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The Clack is
fishing well. Not too much of a shocker considering the water
is warming and this always helps the grab. There are summer
steelhead nosing into the river and I wasn't surprised
at all to hear have a buddy call and tell of two chrome bright
winters early this week. We've got an interesting fishery
at the moment with a late arriving winter run and the front
guard of summer salmon and steel. All told, the Clack would
not be a bad place to get some line in the water in the next
two weeks. There are steelhead throughout the river, making
any drift a possibly good one. Be aware there are sleds in abundance
now, and it will only increase as the springer run pushes through;
keep your ears open as you drift into tight corners.
Depending on flows you might want to begin experimenting with
fly selection a bit. Brighter colored flies seem to get a bit
of run this time of year. Stay on the tips and run deep. Drift
anglers should be sure to plumb the heads of runs, especially
when you have sunny skies. |
| It's fine
form time for the Sandy now. Late winter run fish are overlapping
with the first arrivals of summer and you'll find encounters
available throughout. Opportunities lower on the river should
be good at this time so don't feel you have to confine
yourself to the river's upper reaches. Cedar Creek locale
might be alright come to think of it...mingle with the gen-pop. |
The Lower (lower)
river is fishing really well. Efforts north of the reservation
boundary have been met with eager beaks. March Brown activity
is moving along at a heady pace and it's coinciding with
continued hatches of winter baetis. I still like the Western
and American March Brown dries. A large soft hackled Hare's
Ear or PT should work fine for the nymph. As for baetis, stay
small and keep emerger patterns handy. There has been some Skwala
stone activity out here and it might be the one fly you keep
seeing, but can't figure out. This is a major hatch of
focus on the Yak, but it gets little play here. You might consider
either fishing some small black nymphs or using a Skwala dry
and running some attractive nymphs below. You'll find
a lot of suspended fish this time of year, begging off the faster
currents and eating the offerings in micro-eddies between spot
runs of faster water, a dry & dropper can be very effective
in these spots.
Trout are beginning to spawn. Really make a conscious effort
to stay off redds and leave them to their biz. This will become
increasingly important over the course of the next 6 –
8 weeks. |
| The McKenzie and
Willamette are fishing superbly right now. Warming water temperatures
really have some bugs moving right now. All anglers should be
ready for mid-day hatches of March Browns. On top of this, the
McKenzie's typical Mother's Day Caddis hatch is
already firing but they will not garner the attention like the
March Brown's. There will be a plethora of caddis colors
in natural tones, including black. When you don't see
dries on the water, you should be nymphing and make sure there
is a soft-hackle involved. Make sure you get down deep in some
of the holes as well as typical big fish are scarfing down there.
Otherwise, just make sure your flies are in the water! |
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Necanicum
– closed for the season
Nehalem River
The North Fork of the Nehalem is now closed, as are all other
tribs including Cook Creek and the ravaged Salmonberry. Fishing
in the Nehalem should be steady through the next few weeks barring
any major rain events.
Wilson River
The Wilson is producing well into the spring this year. The
river is always the North Coast's dominant fishery and
despite its wealth of accessibility and the pressure it receives,
it continues to thrive. Fish are spread throughout the river
and anywhere below Lee's Camp should be viewed as likely
holding water. Cover ground and you should find fish. All tributary
waters; the North, South and Devil's Lake Forks are closed
Trask River
The trask has been consistent through most of the winter and
currently there's no exception to its status. There are
fish throughout the system and they'll be susceptible
to both drifted and swung flies. The Forks are closed now so
you'll need to confine your fishing to the mainstem of
the river.
Nestucca River
The Nestucca has dropped into really good shape. Fishing from
Blaine upstream is no longer an option, so you're walk/wade
options are diminished, but don't let this stop you. Chrome
fish continue to arrive here and it feels like the party is
trending on late arrivals. You'll find good fishing throughout.
Siletz River
If you can spare the time to get down on the Siletz, you'll
optimize your chances to catch steelhead this time of year.
Always a late producer, the Siletz favors the walk/wade angler
above Moonshine Park.
Alsea River
Fish are spread throughout the river and the run here is slowing
down a bit. Clemmons Park would be a good place to take a stab. |
|
Kalama
River
Steelhead angling in the Kalama has remained steady with at
least one leviathan fish coming out of the river last week.
Conditions look extremely favorable for this to continue for
the foreseeable future. The Kalama is going to ramp up heavily
on Springers, or rather the pressure is going to rise so get
your licks in now.
Cowlitz River
The Cowlitz is fishing very well now. There is a strong mix
of winter steelhead, summer steelhead and spring kings. In
the upper stretches of the river best fished with flies, winter
steelhead are going to be the primary catch. I'd encourage
you to check out the float from Barrier to Blue Creek, or
if you want to make a long day of it, push on to Mission Bar.
This is a long drift, but it also contains some large stretches
you will not find conducive to swinging a fly and you'll
want to get to your spots. If you do wind up off early at
Blue Creek. Swing the mega-run down from the hatchery outflow.
This spot ain't no secret and it is a spey combat zone
with ethics, but it can be very productive.
Hood River
The Hood River is fishing well. You'll find a mix of
fish here right now and rising water temps are making steelhead
grabbier than they have been in 2009 so far. Considering this
river brought me my first confirmed sighting of a caught summer
fish, I'd say it stands to reason the summer steelhead
traffic on the Columbia has picked up. This also might give
us a bit of an idea of what's happening on the Sandy,
etc...
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| Upwards of 1900
winter fish had gone over the Willamette Fish Passage as of
the end of March. The North and South Forks of the Santiam and
Molalla rivers are reporting some fish. |
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WASHINGTON
Yakima River
– Good (Forecast: Good)
Skwala adults have been more or less the staple over the last
week, with the little mayfly nymph droppers proving helpful,
particularly through the middle of the day. Mid-day has also
revealed a few mayflies finally beginning.. B-dubs and March
Browns, so moving forward, associated emergers and adults are
a must-have-along (#16-#18 on the BWO's and #12-#14 on
the March Browns) for those days where a surface-feeding sessions
materialize.
We've been graced so far by more or less stable flows,
although now the threat of run-off has increased significantly,
as feet of new snow is piling up as we write this. The river
has snuck up to the high-teens (1900cfs-ish), which is actually
fine as long as it remains right around there. Any tropical-origin
gully washer, however, is apt to blow things out, so the cycle
begins – fish when marginal, stable/wait out the "out"
episodes. Prevailingly cooler weather patterns will allow flow-stability
and encourage the mayflies to emerge with gusto. See significant
warming heading our way, or upon us, consider finding a nice
lake.
This all said, anticipate the Skwala adult action to subside
in the near-term, replaced by whatever degree of mayfly (BWO,
March Browns) emergences any given day may hold, moving forward.
Lookin a whole lot like a mayfly April this year, whenever the
river stays settled. Caddis are at least several weeks away..
But they'll get here. Good luck finding a few "mayfly
windows" between here and there!
Puget Sound
The Sound has slowed of late. We'll keep you posted.
Puget Sound Lakes
In a couple weeks, All the lowland lakes will be open, such
as the nice-and-close, generously planted Rattlesnake (which
should be ready to go right out of the gates). Between here
and there though, if it seems there's just a whole lot
of Pass and Lone Lakes going on, you would sure be correct!
They've been fishing well, and chironomids are in full
swing. However, what a lot of folks don't realize is that
there are a few other wet-side lowland lakes, also open, that
are well worth getting to know. Cady, Gibbs, Anderson and Prices
are all quality waters used to mostly seeing the same old locals,
most the time. It's a shame, because these lakes yield
some good reports every year, followed by a "shh".
These lakes are right there in the regs (oh, there's others
too), and show up well on the Gazetteer. Getting introduced
to these lakes also qualifies as a mild adventure, outweighed
only by its discovery-quotient. Locate the shoals, edges of
shoals, and deeper water, and short of a very obvious rise session
– you can feed the trout the exact same bogus-naturals
as we do in any lake. For now, chironomids, supplemented with
buggers and leeches, with a threat of Callibaetis any day; but,
only with the understanding that immature damsels, dragons and
scuds will also be recognized by opportunistically foraging
fish.
Rocky Ford
Anticipate BWO's and Midges emerging daily. Some days
will be more explosive and prolonged than others, but don't
be too surprised if the scud and leech fishing slows during
the time which the trout would prefer instead to hold their
feeding station and let the creek do the work – rooting
for scuds may look like fun for the trout, but it's a
lot more work than simply stationing and scarfing in-rhythm.
Also be on the lookout for Callibaetis mayflies in the coming
days, due to begin if they haven't already, just now,
with the warming into the high-60's. This being said,
while the warming triggers the onset of these hatches, the cooler,
cloudy days will yield the more extensive emergences and the
more prolongued rise-sessions. Not always, but usually.
With the lakes open, or due to open, and the Yak fishing well,
hanging in fair shape, there might actually be opportunities
to find a little extra room out here. If in need of a "giant
sighting" with a chance at a true "pig", this
is the place.
Eastern Seep Lakes
Word is that all the usual suspects are fishing well. Apparently,
over-winter survival went well, as fish are represented in numbers,
and are in good health (size!).
Chironomids are the pre-eminent opportunity for dizzying catch-rates,
as they're apt to be, particularly early-season (although,
with the addition of more maturing/emerging,migrating insects,
chironomids will still present moments that demand their attention).
While smaller specimens (#16-#24) predominate, more of the 14's,
then the 12's, then the Bombers (honest #10 2xl, verging
on an 8) will join the fray in the coming weeks. Best strategy
is to match what is most prevalent in the area you've
found them emerging, although sometimes the less-well-represented
larger specimens can break the funk as well – all for
not if we don't keep our craft, and our fly, over the
appropriate water. In other words, if your fly is measured off
a foot-and-a-half off the bottom in 12' of water (where
you've discovered some, say, #18 green pupa coming up),
use whatever means necessary to keep your fly in that spot.
5-feet left or right can have your fly in the marl, or too high
off the bottom, all of a sudden.
Anticipate Callibaetis to begin showing on most of the Basin
Lakes in the coming days, and also look for damsel nymphs to
get around to waking up with every warming day, leading up to
their migrations to come later down the road. Leeches and scuds
and immature-to-near mature dragon nymphs will also serve us
well between the more obvious emergences and the opportunity
they offer.
Dry Falls joined the Nunnally's, Lenice's and Beda's
of the world on April 1st. Dusty, Quail and Lenore are also
well-worth giving a try. Or, try a wander through the Seeps
if Quail alone isn't enough. It's off to the races
from here! In short order, all our lake fly boxes will come
into play. Not bad.
Skagit & Sauk
A couple fish out of here in the last week. Inclining water
temperatures are a good thing and while this trend continues,
these two rivers are always a good place to swing a line. Mid
40's plus is a good thing if you're on the watch
for a drive up here.
Olympic Peninsula
The OP finally seems to be turning on in earnest. Late in the
game no doubt, but nonetheless things look good here for a spell.
The Hoh sounds like the best spot from some buddies out that
way, but the Sol Duc and Calawah are producing as well and things
here can change quickly in terms of what's on and what's
not. The lone exception to the rule on the OP right now seems
to be the Bogachiel which has been lackluster at best. |
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