Columbia Gorge Fishing Report November 16th

Jeff caught a nice little hen. 

Fishing Report

This last week was good for most of the area anglers that ventured out.  Our favorite summer steelhead rivers were kicking out fish and in great shape for most of the week.  While this weekend’s rains are not doing much to help the clarity, levels are going up and there could be some good fishing this week.  The weather looks unsteady and possibly torrential, but there should be some good periods of fishing this week. 

Chinook Salmon are mostly dead now.  There are a few stragglers holding on, but the rivers are full of dead salmon everywhere.  It is very much like Alaska in the Gorge right now. 

Summer Steelhead have been on the bite this past week.  While nothing was red hot, there was steady and consistent fishing for many anglers last week.  Jeff and Sam are visiting from Montana and they managed to pull a few out of the Klickitatduring their visit.  The Klick went out of shape on Saturday night, but could easily come back early in the week before the predicted big rains come in around Wednesday or Thursday. 

The Deschutes gave up a fish or two a day to most of the anglers that went out.  The lower river is definitely colored up as of Sunday from the White River pouring mud, but the river above the confluence with the White is in great shape and should likely stay in great shape as the week unfolds. 

The Hood Riverwas actually looking pretty good on Sunday morning.  We had a spike of water and the river is dropping and looks great as of Sunday. While the other local rivers were rising, the Hood was dropping.  No reports of any winter fish caught in the gorge yet, but there are a few summers hanging around. 

Trout fishing is closed on several local lakes and streams now.  Please consult the regulations before fishing. 

Areas closed for trout include: East Fork Hood, Hood River (for trout), Eagle Creek, and the Deschutes upstream of the northern boundary of the Warm Springs Reservation.  The White Salmon above the county road bridge below the powerhouse (old dam).  LaurenceLake is also closed, as well as the Metolius Riverabove Allingham Bridge. 

Areas open for trout include:  Deschutes downstream of the Warm Springs Reservation (Maupin area and downstream are open), Lost Lake, Goose Lake(WA), The White Salmon from the mouth upstream 2 or so miles to the old county bridge and Yakima River.  November trout fishing can be really good, especially big fish eating big meaty streamers.  Get out your favorite streamer patterns and go!

Travis took out his Winston Micro Spey 10’ 6” 4wt out to the Deschutes and had a good couple of hours pulling streamers for Rainbow Trout on Thursday.  He caught a couple of nice fish with minimal effort.  This is going to be a great fishery during the winter, especially during the drier periods when steelhead are hard to come by.  Instead of a down and across swing as you would do for steelhead, cast more across or slightly upstream and let your line develop a downstream belly. Then you are ready to start stripping the fly.  Anything between a little twitch and a fast pull will work, but they will generally be more receptive to one type of retrieval.  It is just up to you to find out what type of retrieve they are looking for. 

Smallmouth Bass are getting no attention right now, but with water temps dropping in the big river, the bite should be pretty good.  You just have to find some current out there, and there isn’t much to find right now.  It should be easy to find the fish once you locate some moving water.      

As always, we are happy to talk fishing any time.  Give us a call if you have any specific questions on local rivers, gear, and tactics, or if you just want some encouragement to get out of the office.  

Andrew Perrault
Gorge Fly Shop | Product Specialist
541.386.6977

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Columbia Gorge Fishing Report July 13th

Weekly Fishing Report 

In search of a fishing kayak - Article coming soon

Some relief finally came our way last week, and there was much rejoicing!  The Deschutes spent two full days under 70 degrees for the first time in a month or more and the Klickitat is slowly clearing up and coming into shape.  The lakes are cooling off and the fish are coming up closer to the surface, and generally, everyone has a much more positive outlook on the fishing situation.

It looks like temps might actually stay reasonable this week and steelheaders will return to their normal frenzied obsession until further notice.

Carp fishing is still great and a nice change of pace for the local steelheader.  Every time I go out, I tend to find another great place that holds carp in good numbers.  There are endless possibilities in the area for a carp fisherman.  The great thing is that you will rarely, if ever, see another angler out there.

Smallmouth Bass have been hitting topwater poppers on the Columbia River and John Day River. There are lots of fish to be caught, but moving around is key.  Earlier in the summer, the fish are congregated in spawning areas, but now they are spread around quite a bit.  A fish here, a fish there, but pay attention to the type of structure that you find them on as they will all prefer the same structure types.  Bass don’t really like sand or weeds, but everything else is fair game.

Rainbow Trout fishing on the Deschutes River has been “stupid good” according to several anglers that I have talked to this week, especially in the last hour or two of daylight.  The caddis hatch has been epic.  You can throw some small mayfly nymphs during the day, but the bulk of the action is in the evenings on the caddis.  The closer to the dam that you are, the better… The fish in the lower river have had a really rough last month or two and I would imagine that there was a hefty trout die-off down low, so the upper river is the better option.

Chinook Salmon are still moving through in good numbers, although they are reaching that point in the summer where there is a lull in movement before the fall fish start piling in the river in late August.  This is one of the better years we have seen for Chinook, despite the terrible conditions we have had this summer.   The regulations are complicated to interpret, but my understanding is that the Columbia above Bonneville is open for Jack Chinook and Summer Steelhead, but not adult Chinook right now, although I do not have the master’s degree required for correctly interpreting the regulations.

The Sockeye Salmon run is still coming through in great numbers, although it is looking like it will fall short of last years record run.  I somehow managed to hook one while messing around with the new OPST Commando Spey Head at the mouth of the Hood the other day.  I would imagine that I flossed him, because in three seasons guiding a sockeye river in Alaska, I had seen hundreds of thousands of fish swim by me and have seen exactly three sockeye actually move to eat a fly.  I never felt a take, it came tight when I lifted the rod to make another cast.  Either way, he popped off after a couple of jumps, but I never saw where he was hooked…

New Product Alert: Olympic Peninsula Skagit Tactics

Summer steelhead should finally be an option now.  I would imagine that there was a pile of fish sitting off the mouth of the Deschutes waiting for the river to cool off.  Well, the river cooled off and I bet there is a pile of fish in the lower Deschutes now.  As long as the river stays under 70 degrees, the fishing should only get better.  Traditionally, we don’t get many fish until mid to late August, but there are always some fish around this time of year and anglers have been chomping at the bit to get on them.  The Cowlitz is another great option for anglers and traditionally is the best steelhead river in the west for the month of July.  There are not a lot of other rivers with enough water to fish right now.  The Kalama and Clackamas are typically good July rivers for steelhead, but both are far too low to fish this year.  The Klickitat is clearing up slowly and steadily, but has a ways to go before it will look good.  I would look for it to get into shape later in the week as temps look to stay cool for the next week.  The Hood is clearing up too, but it is really, really low.  I am sure there are steelhead in the river, especially down low, but it is not much of a destination for summer steelhead, and few of the fish that mill about near the mouth actually run up the river.  What few summer steelhead that the Hood gets tend to be a late run, after the rains come in October and the river level bumps up.

The East Fork Hood River is open for trout fishing, as well as the main branch of the river.  The West Fork Hood River is always closed to fishing, except for the 100 yards or so between the confluence of the East Fork and Punchbowl Falls.  The East Fork is where the majority of the color comes from in the river, so it can be even more colored up than the main river.

Rainbow, Cutthroat, Brown and Brook Trout fishing should be good this week as water temps cool off and fish move up in the water column.  Bigger, deeper lakes should have some good fishing opportunities.  Lost Lake and Laurence Lake are always a good bet as they are cold, deep lakes.  Troll a leech pattern really, really slowly, and get it down.  You can never go too slowly, but you can go too quickly.

Eagle Creek near Bonneville Dam is a great place to spend the day fishing for cutthroat trout.  Much like the Hood River, the fish are small and hungry, but the scenery is beautiful, and the water is cold.  It is a little bit easier to wade than the Hood, but you are in a canyon and there are not many spots to get on or off the trail down to the river.  Once you are on the creek, it is fairly easy to get around.

As always, we are happy to talk fishing any time.  Give us a call if you have any specific questions on local rivers, gear, and tactics, or if you just want some encouragement to get out of the office.

"Fly Fish the World with Us"

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Christmas Island Trip January 2016 OPEN SPOTS!

The Gorge Fly Shop appreciates the use of all photos, thank you photographers!

BOOK YOUR TRIP TODAY - Before its too late!

We have had a few spots open up on our Christmas Island trip January 12 to 19 2016. Here is your chance to join us on this great trip! Spots are very limited. 

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Christmas Island, Ikari House

Morrison Files - Great Christmas Island Trip

Christmas on Christmas Island - Jimmy Buffet Style

Contact Travis at info@gorgeflyshop.com or 541-386-6977

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Morrison Files Great Christmas Island trip

"We caught lots of doubles"

A Great Christmas Island trip

Hi Travis,

We came home last Tuesday but turned around and one day later we were camping, whew. It about wears a guy out.

OK, on to the cool stuff, the fishing was actually really good this time. The best day Jeanette and I had was the last, I caught 31 she caught 21. She just happened to catch the biggest fish out of four of us for the trip, they figured it was 9 lbs, I caught one just minutes later that was 8 lbs. When they get that big they really are fun, huge long runs, almost get them in and they take off again. One of the pictures is Jeanette with her big fish just as it decides to leave and go straight in the air, the guide got the picture.

One of the things I learned this time was never look at weather.com before you go on a trip. I was looking for weeks leading up to the trip and all I saw was thunder storms, wind and pretty much terrible weather. When we got there it was heavy overcast and we figured the forecast was pretty much spot on, even the first day of fishing I don’t think we saw much sun but from that point on it was beautiful. Tom one of my really close friends keeps a tally of everything we catch and at the end of six days of fishing we caught 350 plus bone fish between four of us. We didn’t keep track of the small trevally, goat fish, yellow snapper, blue trevally, small grouper, trigger fish, puffer fish and whatever else might take a small fly. We had one guide between us and if he was with Jeanette I would just blind cast to anywhere it looked like there might be a fish, she did better than that one day she caught 17 and spotted every one, the guides got a kick of it.

Michael - Our Guide

Michael, the guide we had on the last day, a really good guy. Jeanette was getting tired of casting into the wind and handed him her rod, on the second cast he got a really nice bonefish, 8wt Sage Method, Nautilus reel, with the Bonefish Quick shooter line, great combo. That’s it for now. Thanks again for getting me the line on short notice.

Morrison

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