Clackamas Steelhead Late April

We’ve got a taste of summer weather this week for our spey anglers swinging flies on the Clackamas river. Temperatures in the 80’s have us breaking out of the t-shirts, ditching the long underwear/winter clothing mindset and reaching for the sunscrean.   Meanwhile summer steelhead are showing up on the Clackamas River near Portland, Oregon.  Water flows have been good if not on a bit on the high side.  This weeks flows have been on the drop with water levels at 13’8″ on monday and dropping to 13’3″ by wednesday.

On the Clackamas we use a jet boat to move from spot to spot where we wade through great steelhead wader using the cast, swing, step approach.  Water temps are rising but still the best success has been with sinking tip lines.  Common sink tips at T-8, T-11 and T-14.  Skagit fly lines and big flies combine with these sink tips to produce an easy to cast presentation that steelhead love.

Grabs are often very aggressive and explosive takes followed by line blistering runs are common for the hatchery based summer steelhead on the Clackamas.  Some of these fish fight so hard and are so fast they are litterally unlandable!  For more information on fishing the Clackamas River on the fly contact guide Rob Crandall or visit our website at: watertimeoutfitters.com