A CALM Spring Weekend?

Looks like we have a GREAT weekend for fishing lined up here on the Deschutes River….the forecast calls for cool, but sunny, days with a light breeze and temperatures in the 60s. Evening temps won’t get too low - mid 30s - but it might not be the time to switch from the warmer sleeping bag to that lightweight summer version. 

The entire Lower Deschutes River is now open to fishing (the Warm Springs to Maupin stretch just opened on Wednesday). This will help ease the pressure in the Maupin area because anglers will have a bit more water to spread out on as we are all waiting patiently for the big bugs to hit the main stage. Everyone in our small town benefits from “The Hatch” because it brings anglers to our river from all over the world. Every conversation about great salmonfly hatches of the western United States mentions the hatch on the Deschutes River as one of the very best - so we are EXCITED for the bugs to get here. 

Even the restaurants along the river are excited for the hatch!

Salmonflies - that is the common term for the stoneflies that are very close to crawling out of the Deschtues. For a span of roughly a month and a half we will experience one of the most amazing and (for most anglers) frustrating hatches in the western United States. Why frustrating? Well, for all of the hype that this hatch stirs up through social media, the only way to hit the best and most insanely great fishing days of the hatch is to dedicate several weeks to being on the water every day. One or two of those days will see all the stars align to be amazing - while the rest will only offer glimpses at how epic it might be. 

Here is the scoop: right now, there are thousands upon thousands of three-inch-long black and brown stonefly nymphs tumbling and crawling on the bottom of the Deschutes. Stones are drift-migrating to different sections of the river and starting to make their way to the river’s edges.

What you should be imitating right now….

When the water temperatures are just right, which is usually in the high 50’s, the stoneflies will “emerge” but not on the surface of the river, but from the edges of the river. The stoneflies do not have a pupa stage - they go directly from nymph to adult. Before the transformation, they crawl out of the water in their nymph bodies and cling tightly to a tree, a branch, a stick, a rock, or a clump of grass on the edge of the river.  While their nymph bodies begin to dry out in the dry desert air, the fully developed stonefly adult begins to writhe under an invisible zipper-like opening down the middle of the back of the stonefly nymph casing. Soon the old nymph body is merely a shell, and the adult stonefly inside begins to emerge from the former body with crumpled wings and a newly-minted juicy body in a salmon color or a golden color - depending on the species.

Adult Salmonfly crawling out of its old body into the desert air.

Here on the Deschutes, we have several species of stoneflies and the big two are set to emerge in the coming week to ten days. The Pteronarcys californica (Giant Stonefly aka Salmonfly) and the Hesperoperla pacifica (Golden Stonefly) are the big two that hatch off together here on the Deschutes and will stick around for weeks - first mating, then waiting. What do they wait for? They wait for air temperatures to be warm enough to take to the air for egg-laying. We need 80-90 degree days to get these bugs on the wing, and those days may not come until mid- to late-May. Thus, the “hatch” can last for a good month and can extend beyond a month because we also have several smaller Isoperla stones (Little Yellow Sallies) that come in at the end of May to keep us on our toes into June. 

There are a lot of good and buggy days ahead! The golden stones are coming soon.

For now, you will have tremendous success using large mature stonefly nymph patterns to search down deep in the rocks. The trout are absolutely gorging on the stonefly nymphs right now. The trout are also happily chowing down on some mayfly species in their various life forms. The March Brown and Blue Winged Olive hatches have been strong - particularly on cloudy days. Just before the March Browns emerge (in the mid day) their nymphs are quite actively swimming and rising and falling in the water column. For a March Brown imitation, I go with a soft hackle with a tungsten bead on it. I vary the bead size depending on whether I am using it as a trailer behind a dry fly or if I am fishing it down deep alongside my black or mottled stonefly nymph. We carry the March Brown soft hackle nymph in several tungsten bead sizes as well as in a beadless version - a true original soft hackle. 

BWO nymphs are a bit smaller and are best represented by size 16-18 dark nymphs like a Silvey super sinker or a small pheasant tail. We have several great patterns from which to choose. 

Once again, I want to mention that there are many trout out on their spawning redds and it is up to the angler to avoid these gravelly areas at all costs. The trout need to be left alone to spawn, after all, they are creating the future of our fishery. There may be the odd steelhead still in the river spawning at some of the same gravelly areas and harassing the spawning wild steelhead is not only as unethical as it is to fish for spawning trout, it is also considered a violation of the law as you are harassing a species that is listed as threatened on the endangered species list. Please stay out of the shallow gravelly areas for the next two months - our trout populations in the Deschutes have been recorded as actively spawning from December through June - but the majority of the spawning takes place right now. 

If you want to see a fly shop that is absolutely PACKED TO THE GILLS with merchandise and with the #1 fly selection in the entire Northwest - come and see us at Deschutes Angler. We are on the lower Deschutes River, not 100 miles away, and we have our finger on the pulse of the Deschutes river like no other shop you will visit in Oregon. Let us help you find success on the Deschutes with helpful advice on rigging your flies, choosing the right patterns, getting the right sized-tippet to fool the big fish but still be able to land them, and what types of water will be most productive for you at different times of the day.  

We are open 7 days a week to help you get what you need and get to the river.