year. Our Journey begins 12 million years ago as volcanic activity begins building the backbone of the present day Cascade Range!

It will be an interesting and informative presentation you won’t want to miss!

January 25th Fish A Long

/ davekilhefner / Leave a comment

This month’s Fish-A-Long will be held Saturday, January 25th on the Clackamas River. We’ll meet at the lower boat ramp at McIver park at 8am.

Please RSVP to Dave Kilhefner (Dave@kbi-ins.com) so we can get a head count for food.

What- Winter Steelhead Spey Casting plus Winter Whitefish Euro Nymphing

Where- Clackamas River

When- 8am until lunchtime, Saturday, January 25th

Steelhead Spey Equipment-

  • Spey or Switch Rod
  • Skagit Line & sink tips
  • 15lb tippet material
  • flies: bright patterns and dark patterns
  • waders & wading staff
  • rain gear
  • warm, layered clothing

Euro Nymphing Equipment-

  • Euro Nymphing Rod or standard 9’ 3 to 5 weight outfit
  • Small Nymphs
  • I will have plenty of leader material to share

Directions- go to McIver Park. Take the 1st left and drive down the hill. There will be a few turn outs—just keep to the left until you reach the lower boat ramp area.

We will have coffee, donuts and lunch. This fish a long will focus on (1) spey casting and swung fly presentations and (2) Euro Nymphing. Questions; email Dave Kilhefner (Dave@kbi-ins.com). Hope to see you there!

2019 November Fishing Reports

/ davekilhefner / Leave a comment

This November featured some chilly weather but the fishing was hot at times!

From Brad Jonasson: Fished the Deschutes and netted 5 Redsides, 2 rainbows & 1 large Whitefish, all on a French Style Nymph.

  • OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

From Greg O’Brien: My brother and I did some flyfishing in the California Delta for Striped Bass with guide Bryce Tedford (who has PNW roots in Puget Sound).  The fishing was tough to do all day as we had to throw 9 weight rods with fast sink lines & big weighted flies. We each got a lot of fish, mostly in the 14-20” class with a few bigger ones mixed in (up to 14 pounds).

From Darryl Huff: Found a hand full of steelhead and a few bull trout while fishing the Deschutes near Warm Springs this month. Best patterns for me were the prince nymph, blue perdigon, and egg patterns. Steelhead on the 6 wt. are a lot of fun but not all were landed! 

From Hugo Jim: 22 months ago, I decided to chase a Steelhead with the Spey. It took many classes, trips, trials and errors but with the help of Sam from Steelhead Outfitters I hooked, landed, and released a Wild one on the Klickitat River with a fly that I tied myself. I did it! 

From George Coutts: Spent three days on the Deschutes at North Junction, mostly Euro Nymphing.  It was clear, cold and, at times too windy to cast but I brought some nice Rainbows to hand and one sizable White Fish.

From Dave Kilhefner: Fished the Deschutes on the Warm Springs Reservation side with Elke Littleleaf. Fishing partner Robert Campbell caught 2 steelhead on spinners and I caught a couple nice redsides on beads.

From Bob Beswich: My friend, Neal Rea from Newport but formally from West Linn and I went to the Deschutes for a couple of days (11th and 12th). Around Beavertail, we found a few trout feeding on salmon eggs and caught them on glow bugs. We did fished for Steelhead with one hatchery landed on a weighted small purple at the boat landing at Nena.

And something from From Mark Bachmann to make us all jealous: We fished Loreta, Mexico. Trip details are on our website: https://flyfishusa.com/blog/Loreto-Mexico-in-November

Another great fishing month, thanks everyone for sharing your reports!

Erich Leininger Nov 19th Speaker

/ davekilhefner / Leave a comment

When not guiding in Alaska, Erich works at Northwest Fly Fishing Outfitters and is a full time guide, casting instructor and expert fly tyer. He’s also a GLoomis Elite Ambassador and the Social Media Manager for Goodnews River Lodge.

He’ll be talking about late summer and winter steelhead opportunities in Oregon. It will be a great presentation you won’t want to miss!

2019 October CFF Fishing Reports

/ davekilhefner / Leave a comment

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.

  • OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

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.


CFF October 19th Fish A Long

/ davekilhefner / Leave a comment

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.

Elke Littleleaf July 16th Speaker

/ davekilhefner / 1 Comment

Elke and Alysia Littleleaf own Littleleaf Guide Service based in Warm Springs, offering guided fly fishing on 30+ miles of exclusive private access on the Warm Springs Reservation side of the Deschutes River.

Besides guiding on his beloved Deschutes, Elke is an accomplished fly tyer, rockhound and environmental activist. This will be a very informative presentation you won’t want to miss!

http://www.littleleafguides.com/fishing.html

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

February 19 Speaker: Mark Bachmann

/ davekilhefner / Leave a comment

Mark Bachmann of The Fly Fishing Shop will be CFF’s guest speaker Tuesday, February 19th.

Mark’s presentation will be on understanding Spey Lines. Learn about all the different lines and their uses in Spey Rod fishing for Steelhead and Western Trout. It will be a great presentation you won’t want to miss!

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

The Fly Fishing Shop http://flyfishusa.com/