Current Fly Fishing Opportunties Near Portland for Beginner

Hey all, new to site and first post. 

After getting tired of driving a couple hours to good trout lakes, I decided to give Kayak fishing a try in the hopes I can hit some of the local areas for half-day fishing opportunties to fit my more limited time available.  After shoping around for a couple of weeks I'm now the proud owner of an OK Big Game and have it mostly rigged up (Got my through hull transducer via UPS yeserday .  Only launched out of CedarOak park on the Willie so far - Once to get a hang of boat and once to try out some bass fishing near Cedar Island and in that general area (last weekend 9/15).

Fished all day and not a bite, did "see" a couple of fish on the SmartCast I had rigged up, but they were deep (Sturgeon?).  Not only am I new to kayak fishing but fly-fishing as well, and bass fishing is new to me also. I do have background as a typical Northwest bait thrower, spinner schemer, steelhead drifter and ocean guide payer.  I did target rocky areas, piers, logs, eddies, and assorted hiding places in that area with some poppers, nymphs and even a streamer or two for variety.  So am I the wrong area, wrong season or just wrong all around.

Looking for places near Portland to increase my odds.  Have heard the Tualatin, Columbia Slough, Columbia Channel, Scappoose Bay and some of north Sauvies island sloughs etc. are places to try out.  Anybody tried those places for Bass and have any recommendations?  Also in this area how long are Bass still biting, and can I catch them off the top with poppers or do I need to get down deeper this time of year.    If I'm too late, any other suggestions for local kayak fly-fishing opportunties?

Regardless just getting out and paddling around these areas has been fun so far and I'm looking forward to exploring more areas locally, but actaully catching a fish or two would help justify the time and money I've spent also.

Thinking of heading out Saturday afternoon to some place locally if anybody has any specific recommendations and wants some company.

Thanks in advance for any help you can provide. 

- Scott (Got to come up with a more clever handle I guess)

slbrow6, welcome.  I'm sure some of your local OR guys will chime in and help you out.  Lot's of kayak fishing talent down there including some fly fishermen.

-Allen

Hey Scott!
 Welcome to the board! Well, you just named all the great smallie spots in the neighborhood except for Henry Hagg. Were you using a popper the whole time? Unless its early or late in day, or you see them picking stuff off the surface, I generally prefer an underwater presentation. Almost any streamer (clouser, matuka, wooly bugger, etc.) should produce in that area.
 The bank in front of Cedar Oak, the inside of the island, and the bank on the other side of the river have always given up a fish or three. Also the launch in Lake Oswego at George Rodgers Park drops you into the mouth of Oswego creek. The far side away from the beach is a good producer as well.

The Tualatin is also a very easy launch at Cook Park and fishes great upstream and down.
Lots of good info in the ifish bass/panfish board:
http://www.ifish.net/board/forumdisplay.php?f=20

Its worth a look and there is a current thread about George Rodgers Prk. Drop me a line and we’ll get out.  (Got an open seat to Everette this weekend, your welcome to)

FFTW - Started with a Popper but not seeing what I "think" would be popper territory switched to a  Brown then Olive Wolly Bugger, then a White Zonker and a Marabou Muddler, then finished up with a Coors Light (After giving up for the day).   Do you just cast and slow retreive bass streamers or is a slow troll on a stremer effective?  I'm also wondering if maybe I wasn't deep enough, any thought on adding some slip shot?  I was using a sinking tip line maybe I should try full sinking if I'm using stremers (so many questions! - Sorry).

I was thinking about trying out the Tualatin but wasn't sure of a good luanch point, so I'll give Cook Park a try and post an update.

The Everett derby sounds fun, but couldn't swing it this weekend.  Thanks for the offer.  Just getting back into fishing and don't want to make a total ass of myself yet - had to read the rules on your link to even figure out how a derby works!  I'd love to get the experience, but with only 2 trips so far, I need some more "on the water" time first.

Out of curiousity do you think an 8wt 9' rod fly would be okay for something like that Coho derby?  I've been looking at getting a steelhead fly rod and hoping I could use it for Salmon also. Currently just have a 6wt 8'6" rod for fly fishing. Trying to stay away from going back to stinky bait fingers.  

An 8wt will be fine for coho and steelhead. Maybe a bit small for chinook, but doable.

A 9' rod is fine for small and medium size streams; but on big stuff (like the Skagit) I wish I had a spey.

Good Luck.

I flyfish the Deschutes and other E. Oregon rivers, but I have not done too much with the fly rod in the Portland area.  Others have already given you great advice for local spots, but I'd add that you may also want to consider some of the Mt. Hood lakes (1.5 to 2 hours from town, but maybe better fishing).  Laurence Lake, near Parkdale on Mt. Hood, is my favorite.  I've also been wanting to do a weekend trip down to Davis Lake to target the illegally introduced largemouth bass (it is a fly fishing only lake that now houses huge bass).

I've also been really tempted to buy a WA license and go fish Drano Lake and other backwaters on the Columbia for smallmouth.

An 8 wt rod is perfect for coho.  I'd be dubious of chinook with it, though.  Would be fine for a 15 pound nook... get lucky and hook a 30 pound fish, and something is going to give (like maybe the rod).  Most of the guys I know who target chinook in rivers with fly tackle use 10 or 11 wt rods and heavy sinking lines. 

The Sandy is supposed to be a nice spot to try for coho on the fly, but I've had crappy luck myself (mostly due to lack of time to really learn the river).