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.
Hi Everyone, the Coronavirus lockdown has most of us staying home to remain safe and healthy. During the month of March some CFF members ventured out on the water, kept their distance and enjoyed good fishing. Here are their stories with the pictures on top and the report below:
From Darryl Huff: All of the steelhead I landed in the month of March were wild. The one I’m holding surely made my top three best fighters for a winter steelhead. I found great success in my trips to the Deschutes after being introduced to the idea of fishing golden stones this time of year. In a discussion with an employee at the Deschutes Angler, I learned that the golden stone is carnivorous. Being on the move hunting for food they are more available to the fish than the salmon fly stone at this time.
From Frank Day: Fishing down at the coast was very good (in early March). After having good success on natives on some of the small streams, I ventured to the Wilson River and got a limit of hatchery steelhead.
From Greg O’Brien: Some friends and I went to the OP. We fished the Clearwater, Humptulips, Queets and Hoh. Fish were played and lost (me), and fish were caught and landed (not me). Timothy and I fished Puget Sound for Sea Run Cutts and brought some nice fish to hand.
From Richard Harvey: The Oregon Fishing Club properties have been warming up this month. Matching the hatches has been the key.
Also, congrats to Richard on completing the 2019 Fly Fishing Challenge! (We were late getting his certificate out to him)
From Phil Bartsh: All 3 goldfish are doing just fine. Thanks for asking.
From Lane Hoffman: The Crooked River trip had 5 members attending. The river was crowded but fishing was good. Most fish were caught using the Euro nymph method & emergers as we had a midge & BWO hatch. Rainbows & Whitefish. (No photo’s, sorry!)
Next
day Ken Baker & I went to Chickahominy Res. Conditions were perfect but we
didn’t do well. A couple using power bait caught fish, nice hard fighting
rainbows to 20 inches.
I
went on to the Owyhee. Perfect day warm overcast expecting a BWO hatch. Didn’t
happen. They were raising the water level as the Res. is going to fill. Did
manage to catch a few but they were nice Browns to 22 inches.
Pictures are Rainbow’s from Rocky Ford Spring Creek near Ephrata WA. I was by myself & couldn’t get good pics! The bigger fish was 5 pounds! 2nd week in March!
Chris from Semper Fli Guide Service guided his client into this McKenzie river hog in early March.
Frank Day of The Fly Fishing Shop in Welches caught several bright steelhead down at the coast.
Darry Huff did well on the Lower Sandy River fishing beads. While the fish were in, so were the crowds!
Greg O’Brien and Timothy Collins hit some Oregon Fishing Club ponds and caught several large trout.
George Krumm gear fished the Clackamas and Sandy Rivers several times in February, with good success on some days. The majority of the fish were wild; it seems the hatchery component has been weak this year.
This month’s Fish A Long will be held Saturday, February
22nd on the Sandy River. The location is Dave K’s place about halfway between
Sandy and Welches.
What- Winter Steelhead
Where- Sandy River
When- 8am until lunchtime, Saturday, February 22nd
Equipment-
Spey or Switch Rod
Skagit Line & sink tip(s)
15lb tippet material
flies, bright patterns and dark patterns
waders & wading staff
rain gear
warm, layered clothing
Directions- take Hwy 26 like you are going to Mt Hood. 10
miles past Sandy, turn left onto Sleepy Hollow Drive (there’s a big sign) and
then take the 1st left. It’s a steep gravel driveway with a black
metal gate.
We will have coffee, donuts and a hot lunch. This fish a
long will focus on spey casting and swung fly presentations. Questions; email
or call Dave Kilhefner. Hope to see you there!
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!
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.
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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.
July speaker Elke Littleleaf had a great month on the Deschutes, landing many fine redsides like the one pictured.
With the cloudy early July weather Rob Crandall has been sneaking out on the Clackamas River and swinging up a few summer steelhead.
Nick Wheeler got this awesome Bull Trout euro nymphing for rainbow trout after work.
Greg O’Brien had a great day on Trillium Lake with his daughter Abigail. Her smile says it all!
Jim Adams got away to East
Lake for a few hours while at Sunriver with family.There is usually a good
callibaetis hatch late morning through midday during the summer at East,
although the hatch was not as impressive as last year. Caught six fish. Five
Rainbows, the biggest being 18”. Also one kokanee, that put up quite a
fight for its size. Unlike last year, no browns were caught but saw one about 24″ take a callibaetis
natural off the surface about two rod lengths from me, which got the adrenaline
going. Caught fish on three different patterns: leech, callibaetis nymph and callibaetis
cripple.
Adrian Choat went camping for 2 weeks camping at Crane Prairie. Spent mornings fishing from a kayak with best results stripping black wolly buggers and small red buggers. There was very little top water action. There are some large aggressive fish in Crane and he was broken off several times on 3x tippet.
Mark & Patty Bachman have been fishing Timothy Lake. They started with float tubes, then wend to pontoon boats. The last couple outings they’ve used their jet boat, allowing them to see the whole lake as never before. Fishing was great all day, every day even though the water temperature in the morning was 69-degrees and at dark it was over 74-degrees. Most of the fish we caught were planted rainbows that averaged 10-14 inches, the largest were 15-16 inches. During the morning and most of the day small wooly buggers did the trick. Most of those fish were caught with type-2 and type-3 sinking lines while fishing in about 15-feet of water. A slow twitchy retrieve with the fly near the bottom was amazingly productive. They saw a few Hexagenia mayflies one morning around 10:00 o’clock, but the fish didn’t pay any attention to them. The main hatch started with sporadic emergence about 4:00 in the afternoon, then gradually increased until dark. Fishing emergers in the dark resulted in a fish nearly every cast for about an hour and then died.
Richard Harvey has been chasing resident Coho along the beaches on Puget Sound. They are getting very active and taking baitfish patterns.
Greg O’Brien did a good bit of fishing in July. Harriett Lake produced a few browns on emergers, Dory fishing out of Pacific City was hot for Black Rockfish plus a cool Cabezon and a few Coho all on flies. He also hit an OFC property for bass and bluegill. He also floated the Deschutes from Beavertail to the mouth; they got several grabs, caught a big bass and a few nice trout on swung steelhead flies. He also hooked & lost a nice steelhead Euro nymphing for trout, which got about 100 yards downstream and broke his 5.5x tippet.
Hugo Jim went on a
family camping trip at Lost Lake in mid July. He fished both from my pontoon
and from the shore, taking fish on Adams dry flies and sub surface pattern such
as leeches. The Hex hatch was slow when he was there.
Carson Taylor also fishing Lost Lake with the Washington County Fly Fishers July
13th fish-along. Everyone caught a dozen+ fish, mostly around 10
inches. Carson caught a brown around 14-15 inches and a 12-13 inch rainbow; but
there are some larger fish! Olive woolly buggers and callibaetis nymphs worked
best. On the way home the Hood River Western Antique Aeroplane & Automobile
Museum (waaamuseum.org) is worth a stop.
“Over 100 TFO fly rods available to try. Test your fly casting skills in the demanding TFO Casting Accuracy Course. Highest score wins a TFO rod of your choice!”
This month’s Fish-A-Long will be held Saturday, February 23rd on the Sandy River. The location is Dave K’s place about halfway between Sandy and Welches.
What: Winter Steelhead
Where: Sandy River
When: 8am until lunchtime (or later), Saturday, February 23rd
Equipment:
Spey or Switch Rod
Skagit Line & sink tip(s)
15lb tippet material
flies, bright patterns and dark patterns
waders & wading staff
rain gear
warm, layered clothing
Directions– take Hwy 26 like you are going to Mt Hood. 10 miles past Sandy, turn left onto Sleepy Hollow Drive (there’s a big sign) and then take the 1st left. It’s a steep gravel driveway with a black metal gate.
We will have coffee, breakfast snacks and a hot lunch. This fish a long will focus on spey casting and swung fly presentations. Questions; email or call Paul Brewer or Dave Kilhefner. Hope to see you there!
