Mid Month Fishing Update

Here's a quick update on our fishing adventures this month: Andrew The Hood and Klickitat Rivers have turned to silty milk chocola...

Here's a quick update on our fishing adventures this month:

Andrew

The Hood and Klickitat Rivers have turned to silty milk chocolate right on schedule.  This yearly phenomenon happens around the 4th of July and will continue until it starts freezing up on the glaciers at night again in September or October.  This can make fishing difficult.  It is hard to see how deep the river is, where the rocks are and it discourages anglers' confidence.  So I prefer, like many, to avoid the brown water during the summer, except to take a swim in an icy, cold glacial river when it is 100 degree out.  I didn't hook an early summer steelhead on either of our two local haunts, but I plan on getting back out there once visibility increases a little.

Nikolai and I hit up Lost Lake last week after work.  There were rumors of Hexagenia in the area, but we found no evidence of that.  I fished a Parachute Adams Tan, and tried a Thin Mint when fishing slowed down.  Nikolai fished his favorite Double Renegade and then a Parachute Pheasant Tail.  Fishing was a little spotty.  At first, the super minnows were hammering that fly right off the bat.  We got a couple of decent fish, then it slowed down right when it should have picked up.  No magic hour, just a nice sunset on the mountain.

We were able to take out some new Loop rods that we will be seeing in the near future.  We can't divulge much, but there are two models, a fast and a med/fast in the 5wts that we got to try otu.  Nikolai liked the faster rod with a Scientific Anglers MPX, while I liked the more moderate rod with a Scientific Anglers Amplitude Trout.  We look forward to seeing these rods when they are available for sale.

Ben

Just got back from Clear Lake and Frog Lake this past weekend. Crowds were a bit crazy, that being said, the fish are there for someone willing to work a bit harder and have a bit of patience. I typically troll flies while on lakes in order to find where the fish are. That being said streamers weren't effective on either lakes, but callibaetis nymphs were working just fine during the day. It was hot so fishing was pretty slow from about 12:00pm until 5:30pm. The evenings on Clear Lake had one of the biggest calliebaetis hatches I have seen in a long time. Hatch started around 5:30, but the fishing didn't really pick up until the sun was off the water around 7:30 or so. An Adams and a Parachute Humpy Ant proved to be quite effective until around 8:30 when smaller midges started popping off. Not able to see well enough to tie on a fly that small I retired for the evening, but if I had a step-up pre-rigged I'm sure the fishing would of been good for another hour or so.

I have been using a TFO Finesse Glass rod with a Cortland 444 Sylk line.  This is buttery smooth and I love throwing dries with it.  The line matches the rod about as well as one can.  We have the 4/5 wt rod lined up with the 444 Sylk in a 4wt, and I can't imagine needing to put a heavier line on it.  For the trolling setup, I used a TFO Axiom II with a Scientific Anglers Sonar Titan Triple Density sink line.  It casts great and is very easy to control the depth of the flies when you need to be precise.  

Nikolai

Fishing outings have been turning into swimming outings, for me lately. It’s hot here in the Columbia River Gorge these days! It’s been nice ditching the waders, at least.

I’ve made it to some of the Mt Hood area lakes as well. Tugging beadhead woolly buggers around has produced a few fish. But I especially enjoy fishing dries on lakes. I like Renegades, Mahogany Duns, and small Purple Hazes for the high mountain lakes. I’ve had Hex patterns ready, but haven’t quite caught a hatch yet.

Hope you’ve found time to get on the water this month!

Joe

I have been using the St. Croix Banker Robber 7wt 9ft, with a Cheeky Boost 400 Reel, throwing big ass poppers for smallmouth bass in the ponds along highway 84.  This rod does the trick! The thing is a stick and a wonderful one at that! The Cheeky reel is great; very smooth and the drag worked perfectly just when I needed it to on those bigger bass! Come by the shop and give one a wave! With this hot weather I'm ready for as much Bass Thumb as this guy can get! All the best

Cameron

Got back from the great fly fishing state of Montana, wishing I had spent more than 5 days.  In all I took 4 rods, Big Y Nano, Mystic Reaper X, St. Croix Legend Elite, all 9' 5 wt. and TFO Lefty Kreh Finesse Glass 4/5, which at 7'6" was a lot of fun on Rock Creek, especially helpful under trees when trying to get your Parachute PMD into that back eddy with a decent enough presentation to fool some heavily fished trout.

Beside Rock Creek, fished the Big Hole River, which is an entirely different beast, wide open, with larger trout.  The 9' were the rule there, and spent equal amount of time nymphing for the many species that call this river home.  Told the campground host I definitely hope to see him next year.

  Rob

When the temperatures get into the high 90s  I wilt in the sun so it's time to head to the mountains and in western Washington that means small stream fishing for cutthroat and rainbows. The streams are small and the fish are too; in many of these streams a 12 incher is a monster. To enjoy this type of fishing one just needs to adjust their expectations. Let the beauty of the trout speak louder than it's size.  Also take equipment that is appropriate to the task. Let your 9 ft 5 wt collect dust for a few weeks and pick up a short light weight rod like the Douglas Upstream.  Grab some caddis and small terrestrial patterns and you'll be set for a day in the mountains, out of the heat and among beautiful trout.