My wife and I are headed to do a Oregon/Washington road trip next week and would like to get a half day of fishing in.

Intenerary:
6/29 Portland
6/30 Bend
7/1 Corvallis
7/2 Somewhere on Northern Oregon coast
7/3 -7/4 Seattle
7/5 Portland

I figure that Bend is probably the best spot to get some fishing in. I'd like to go fly fishing. I've been a few times on the Frying Pan in CO, but my wife would be a complete beginner. We also would need to rent all of our gear.

Any suggestions?

I am heading up to Seattle and the Olympic Peninsula in the first week of August so I am also interested in fishing guides / info. But sorry, I don't have any info yet but I will let you know if come across some.

We spent the first two weeks of August there (Oregon and Washington) summer before last. The only place we saw anyone catching decent fish that time of year was in the San Juan islands.

Try to find a river with steelhead in it. http://www.roeoutfitters.com/

I fished with this guy years ago and it was great. Some if the mountain lakes near bend are awesome places to fish and camp. Check out crane prairie lake. Tons of good fishing up there and the coast is beautiful

Lots of opportunities to fish on your trip. On the coast, you can usually charter a half day fishing trip for rock fish and crabbing. They run about $80 depending on the package. Each town on the coast with a harbor has some charter services. Likewise, any town on the Columbia will have charters for sturgeon, salmon etc. Fishing around Bend is mainly the Deschutes River for steel head and trout. Other than that, a half day trip is pushing it. The Metolius river is a beautiful river with lots of fly fishing opportunities. It's in the forest west of Sister's, and near Camp Sherman. There is a trout fishery on the river that's well worth seeing. The giant trout will have you drooling! A half day trip doesn't leave you much time to fish, but if you have your own fly fishing gear and are driving from Corvalis to Bend, the Metolius is only a few minutes off the highway. You can get some quality fishing there. The headwaters of the Metolius are near there and you can see the river literally welling up out of the ground and begin flowing.

I can't recommend any guides, but there are pretty good spots on the Olympic Peninsula and up near N. Cascades. Recs:

Skokomish River (near Staircase entrance to ONP). Also try Lake Cushman.

Elwha River, near Port Angeles.

Sauk River. Most people fish the Skagit, so going here will be a little less crowded.

Nooksack River. This is really pretty country (stunning), but I think you might have to hike in.

Those four are about all I can think of that are notoriously good. Hope that's a good place to start.

[This message has been edited by Pierce County Ag (edited 6/24/2013 12:29p).]

The Nooksack:



[This message has been edited by Pierce County Ag (edited 6/24/2013 12:33p).]

I have a friend that has a guide in Eugene. Drift boat for trout, but not fly fishing. Bait fishing.

I almost did the Deschutes with a guide, but I had to bail.

Here's a report on my trip up to those regions: http://texags.com/main/forum.reply.asp?forum_id=34&topic_id=1878180&page=1&nomobile=1

I didn't see anyone fishing in those Olympic peninsula rivers, probably because the flow was too high, and the steelhead had not arrived yet.

quote:

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steelhead had not arrived yet

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Need to wait about a month.

Friday Harbor scene. Everyone returning to the dock was unloading similar catches that morning. Also heard mid August was too early for river fishing.

Looks like I will be headed to Washington myself later in July (instead of Yellowstone). If so, I am going to hit up the Lewis River again, this time with some experience under my belt. Interested to see what the results will be. Maybe I can actually land a big fish this time.

quote:

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August was too early for river fishing

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Depends on what/where. August is time for salmon runs.

Edit:

Be sure to avoid the rivers that the tribes have netted.

[This message has been edited by Pierce County Ag (edited 6/24/2013 4:44p).]

For fly fishing in the in the Seattle area, it doesn't get any better than my friend Derek Young at Emerging Rivers Guide Service.

http://www.orvis.com/intro.aspx?dir_id=22592&group_id=2981&cat_id=13912&subcat_id=28538&subject=6173

87, do you have a recommendation for the Portland area in terms of guides?

Shifty,
Here is the list of Orvis Endosed Fly Fishing operations in Oregon. http://www.orvis.com/intro.aspx?dir_id=22592&group_id=2981&cat_id=13912&subcat_id=28529&subject=1072
Other than a handshake and hello at the Orvis Guide Rendezvous, I don't know any of them, but I can vouch for how thorough they have been checked out before they got an endorsement and how often their customers are sent surveys after trips with them

i've fished around that area (all dry fly). bend is good - the sun valley(or sun river - its a kind of retirement community) area has some solid rivers. the blues near walla walla are also good. there are some lakes that are easy to fish as well. the 3 forks area is good on the wash/oregon border.

i would recommend my uncle - but he is about to have a pretty huge surgery - keep him in mind. he is an avid fly fisherman - and the guy who got me into it.

Thanks for the info guys. We might now try to fish the day we head from Seattle to Portland.

if you are going to fish between Seattle and Portland then I would throw in the Lewis River. That's where I caught my first trout on the fly, with no knowledge or ability.