Goodbye crowds! Hello June!

Now begins my favorite time of year!

The crazy-crowded days of May are behind us, many of the outfitters who use the Deschutes only for the salmonfly hatch are headed home, the gaggle of rafters have not yet descended upon Maupin, and the menu for the trout just continues to expand as we slide into the month of June. Unlike last year, when it was hotter than blazes, our spring has been cool and rainy this year. We had quite the rainstorm last night – which did put a little color in the river, but not enough to render it unfishable. The river will clear in the next 10 or so hours, so the dry-dropper rig will be your best searching tool while the river has that tinge of brown.

Our past week of fishing has been absolutely EPIC thanks to the weather finally coming around and giving us what we have been waiting for all throughout the month of May….HOT, MUGGY, OVERCAST, CALM days. We have seen every mayfly under the sun (preferred by trout 10 to 1 over salmonflies), including pale morning duns, pale evening duns, BWOs, green drakes, and pink alberts.

As I was writing this report, we had an absolute deluge of rain. The water was running down the streets in brown streams headed for the Deschutes. The guides who were on a camp trip for the last three days came off the water and said that they had a huge thunderstorm last night with buckets of rain. This morning the river was a green color that almost looked glacial. They did manage to catch a few fish on nymphs as they finished their float, and they reported seeing a bunch of fish smashing bugs on the surface. The river then got a little dirtier still – due to the heavy rain that hit us today around noon.

I expect the river to be somewhat dirty for the next 2-3 days. This doesn’t necessarily mean that the river won’t be fishable, but it will be off color to some extent. Try using bright nymphs and keep your eyes pealed for rising fish – they can still see enough to gulp dries off the surface.

I have to wrap this one up in order to get it posted. It’s short, but at least you all have a heads-up on the conditions of the river.