Fishing Reports

Howdy,

This page is a collection of ongoing fishing reports as compiled by the anglers of Blue Mountain Flycasters, Oregon Dept. of Fish and Wildlife (ODFW), USFWS, and any other souce of information that wishes to contribute to the joy of catching and hopefully releasing most the fish you find in Oregon's Northeast Zone of fish and wildlife. "The fish that fights and swims away... can live to fight another day." It is not unusual to have a 100-200 wild fish hookup day in our home waters.

With these reports we wish to enhance your fishing opportunities in NE Oregon, by providing you with information of the time, the fly, conditions of the weather, and waters fished. These reports will not point you into our favorite fishing holes, but will help guide you to find (on your own) some of the best fly fishing waters in the USA for trout, steelhead, bass, crappie, salmon, etc. Here is a "leg up" from ODFW of places to go trout fishing with directions around the Northeast Zone. If you are interested in taking the kids/family out for a fun fishing trip, here is the link to 2008 ODFW's trout stocking schedule.

The Blue Mountain Flycasters are a group of individuals that enjoy the great outdoors and sharing the camaraderie of being with folks that enjoy sparkling gin clear water and the beautiful unspoiled getaways of our Pacific Northwest country.

While we cherish the fishing opportunities we have across the Pacific Northwest, most of our fishing time is spent in the ODFW fishing areas of the Northeast Zone, Southeast Zone, and Central Zone. You will also find us from time to time fishing in the Mighty Columbia River Zone. There are also those times we have a few extra bucks in our pocket and wish to spend them driving down to the Snake River Zone. You can follow each of these links to the weekly fishing reports published by ODFW.

Geroge F. reports...
Olive Lake 07/18-20/08
Went to Olive lake for several days 18th to 20th, the weather was great for the most part, a bit windy at times. On friday tried a number of flies,
Blue Dragon, Elk Horn special, Olive wolly bugger, beadhead buzz hackle, several others, do not rember the names. I am not very good at casting yet so I was trolling subsurface stuff, Had the Best action with a beadhead Blue Dragon # 10. Spent most of my time in the cove at S.E. corner, where
the stream enters. mostly around the tree stumps in 18 to 25 feet of water. I have a fish finder on pontoon boat, most fish were in the range of 3 to 8 ft. I landed 4 fish on Sat. 10 to 13 in. Sunday got 2 more 10 & 12 in. Had 20 to 30 strikes each day, but not many hook-ups. From what I gathered from others and my experance the fish are a bit picky there, when I checked the stomachs of the fish, I did not find much in them, which was puzzeling to me, but there were some cronomids in several of them.
On Friday during a walk around the campground, I ended up Meeting Bob & Cathy C. Had a good visit, On sat eve, I did up a Pot Roast In the
Dutch Oven, and had Dinner together, had good fun, and a good meal. That’s what camping is about, meeting good people and having a good time.

Bob C. reports...
Olive Lake 07/18-20/08
Kathy & I spent the weekend at Olive Lake, our first trip there ever. Weather was great, but fishing was slow, except for folks soaking bait on the bottom. Did get a few, including a "double" - My first Oregon cutthroat (beautiful 14" with glowing red sides & throat) on a saddle hackle royal coachman, and a 3" shiner on a trailing #22 black ant. Don't know which hit first. I'm thinking maybe the shiner, which attracted the cutthroat, thinking the little fish was going after the larger fly & kicked in the fishy competitive instincts. Unfortunately no pics. We were surprised, given the long drive & partly gravel roads, to find the campground full of campers, kids, babies and dogs. Didn't really bother us though, as I was busy dealing with two flat tires - which is a challenge when you only have one spare. At any rate, we had a good time & drove back by way of Desolation creek, which was just a beautiful drive (& the gravel road in pretty good shape). Anybody fished that creek lately?

Bob W. reports...
Jubilee Lake 07/18/08
Fishing fair to good, water cooler than normal for mid July.
Best fishing in Mottet Cr. arm.
Some fish appeared to be recent planters in 9-11 inch range.
Fly's: # 10 Buzz Bugger with # 16 Black Magic trailer.
WX: Clear, mild and breezy at times. Full moon.

Bob W. and Gary B. reports...
Baldy Lake 07/11/08: The summer has been great so far. The fishing has slowed down as it usually does in the ponds and lakes this time of year. We went into Baldy Lake last Friday and there was so much snow on the trail we had to find ways around it. Good thing I had my GPS. It was hot and sunny and we only caught one fish. Gary and I stopped by Big Creek last week after a wood cutting day. There were hundreds of fish and unless spooked, were very willing to hit a fly. We caught dozens after dozens of 4-6 inchers and having a great time. Once in a while we would catch a BIG ONE, at least 8 inches.

Bob C. reports...
McKay Reservoir 06/29/08: Kathy and I took our new (actually very old) boat out on McKay this morning & anchored in the shade of some big flooded cottonwoods on the east shore, and pulled in some crappie on flies. All went well til the forward gear on our outboard went blooie, & I had to motor back to the launch ramp in reverse. There was an OSP trooper sitting in his state pickup there, who gave me the fisheye til I explained the situation. I think maybe he thought I'd just had too many beers & didn't know which way was forward. At any rate, we got back OK, though it was HOT by that time (103). All in all, a fun day though. Any day fishing is better than just about anything else.

Ryan DeG. reports...
Nunnally Lake 03/13/08: My dad and I fished Nunnally/Lenice for three days - fish counts are combined between both of us. Cold and windy in the AM with a few brief showers. Warmer and sunny in the PM. 3 rainbows 18"-20" caught on size 14 or 16 black ice cream cones between 11:30 am and 3:00 pm. All fish caught at the head of the lake or beyond - there are some long shallow channels that lead back through the brush to some deep pools that are less frequently fished. Pretty cool! A few chironomid shucks showed up on the water surface starting at about 11:00 am and continuing throughout the day but there were no big hatches.

Lenice Lake 03/14/08: Cool, breezy, and overcast in the AM. Sunny in the PM with winds growing stronger and stronger as the afternoon progressed - very windy by the end of the day! Heavy rain shower about 6:30 pm. 5 rainbows 18"-20" caught between 11:00 am and 2:00 pm. Size 18 olive ice cream cones, size 14/16 gray & black chirnomids, and size 14 black ice cream cones with red ribs and red butts (a popular Brian Chan pattern). All fish caught on the north side of the lake, just west of the islands. Once again there were no significant hatches.

Lenice Lake 03/15/08: Warm and sunny in the AM. Overcast in the PM with intermittent wind. A couple of big storms blew through with heavy rain and heavy wind, but conditions returned to normal once they blew over. Got sunny again around 4:00 pm. 5 rainbows 18"-20" caught between noon and 5:00 pm. Size 18 black thread (no rib) chironomids saw most of the action, with one fish caught on a large black leech near the end of the day. All fish caught on the north side of the lake, just west of the islands. No significant hatches.

In summary, the fishing was slower than we would have liked but we've definitely seen worse on these lakes! Not sure why there were no big chironomid hatches but I'm sure that was part of the problem. I saw a couple guys do better using some patterns I wasn't familiar with but I got the recipe for them and plan to tie some up before I go back.

Bob W. reports...
Date: Feb 6, 2008
Location: Umatilla River
Water: Slightly turbid
WX: Cloudy, cold
Fish: 27 inch buck (wild)
Fly: Improved Buzz hackle (Buzz Bugger)

Bob W. reports...
Date: Feb 4, 2008
Location: Umatilla River
Water: 37 Deg. 270 CFS
WX: Clear, Cold
Fish: One fin clipped buck
Fly: Improved Buzz Hackle (Buzz Bugger)

Bob W. reports…
Date: Dec 5, 2007
Location: JDR Rock Creek
Water: 45 Deg, clear, 510 cfs
WX: Sunny
2 Fish (one fin-clipped), 2 pull downs
Fly: Buzz Hackle Others Tried: Black and purple egg sucking leaches

Bob W. reports…
Date: Nov 27, 2007
Location: JDR Rock Creek
Water: 34 Deg, 480 cfs, Turbid
WX: P Cloudy
2 fish
Fly: Buzz Hackle. Others tried: Black egg sucking leach

Bob W. reports…
Date: Nov 17, 2007
Location: JDR Rock Creek
Water: 45 Deg., Clear, 390 cfs and rising
WX: Clear
No Fish

Dale M. reports…
1) Date: 31 October 07
2) Waters fished: McKuster Ranch - Walla Walla River
3) Flies used: 1st- Orange Stimulator and 2nd- Copper John
4) Weather conditions: Clear, late afternoon, -- air 55º, -- water temp 40º
5) Comments: Afternoon was beautiful autumn day dressed in gold.
4th cast of the day using an Orange Stimulator gave me a 9" redband, lots of October Caddis flying about. No other rises.
Fished for less than an hour hooking several other fish but not landing any. Checked water temperature and changed fly to use a Copper John. Shortly thereafter caught a nice 12" redband. Continued to fish upriver until sunset, and then started fishing back downstream. Encountered one more health hookup that gave me a 30 second fight until fish move into fast current and made a long line release. Finished the day at ranch takeout with last light of day, at riverside the fish were cleaned (of their bio-mass), and invited to join us for dinner.
NOTE: Rarely do I kill a wild fish, but this is last day of trout season '07, and these fish will not be here next spring for ROUND 2.

Gary B. reports…
Date: Sat. Oct. 27th '07 full moon day
Where: Penland Lake
Weather: clear, Windy at times mid 50,s
Flies fished: Orange buzz hackle, DW spec., Wooly Wolfe, and just about half of the fly box
catch: very slow. My son-inlaw caught 5 I missed 1.
info We fished from 10:00 till 3:00 pm and fished hard at the lower end. Had fun but catching was real slow.

Dale M. reports…
1) Date: 27 October 07, late afternoon
2) Waters fished: Shimmy Horn Pond off Summit Road NFR-31
3) Flies used: 1st- Elk Horn Lake Spl., 2nd- Copper John, 3rd Blue Dragon
4) Weather conditions: Clear, -- air mid-50's, -- water temp ?
5) Comments: Kittee and Dale arrived at pond at 2:00 pm. Observed a few fish rises. Full Moon was the 26th. Dale caught first fish 12" rainbow on 3rd or 4th cast. Kittee caught 8" rainbow shortly thereafter. Continued to get a few more hookups but few catches. Kittee finished the day with last catch after sunset, air getting very cold. 8" of snow here the weekend before, very little on ground this day. All fish were caught on a Blue Dragon.

Bob W. reports…
Penland Lake
Date: Oct. 24, 2007
WX: Clear, warm, light breeze at times.
35 fish caught. Many in the 14 inch range. Healthy and fat.
Method: Pontoon boat on upper end in 4 to 8 feet of water.
Best Flies: # 10 Orange Wooly Wolfe fished on the sink with a strike indicator. #10 Beadhead Buzz Hackle fished on the sink and trolled.

Dale M. reports…
1) Date: 22 September 07, mid-to-late afternoon
2) Waters fished: Anthony Lake
3) Flies used: 1st- Elk Horn Lake Special., 2nd- Copper John, 3rd- Blue Dragon
4) Weather conditions: Clear, -- air mid-40's, -- water temp ? -- occasional wind, weather changing
5) Comments: Blue Mtn. Flycasters outing, fishing with Kittee, Rudy, Dale, and guest Dave Brandhagan
Everyone started with different flies, but Kittee found consistent hookups using the Elk Horn Lake Spl. Shortly thereafter the Elk Horn Lake Spl was shared with everyone and the catching began to be steady. Kittee and Dale fished until late afternoon catching 4 brook trout and 9 rainbows for keepers, all in the 8"-12" size range. Rudy and Dave fished until last call to call it a day.
NOTE: Sunday a.m. temperatures had all waders frozen stiff, all trees covered with rime ice.

Ryan D. reports…
I floated the Yakima River on 10/20/07 from the Ringer's Loop boat launch down to Umtanum Campground. That's in the canyon between Ellensburg and Yakima . . . I think the distance is about 8 miles but I'm not certain. We put in about 9:30 and got off the river about 6:00.
Weather: Cold all day - high 30's in the morning warming into the 40's for the rest of the day. Fog in the morning burned off by about 10:30. The weather alternated between overcast and sunny. Breezy at times but not bad.
River: I didn't take a temperature reading, but this stretch of the river is controlled by a series of dams so river conditions are predictably good this time of year. Several feet of visibility. Trout and whitefish were caught in riffles ranging from 3 to 5 feet deep and along deep-cut banks.
Flies: (in order from best): size 18 BWO, size 16/18 Prince Nymphs, size 12 olive caddis emergers (an unnamed pattern that I'm not familiar with), size 16/18 generic gray mayflies, size 16/18 Copper Johns (copper or red), size 12/14 little yellow stonefly nymphs, size 16 Royal Wulff.
We nymphed most of the day except for a couple of brief but notable mayfly hatches that occurred late in the afternoon. We got off the river about the same time as a guide who we had passed several times during the day. His clients were into fish every time we saw them. Someone finally asked him what they were using and he said they fished size 18 BWO all day long (even during periods when there was no apparent hatch going on). Unfortunately, nobody in our group got that figured out in time. Out of five guys, one got skunked, two (including me) caught only 2 fish, one guy caught about 6, and one old pro caught about 20.
NOTE: We saw a lot of bighorn sheep in the canyon and even got to witness a fight between two rams. Pretty cool!

Mary and Paul Q. report…
Paul and I went to Anthony Lake on June 29, 30 and July 1, 2007. Weather good.
Fishing spectacular.
We fished a couple hours Fri. pm, 6 hours Sat, 7 hours Sun catching and
releasing over 250 rainbow and brook trout spread out over those days.
Mostly on dry flies, wooly wolfe and prince nymph

If you would like to add to our fishing records with some of your own experiences please contact Dale McKain (via email) with the following information to be posted...

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