Willamette and McKenzie River Fishing Report April 15-24, 2024
Weekly Recap:
While the McKenzie River is still running high, the Middle Fork Willamette has come into shape. Flows on the McKenzie—both lower and upper—have sat in the 4000-4800cfs range all last week. There was a dip over the weekend, but the rains spike the river. The Willamette was been more consistent and manageable with flows ranging from 3000 to 3900 cfs. Temps on the McKenzie continue to hover in the mid-to-high 40s while the Willamette has seen a few days in above 50 degrees. The lower temps on the McKenzie keep fish metabolisms down while the warmer Willamette is stirring some appetites.
The March Brown hatch on both rivers looks to be tailing off. The good news is Mother’s Day Caddis and salmon flies have been seen on both rivers. We had luck last week on the Willamette fishing the gamut of our fly boxes: dries, soft hackles, streamers, and nymphs. The McKenzie was a little more work with dry flies happening at the warmest part of the day even as nymphs continue to dominate the scene.
The Look Ahead:
With more insect activity and warmer weather forecasted for this week, we expect temps to continue to rise on both rivers. The fishing should improve as we keep edging deeper into spring.
The Willamette Falls Fish Count shows about 1000 steelhead over the falls. A welcome sign for steelheaders in the valley!
As always, our fly selection reflects the conditions we’ve been seeing:
-PMD nymphs; purple and olive perdigons, and possie buggers #16-12
-Stone fly nymphs #6-10, weighted heavy to get down
-March Brown soft hackles #14-12
-Klinkhammer dries #12-14
-Parachute Adams #10-14
-BWO dries #16-20
-Tan caddis #12-16
Stay safe out there!
