Bye Bye March!

NEW HOURS STARTING APRIL 1:

MONDAY THROUGH SATURDAY 8:00 AM - 5:00 PM

SUNDAY 8:00 AM - 4:00 PM  

The sun is rising on a beautiful day here in central Oregon. Today is going to be another sunny day with high temperatures in the mid-sixties. Like it was yesterday, it is going to be a stunner of a day. Rolling into the weekend, we are going to cool down a bit and clouds are forecast to roll in by 10:00 AM Saturday. The good news for anglers is that the winds are going to be very light on Saturday and that is always a bonus for fly fishing. I expect that the river will have a good number of anglers and campers out and about since this is one of the spring break weekends. 

The river is in good shape all the way around - the White River has cleared up and is not causing the lower river to be dirty any more. The mainstem of the Deschutes is also in good shape and with steady flows. Half of the river is still closed to fishing until April 22 - but everything in the Maupin area is open all year long, so come on out and enjoy our nearly 40 miles of drivable river access. 

The campgrounds along the river road have had some improvements made - new picnic tables and new gravel pads around the fire pits. Campfires are allowed until June, but there is no wood to be gathered out here in the desert (our trees are few and far between) so bring your own wood or buy it in town. Be aware that things are very dry out here already - quite unusual for March - and we have already had one small brush fire just upstream of Maupin. 

With warmer than average air temperatures, the water temps will also be a few degrees warmer than normal, which should trigger some of our hatches a bit early. March Browns, despite their name, are usually only around in April but the first few have been spotted in pockets along the river. In addition to the quite large March Brown mayfly, you should see some large caddis (size 14 brown) along the water’s edge, Blue Winged Olive mayflies on any cloudy day, so me tiny midges, and the odd Skwala stonefly. 

If I could give anglers new to the Deschutes one tip for success, it would be this: move frequently. Do not post yourself up on a spot and expect to stay there for an hour or longer without moving. If you do that, you are simply doing a bit of casting prctice on the river. The window of opportunity to catch a trout is very large when you are on the road looking at a spot. If you are very careful in your approach to the spot, creeping like a heron, walking softly, staying low and slow, and wearing colors that blend into the desert landscape - that window of fish-hooking opportunity will still be as large once you get down to the water. Trout on the Deschutes are all wild and wary and they face into the current. If you walk into the top of a run and expect to work your way downstream, you have already spooked most of the big trout near the surface because they can SEE you. Sneak up behind the swimming and hovering fish and your window of opportunity will stay open. 

Once you make one cast, the window of opportunity will close a bit. An artificial fly on the water, your leader, and your line on the water, these are all foreign to the fish that hold in these areas day after day. If your fly drags, lands with a smack, or you didn’t like your first cast and you rip it off the water to recast - all of these things will frighten trout and cause those near the surface, those that might have eaten a dry fly, to drop down in the water column and sulk. After you have cast your fly ten times in to the pool or riffle, it is time to move. Readjust yourself by moving forward ten feet (moving upstream) and present your fly in a new area. 

Make sure that the water you are fishing is the type of water that trout like to hang out in. If the bottom is sandy without too many rocks, this is probably not a place that trout will like. Trout like rocks and gravel - that’s where the bugs hide. Be careful around gravel this time of year, however, because many trout are spawning (laying eggs in the gravel) and we do not want anglers to target spawning fish nor do we want anglers to walk all over the fine gravel where the eggs have been laid. This crushes the eggs and destroys the future generations of Deschutes wild trout. 

Deep rocky water and shallow rocky water are both good options for trout on the Deschutes. You will find lots of places like these if you move frequently and try out new spots. The only way to get good at catching trout on the Deschutes is to actually get out there and go to new spots each time you visit the river. Sure, you will have your favorite spots too, but try new spots on each trip to the river - it will make you a better angler. 

This Sunday is the last Sunday that the shop will be closed. On April 1 our hours change and we are open seven days a week. We will be opening at 8:00 AM and will be open until 5:00 PM all days except Sunday. On Sunday, we close the shop at 4:00 PM.