Fishing for Trout

Trout are probably the most popular to go fishing for—whether it's fishing in Oregon or outside of the area. With the abundance of trout, and the many different kinds out there, it's a great first step into fishing, as well as a relaxing activity no matter your experience level.

If you are just getting started, though, Gary offers some articles on how to fish for trout, trout fishing techniques and some fun trout fishing stories, as well. Read the articles below to get up-to-date on trout fishing Oregon and beyond!

To Fish Fine and Far Off

We set down our bags in the front room and went back outside to the porch where Merrilee sat with a book in the Adirondack chair and I sat at a table to tie tippets to leaders and clinch dry flies to tippets. That accomplished, I sat back and opened The Compleat Angler, a book I hadn’t read in more than three decades.
A Trout Fisherman's Guide to Beads

Rainbows, cutthroats and char eat salmon eggs. There's no better way to match the food source than to drift beads. Here's how to put this spawn simulation system to work.
When the Trout are Tight to the Bank

Trout fishing on the Deschutes River in Oregon using the Bow-and-Arrow-Cast with Elke Littleleaf Kirk with Gary Lewis.
Big River Rainbows in Downtown Redding

There was a time when this section of river and its banks were poisoned by copper mining. There was a time when tons and tons of gravel were harvested from the river bed. But now the wild trout find a home in the cool water beneath the dam, right in the heart of this California city.
Spring Fishing: Think Big for Ice-out Trout

Big trout, the kind of fish that are measured in pounds, not inches, don’t come easy. Few live long enough to make it to the 20-inch mark. Maybe one in a thousand. Maybe one in ten thousand make it to 25 inches and beyond, developing the substantial girth that can tip the scales into the double digits. When you fish our best lakes and target the biggest fish, that trophy fish is only one cast away.
Spring, When Our Fancy Turns to Trout

In the spring, a young man’s fancy lightly turns to thoughts of trout. Those were Tennyson’s words. Almost. Doubtless I am not the first trout enthusiast to make sport with poetic verse, but with apologies to the bard, I discovered that Shakespeare reads just as well if the word ‘trout’ is substituted for the word ‘love.’ Consider this, from Romeo and Juliet: Trout is a smoke and is made with the fume of sighs.
Small Streams and Alpine Lakes Offer Sanctuary for the Angler

He was easily the biggest trout I’d seen that day. Peering over the bank I could see him at the head of the pool, ready for whatever insects might drift down to him. The smaller trout in the pool, just half his size, would have to settle for leftovers. I eased away from the bank and knotted a fly to my ten foot leader. This trout would only give me one chance to catch him. Downstream, the creek changed course in a ninety degree hard left turn between high banks. Approaching from the far bank would allow me the cover to cast without throwing a shadow on the water.
Local Experts Pick Top 10 Trout Flies for Area Waters

When I was thirteen years old I left my fly box on the bumper of my grandpa’s Ford at the Elk Lake boat launch. The accumulation of many evening’s work at the tying bench was crushed beneath the wheels of grandpa’s trailer. I didn’t realize my loss until that evening back at camp, many miles away. Heavy of heart and wise beyond my years, I passed a time of mourning, unable to hold a bobbin or look a bare hook in the eye. It was a full three weeks before I resumed my place at the bench and began to fill a new box with old favorites.
Reading a Stream Means More Than Looking at Currents on the Surface

When I was 11 years-old I didn’t care much about fishing. Give me a BB gun or a good book to read and I could get excited. Until my Uncle Jon told me that I could learn to read a river like a book. Read a river? Now I’m hooked. There are two ways to approach fishing a stream. The first is to look for visible fish and then to make the presentation. The second is fishing on faith. This refers to anytime when there are no fish to be seen but you know that they must be there. To successfully fish blind requires that you can guess the spots in the river where the fish are most likely to be found.
New Book Reveals Keys to Trophy Trout in Stillwaters

He is kneeling in shallow, wind-riffled water, holding a trout that, soon, he will let free. Laugh-lines crinkle at the corners of his eyes as he squints against the morning sun. Water is dripping from the fish’s broad shoulders and hooked lower jaw. A pale rainbow stripes the spotted flanks. The infectious smile on Denny’s face speaks volumes. To most of us, a 12 pound trout comes once in a lifetime, but the look on his face says that Denny Rickards cannot wait to put that fish back in so he can catch another one. He bills his book Flyfishing Stillwaters for Trophy Trout as the breakthrough fly-fishing system that teaches you how to consistently catch tough trophy trout in western lakes. This is no idle claim.
Imitate Crayfish With Spinners or Flies to Catch Big October Rainbows

Afternoon was slipping into evening as we left the truck and crashed down the hill. The Klamath River was down there in the gorge, still out of sight. I could hear the roar of the rapids below as we sought the trail we knew must be there. Heading straight down, we found the well-used path and followed it toward the water. “There’s the river,” Dan said. The water looked high, fast and brown, but I guessed it was probably always that way. As the water in the lakes above is never very clear, so must be the river that flows out of it.
With Trout Opener Almost Here, Now is the Time to Teach Children to Fish

For her fourth birthday we gave Jennifer a fishing rod. Tiffany, our oldest, had been fishing with her own for several years already. The three of us spent a few hours over the next month and a half, practicing for the trout opener. We went over the basics again and again. Pinch the line against the rod, flip the bail open, cast, reel, stop and wait. If you feel a tug on the line, then lift the rod quick and start reeling. We practiced this without hooks in the house, then later in the backyard. On the morning the season opened, we bought a dozen worms and headed for the lake.
Visions of Trophy Brown Trout Warm Central Oregon Anglers

There was new four pound test line on my spinning reel and a floating Rapala dangling from the end of the rod. I cast into the wind and started to reel. Stories I’d been told last year about this mountain lake were replaying through my head. Could it really have been like they said? Would we hook brown trout as long as my arm? Would my friend Ron quit speaking to me if he didn’t catch a fish on this trip? It’s hard to imagine that a man could reach the age of forty-four and never have caught a fish but this is what he told me.
Attention to Detail Pays Off for Anglers on Agency Lake

Distant storm clouds filtered the afternoon sun. The wind blew a chop on the water and we squinted into the sunlit spray from the bow. A white pelican, wingtips lifted to catch the air, drifted ahead of us, riding the wind ten feet above the water. It was Perry Parmelee’s boat and his son Brent at the helm. A chance meeting at the launch and the offer of a ride had turned into a fishing trip on Agency Lake.
Fish Close to the Bottom and Don’t Look Them in the Eye

From where I stood, on the bank of a small lake, I could see at least four good fish. Moving in and out of the weed beds, the trout were feeding, but I couldn’t tell what it was they were taking. It was the middle of the day and if I could see these fish in the low, clear water they could certainly see me. There was one that stood out from the rest. It was a fifteen inch rainbow, no bigger than the others but behaving differently. While the others seemed to move randomly, browsing among the standing weeds, this one followed a very definite pattern.
Of Rainbow Trout, Flies and a Goat named Beebee

I turned my back on a career in professional basketball when I entered the seventh grade. You have to practice every night, they told me. With church on Sunday that left only Saturday for fishing. I was forced into a decision between the roar of an adoring crowd and a jerk at the end of a line. The jerk at the other end of the line was my friend Greg. “No, I don’t think I’ll play basketball either. Wanna go fishing?” Instead of running lines inside a gym we cast lines down at the creek.
A Willing Horse and a River Full of Fish

When I booked a February trip with Coyhaique River Lodge in Patagonia, I told owner Gaston Urrejola, that I hoped to ride horseback to access a stream on a nearby estancia. A few days before I boarded the plane to Chile, I told him I wanted to catch a wild trout, on a dry fly, from the back of a horse.
Top 10 Flies for BIG Trout

Sometimes you just want to catch big fish. Trout that can be measured in pounds, not inches. And not just a few pounds, either. Double digits look good in the fishing journal. A lot of people want to catch big fish but they’re stuck using small trout tactics. Like the big-game trophy hunter, you have to pass up a lot of opportunities at smaller game while you search for the wall-hanger. If you want to catch big ones, don’t fish dry flies. Big trout don’t get that way by feeding on the surface.
Want to Bag A Bull Trout?

It is no secret that bull trout are in trouble across much of their range, but they are still found in fishable numbers in parts of British Columbia, Alberta, Montana, Idaho, Washington and Oregon. The bull trout (a char) is a colorful fish with back and flanks of olive or brown, sprinkled with red, orange, pink and yellow spots. His belly is white and his tail forks slightly. His head is long and broad. Slow-growing, he may live for twelve or more years, reaching 30 pounds when food is abundant.
Want to Tie into a Big Wild Rainbow?

The waters of the Klamath Basin in southern Oregon are legendary for big rainbows, but there is a trophy trout tributary to Upper Klamath Lake that is little known, lightly fished and miles off the beaten track.

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