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| Kaufmann Streamborn Northwest Fishing Report |
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| OREGON |
| I'll preface this report by forging a plea for rain. Northwest waters are low, low and slightly lower than that. Factor in an overall sharp rise in water temperatures and we've got stressed out fish city. This being said, it's a good time to fish small stream waters, high altitude creeks and the extremes of the day should you choose the larger rivers. As stated earlier, keep your fingers crossed for some cooling temperatures and some steady rain. Just sayin'.
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The Clack is movin-on-up Jefferson's style. The water on the lower Clack has breached the 65 degree mark and is still on the upswing. Additionally the river is at summer flow, hovering at about 1000 CFS. It's not a gloomy forecast however, just one you should bear in mind as you take a shot to go out and show some hatchery fish who's boss.
You must fish the extreme ends of the day here in order to have consistent success. At these temperatures and with the large quantity of donut and maple bar shaped floatcraft which can be expected from 9 to 6, steelhead will be spooky and sluggish through most of the day. Fishing early in the morning and late in the evening however will give you the best opportunity to find a pull. Fish will be susceptible in tailouts, as well as in more oxygenated portions of the river.
You don't have to have anything other than a floating line to catch fish here at this point in time. If you're feeling particularly attached to the new Skagit head you got last winter, anything heavier than a Type III tip is going to be too much. In most cases an intermediate should be sufficient. Your fly selection...well, it's a good time to try whatever you like. Traditional wet's, Skater's, Leech Patterns and maybe even a black Woolly will all work. It's better to find the right water and then worry about the flies.
If you're looking for trout, you should find plenty of opportunity below McIver Dam, but trout fishing will be better the higher you go in the river. All forks of the Clackamas will provide a wealth of opportunities for less-than-selective trout, while providing the benefit of being regularly cooler and more shaded than areas lower on the river. Check out the South Fork, North Fork, Oak Grove Fork or Collowash drainages.
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| The Sandy is trickling now. There are opportunities for fish in the Cedar Creek area if you're fired up for an early morning of side-by-side fishing. Otherwise, I think the Sandy is best left for floating on above-mentioned donut.
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Here's a spot where the fishing is in keeping with the temperature. Trout fishing has been very good on the Deschutes this summer and should continue unabated for some time. The story here is caddis and for once we'll get a little deeper into it than normal. If you're focused on being successful out here in mid-summer you need to be prepared. The Deschutes has a stunning array of biomass when it comes to the caddis family, they quite literally come in all shapes and sizes. Next time out, pick up a rock and break open a few casings...you'll find green next to grey next to red next to cream...you get the idea. Subsurface, your larval patterns should certainly include cream and green, but get a little more far reaching with what you're using and you'll quickly find other items work as well. Follow this same train of thought as you begin to pick out your pupal patterns. If you're headed to the Deschutes and you don't have pupa at all, don't waste the gas money. These flies have to be among the top-3 in all Deschutes river trout patterns to have. It's not so much which one, as are you covering this most important stage of caddis life. Stock up and experiment, find something you like and then get it in all colors, or tie it...whichever works. Lafontaine's Sparkle Pupa is a good place to start.
Finally...adults. You'll want a variety...I've heard folks swear a size 16 cinnamon elk hair is where it's at, and don't get me wrong, it certainly is...but there are a lot of other patterns out there to make the magic happen with as well. And a couple of them might even be better for certain situations. Have elk hairs in a variety of colors...sizes 14 - 18 are going to be most dominant. Other than the traditional Elk Hair, look for X-Caddis, E/C Caddis and X2 Caddis for some new (er) Elk Hair patterns. Peacock, Cinnamon, Green, Olive and Grey all seem to be good body colors. With slicker and slower moving water, consider a Parachute Caddis, Silvey's Dead Caddis, Hemmingway Caddis or Henryville Caddis for a more realistic representation. Evening hatches should be fished in tandem with an adult trailed by a pupa for best results. Take your headlamp and stay till its dark.
Certainly there are other bugs to focus on as well. Aquatic Moth's are a factor and are nearly white in appearance. Yellow Sally stoneflies are about, look for female egg-layers with bright red butts. Pale Morning Dun and Pale Evening Dun's are out and about, but the extreme temperatures will knock these hatches down until some semblance of clouds or rain or unexplained barometric fluctuations occur. Craneflies continue to fish as well and you'll want to use one creamy yellow in color.
Subsurface...it's the usuals, nothing earth-shattering to mention but be flexible, fish can afford to be choosy in the middle of the day. Cased Caddis seem like an effective tool fly at the moment, and beyond it's good to have a selection of larval, nymphal and pupal patterns for trailing flies depending on how you like to drift your flies.
Enough on the trout. Steelhead are in the lower, lower river. While there have been some fish caught above Sherars and there will continue to be more and more fish in the area, but your best fishing prospects sit from Mack's Canyon to the river's confluence with the Columbia, with Pine Tree to Mack's a distant secon. It's time for floating lines, skaters, wets and all the fun. Don't forget the sunscreen and fish early and late. Fish in the shadows!
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The McKenzie and Willamette continue to fish well this summer despite a bit of the deep summer blues setting in. It really just boils down to where you're fishing and when. The McKenzie below Leaburg will be slow unless you fish the morning and evening. Hatches of Yellow Sally's and Caddis have been plentiful just before dark and fishing at this time has been really quite good. The Upper McKenzie has been far more productive overall. Golden Stones, a smattering of Green Drakes, Peacock Caddis with a side dressing of Soft Hackle have been productive to say the least and though a good portion of this water is accessible largely only by boat, the upper reaches above Blue Creek have been fishing well and feature altogether a lot more opportunities to walk and wade (as well as camp).
Similarly the Willamette above Dexter and the North Fork of the Middle Fork continue to fish well. I'd approach it as a bit of a latter half of the day fishery, featuring much of the same hatching activity as the McKenzie but if you fish through the middle of the day, work a Magnum Prince along with a soft hackle, explore the best lies and get ready for a few tugs.
Steelhead are in attendance in both rivers. Fishing in the Willamette has slowed due to the warm weather and rising temps along the "town run", you'll want to be up early if you hope to get a hookup. The McKenzie has fished best from Leaburg to Deerhorn, no big surprises there.
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| Unless you're out here to angle for resident cutthroat, prospects are slim. This is the most difficult time of the year for fishing on the Coast. What fish are in are stressed with rivers flowing somewhat below the historical mean. There are a few sea-runs poking around, but faced with warm waters and a terrifying lack of food, expect these fish to hang in the estuary water until significant rain and signs of fall Kings are in the mix.
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| School is in session on the North Umpqua. August is typically the real start of the skater season and expect more and more fish to bind with hooks as the month goes on. Winchester Dam information is spotty at best, but reports are fish passage has jumped. The North Umpqua can be a good place to fish during high summer. With so many twists and turns, anglers who explore and remember their progress will nearly always be able to find a shaded run to fish throughout the day.
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| Golden Stones are out on the river now. You'll want to fish the fly close to the banks in most cases and wading on this river at this time of year should be kept to a dull roar until you explore the water at your feet. Run a dropper under your stone fly to increase the odds. There is significant action amongst caddis, PMD's, aquatic moths and midges. You'll want to fish straight through till dark with 7pm to dark as your best hours of fishing all day for anything but stoneflies.
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Bass water - The John Day and the Mainstem of the Umpqua continue to be hotspots for smallmouth. Expect to walk/wade the JD as the levels are very low. If either option is too far away, consider fishing the Willamette upstream from Salem, the Molalla, Hagg Lake or some of the Columbia Gorge ponds.
Offshore - Tuna are getting closer and closer. Anglers have been hitting fish just inside of 30 miles out on the North Coast and catch is improving. Silvers are just offshore and angling for them has been fast and furious. There are Kings in the mix and it will not be long before Tillamook Bay and Columbia River fish start to make their presence felt.
Gorge Steelhead - In between bouts of off-color water, the Gorge tributaries have significant numbers of summer fish seeking cooler water from the Columbia. The Kalama fly-water is a great skater possibility and the Cowlitz catch has remained very positive despite the warm weather.
Central Oregon Moving Water Trout - The Upper Deschutes is fishing well. It's a great time to be here and the fish are hungry. Action on the Fall River is about average, the cooler water has fish active but spooky in the high light. Further south, the Ana and Chewaucan are entering hopper season. The Williamson, Wood and Sprague are entering prime time for big fish going forth toward the fall.
Stillwater Updates - It's the best time of the year for most of the higher hike-in lakes though best fishing will still trend toward the cooler stretches of the day. Any time spent in the lakes of Indian Heaven, Mt. Hood, Mt. Jefferson and the Sisters should be time well spent. The large Central Oregon lakes are going to require significant effort to get flies to the fish, but smaller lakes such as Hosmer, the Lava's and Davis are producing.
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WASHINGTON
High summer flows are entrenched, meaning buddy or a guide on the oars, with unwavering focus tight to the banks. Fishing has been slowing mid-day until that last hour or so (caddis time), so "early and late" is the window.
Hoppers and Short-Winged Summer Stones are the two big bugs of note, both of which will carry us to September (even late September/early Oct on the stones). Beetles and ants will fill-in for that hopper with aplomb, or drop a drowned ant off the hopper to inordinately sweeten the pot. Late morning to early afternoon is the PMD window, though you may catch some coming off later in the day towards caddis time. Yellow sallies are also worth keeping the eyes peeled for, namely the ovipositing females with their fire orange egg sack.
Six more weeks and we'll be wading all up and down this river. Enjoy the long floats while they last!
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Still some time to find a steelhead below the falls before those pink salmon begin to choke things up - then, maybe trade the steelhead rod for the trout rod and swing/slow strip little pink marabous and comets for those pinks.
Above the falls, endless dry fly fishing awaits. A humpy in a #12 or #14 will do just fine.
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| Summer-runs are around and the wait for the pinks begins.
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Hoppers. Beetles. Ants. Adult Damsels. Trico hatch in the morning, followed by midges (also in the evening, or any time of day for that matter, on the midges).
Buggers, leeches, scuds otherwise.
Piggy ‘bows. Rattlesnakes. And not as many folks as fall/winter/spring.
Long-handled net can aid in landing piggy ‘bows amongst the watercress.
Stop.
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Still waiting for word on the arrival of the Pinks at the Strait of Juan De Fuca. They'll have to swim through some returning silvers when they do, as there are already some silvers up there. The residents are actually just now starting to trickle back down ahead of them all, and a few of these 18"-21" fish have been caught in the past week. Some blackmouth and sea-runs have also been encountered.
Sometime in the next couple weeks we should start seeing the Pinks, or they could be a little late - or, they could be any day. They are due, however, and apparently by the millions - no, that's not a typo. Something like 4.5 - 5 million are expected to return to Puget Sound tribs this time around, so there will be no missing them when they do arrive!
5-weights and 6-weights (your all-around trout rod) and a floating or intermediate line will handle the #4-#6 pink shrimp patterns and these 3-to-8 pound salmon just fine, although a 7-weight would enable one to release and get onto the next fish a little quicker. Early and late will be best for finding these fish comfortably hugging the beaches (Dash Pt, Browns Pt, Lincoln Park, Picnic Pt, Kayak Pt, Meadowdale - all beaches with access near a point), and don't hesitate to walk a little ways from the cluster of anglers for a little elbow room. You could be the first to meet the next wave of fish!
We will post a "Pink Alert" as soon as they come barging on down along the beaches, on our Reports page on the website. Or, feel free to call anytime here at the Seattle store (206-448-0601). Meanwhile, we'll keep cranking out the little pink shrimp and cast a keen eye to the Strait. They'll be here sooner than later!
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The Sol Duc should be good for sea-run cutties in the near-term, if not already - good numbers arrive early on this river. Before too long, as well, October Caddis will begin to show - October Caddis tend to appear a little sooner out on the Peninsula.
There will be pinks in the rivers soon, followed by silvers, which will welcome some dollies to follow ‘em upstream.
The Elwha is also worth a visit - one, for the excellent dry fly fishing; two, it'll be closed in a few years once they take the two dams down. It's trout-only days are numbered. Well worth the journey.
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Mirroring the Yakima in terms of bugs-of-the-moment, the Methow is also readily wadeable as we speak. It's also been fishing well, though more confined to the first and last thirds of the day, owing to the routine 90+ degree days that are common up there.
There are a couple of very meaningful big-bug opportunities which will stretch into early-September at least, being Short-Winged Summer Stones (tan #8-#10) and Hoppers. Dropping a nymph off the big dry is a classic approach to sampling the wild ‘bows and westslope cuts that range up towards 20-inches at times, occasionally beyond. Most fish will fall into the 8" to 16" range.
Hatches to keep the eyes peeled for are PMD's (#16-#18 pale yellow mayfly), Yellow Sallies (#14-#16 pale yellow stonefly) and several species of caddis. #14-#18 tan and dark-tan adults, supplemented with some #14-#16 olives and their corresponding pupal stages will cover the caddis. In-between, or in the absence of meaningful, obvious hatch activity, go to the big-dry/dropper; or, if you dare, run a tandem nymph rig and plumb the depths where the "whales" tend to hang out. Just make sure that depth is adjacent to significant current flow, and you've found the "lair".
Beetles and ants will also be very well received when shown to a trout in the absence of a hatch.
At approximately 4 hours or so from the Seattle area, this big arid valley is well worth a long weekend and some exploration.
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Tributaries and forks of all rivers above impassible barriers (impassible falls, dams) are now low and ready for prospecting for trout. If you enjoy the simple pursuit of covering water with dries for modest-sized (mostly) wild trout, such as what we do on the upper forks of the Snoqualmie (for something close) - headwaters are for you! Upper Yak tribs, upper Naches tribs, what upper Methow tribs are open, upper Sky, upper Sauk, upper Lewis, upper Cowlitz - you get the idea.. headwaters!
Owing to relative high-gradients, and on-average nutrient poor substrates, bug life is sparse, and the trout are opportunistic to a fault. Any well-presented, or even fairly well-presented, bushy attractor dry will sample nearly as many trout as are shown your offering. And to this end, the headwater trout angler can sample as many wild trout as they are willing to cover water. There are "glory sections" on most the headwater streams - sometimes just a nice, deep, bumpy, boulder-strewn run, sometimes a series of pools - where you'll find a few more fish, running a few inches longer. Further exploration is the key, here! Solitude, the norm. Losing count, part of the package.
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Points of access are one thing; covering water (exploring) in the interest of finding productive aspects, a whole "nuther". By now, there are more fish upstream of the golf course, and more fish up towards Landsburg (upstream of the bridge is closed) than early in the season. The fish are also keyed in on the various hatches, more, so be prepared to match. Streamers early and late in the day will still do some good, as will nymphing. Fortunately, though, we can look forward to showing some dries and emergers at times as well.
Short-Winged Summer Stones and Yellow Sallies are the two stoneflies of note. There are PMD's and some Pale Evening Duns to be matched at times, as well as caddis in the evening. And, being mid-summer, beetles and ants will be a welcome sight for a waiting trout, as well. This should all remain the case well into August. If we're lucky, we'll get to add October Caddis to the menu just before this suburban/semi-rural fishery closes August 31.
Five weeks to go!
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