Oregon Fly Fishing Report – Small Stream Outfitters & Guides

Yesterday we put in at dark-thirty in hopes of avoiding the heat and tempting a spring chinook to bite. Unfortunately, the chinook bite was off and has been for the last few days. We worked hard until 10am with no results and then switched over to steelhead and trout. The sun was already beating on the water and we were soaking it up in t-shirts and shorts. Not exactly the best Summer steelheading conditions. Still, my guest Bob got one really aggressive fish to go, which made the day for all of us. We dry fly fished for trout here and there and caught a few nice ones, although even the trout could feel the heat and rose more tentatively than normal.

As long as the heat wave continues concentrate efforts first thing in the morning and again when the sun is off the water. Smaller, darker patterns and lighter tippets are key. We are officially into summer conditions.

Contact us to book a Clackamas River Summer Steelhead and/or trout trip. 503.515.3533

It’s well know among anglers that Spring Chinook, along with chrome fresh Sockeye are the tastiest of all Salmon. And so when the river was kind enough to relinquish three hatchery springers to us on Friday, we decided to take full advantage and prepare a little Springer Sushi. It’s a rare occurrence that we take fish home, but on occasion when we are lucky enough to be scouting with friends and the catch happens to be of the hatchery variety, well…. yum. We’re firm believers in the principal that all wild fish should be released carefully and hatchery fish and designed to go home with anglers.

Since this meal was so delicious, I thought I would pass along the sushi process, which is surprisingly easy and oh so tasty.

Spring Chinook Sushi
Preparing the fish. Make sure you bleed the fish immediately when you harvest it and keep the fish whole and on ice until you filet it. Filet each side as normal leaving the skin on but removing the rib bones. For sashimi, I like the area of the fish just behind where the pin bones stop and before the tail gets too narrow. The slices from a 15-20 pound fish in this area are just the right size. Take a single filet and slice down the lateral line and then remove the skin. 1/4 of a fish will feed 2-4 when served with rice. Trim the filet a bit to make a more uniform piece of fish, in this process remove and bones and dark grey flesh. The remaining meat should be firm, full of color and odorless. Wrap the filet in cling wrap and freeze overnight. Some people like to brine the fish also, to kill additional bacteria. It’s really your choice, but if you brine make sure you rinse the filet throughly before serving. The next day thaw the filet slowly in the fridge. When almost thawed is the best time to slice it. Using a very sharp knife cut 1/4 -1/3″ strips at a 20 degree angle off the filet. The angle will give you those lovely fat rings. After slicing, place the springer slices in a bath of ice water. You can use a little fresh lemon and rice vinegar in the water if you wish.

Preparing the Rice
Cook as much premium grade sushi rice as you need using 3 parts rice to 4 parts water. This recipe is for 3/4 cup of rice and 1 cup water.
In a separate pan combine 1 1/2 tbsp rice vinegar, 1 tbsp caster sugar (I used organic cane sugar), and 1/2 tsp salt. Warm until the salt and sugar dissolves. Mix the vinegar mixture into the rice and let cool.
Preparing the Sushi
With all your ingredients at the ready, pat and dry your pieces of fish with a paper towel and dab the underside of each piece with a bit of wasabi (a little goes a long way) Then form the rice using your hands or a bamboo mat into shapes slightly smaller than your pieces of fish. Arrange and have wasabi, soy sauce and pickled ginger at the ready.

Enjoy and keep those platters coming, your guests can’t get enough.

Tight Lines,
Small Stream Outfitters

My guide trip yesterday was a combo day of summer steelhead fishing and dry fly fishing for rainbow trout. Steelhead fishing was slightly tougher than it has been the last week or so, probably due mostly in part to the high pressure and warm weather. We hooked two beautiful fish and brought one to hand. A chrome bright 30.5″ hatchery fish. It was Jim’s largest fish of his life and I was pleased to be a part of it. His excitement made my day!

We switched over to an assortment of size 14 brown and black caddis dry flies around 10:00 and had a blast catching rainbows on 4 weights. The trout were extremely aggressive yesterday and we literally caught dozens of trout between 10″ and 13″. We even caught a 15″ whitefish on a dry. Now that’s looking up!

It was another great day on the water! To book a Summer Steelhead or Summer Steelhead/Rainbow Trout trip on the Clackamas River call 503.515.3533 or email info@smallstreamoutfitters.com

The Clackamas has dropped down to more typical June flows over the last couple weeks (at 12.2 as of this morning) and fish are beginning to transition from high water spots to their regular Summer hiding places. While spooky, the fish still bite well when presented to in stealth mode.

The bite has varied day to day with the changes in weather and fishing pressure. Yesterday, we were able to find some unpressured fish under cloudy skies and had a fantastic morning, hooking five and landing three. We weren’t able to get any to go on a dry line waking fly, but we’ll keep trying, remembering those moments of top water brilliance last Summer.

We were done steelheading around 10am, just in time to catch an incredible caddis (size 14 brown) and green drake hatch (size 8). The soft current edges came alive with rising trout. We broke out the 4wts and had non-stop dry fly action for the next hour. It was a blast and a great way to close out the morning!

To book a Clackamas River Summer Steelhead/Trout combo trip call 503.515.3533 or email us

Summer steelhead continue to fish well on the Clackamas. Concentrations of fish can be found around the hatchery and fair numbers of fish are spread throughout the rest of the system. We had good fishing last week from first light until late morning until the high sun put the fish down. Early mornings have been best, although fish can be found in shaded areas and covered pools throughout the day. You can check out pictures from last week in our Photo Gallery. A drop in river temperature is sure to put fish on the move and it looks like a significant system is headed our way and slated to hit August 19-20.

We’re really looking forward to this system as it should increase river flows and drop river temperatures across the area. We expect to see a push of coastal chinook and steelhead off this system as well as increased numbers of Bluebacks or Sea-run cutthroat trout. We don’t plan on missing out on this opportunity for a mid-summer storm. Call us at 503-515-3533 to book a trip. You can read a weather report from the National Weather Service below.

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COMPUTER MODELS AGREE ON BRINGING AN UNSEASONABLY STRONG STORM INTO SOUTHWEST WASHINGTON AND NORTHWEST OREGON BY THE MIDDLE OF THIS WEEK. THIS STORM IS ACTUALLY MODERATELY STRONG EVEN FOR WINTER TIME…AND WILL LIKELY PRODUCE UNUSUALLY STRONG WINDS FOR SUMMER ALONG THE COAST AND AN UNSEASONABLY HIGH AMOUNT OF RAINFALL.

THIS SYSTEM WILL LIKELY PRODUCE GALE FORCE WINDS OVER THE COASTAL WATERS BEGINNING LATE TUESDAY AND CONTINUING TUESDAY NIGHT. WIND GUSTS ALONG THE IMMEDIATE COAST COULD REACH 50 MPH OR MORE. THIS STORM ALSO IS FORECAST TO HAVE A VERY HIGH MOISTURE CONTENT…AND WILL LIKELY PRODUCE A SIGNIFICANT AMOUNT OF RAINFALL THROUGHOUT MUCH OF SOUTHWEST WASHINGTON AND NORTHWEST OREGON TUESDAY NIGHT AND WEDNESDAY MORNING…

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Tight lines and we’ll see you on the water!
Small Stream Outfitters guide staff