Great News - We Hit Our Steelhead Goal!

Good morning! I am happy to report that yesterday, July 24, 1,147 unclipped steelhead crossed Bonneville dam. If you were keeping track, as we were, this meant that we hit 19,133 unclipped steelhead over Bonneville since July 1, surpassing the goal number of 18,700 steelhead. The Deschutes steelhead season will remain open for the year. Here is a picture of the board in the back of the shop sent to me yesterday by Gabor. We made it with a week to spare!

This is great news. 

Steelhead fishing will, of course, be challenging. Even during the years when we had HUGE returns (100,000 fish in July), it was an accomplishment to hook one or two fish per day. So, expect to do a lot of fishing and searching for fish, and your realistic expectation should be that many of your days will be spent fishing all day without a sniff. But, it only takes that one encounter to get the heart racing and the hands trembling…and you sure aren’t going to catch one from your couch!

Go out on the water and enjoy everything about the process. If you tie flies, tie up something really special for the day, whether it is your favorite traditional pattern like a Green Butt Skunk or Lady Carolyn or a pattern that you came up with one night at your own tying bench. Enjoy the process of casting the rod and the swing of the fly, because you will be casting and swinging for hours. Take the time on the river to see all the cool stuff happening all around you - the birds, the flowers, the big horn sheep, the deer, the otters and mink, and any other special rare critter sighting (like a bobcat, cougar, or black bear). Get out there at the crack of dawn and stay until dark, maybe napping in the shade mid-day with the cool water rushing past - just waiting for the water to shade up again. Hang out with friends, give somebody a hand if they need help with their casting, row a boat down the river and make a great camp, cook some killer camp grub and sleep under the stars. Steelhead fishing encompasses the entire trip to the river and may or may not have the actual element of hooking, or playing, or landing a steelhead - so you better enjoy all the other stuff that goes along with chasing chrome. 

If you are looking for a guided steelhead trip this late summer or fall, now is the time to get on the calendar. Now that the season is going to be open for sure, the best guide’s calendars will be filling quickly. We have listed some great guides on our website whom you can contact directly - this is just a courtesy listing of guides we know and trust, but none of whom work directly for the fly shop. We are currently not taking any new clients or bookings for steelhead.

Trout fishing on the Deschutes remains good, although it can be tough to find fish during the mid-day due to the bright sun and the heat of the day. Get up really early to find trout feeding on dead caddis, hit the shadows under the riverside trees as the sun hits the water, and go deep in the mid-day with nymphs or streamers. Trout Spey can make the day more fun, as can using a Euro nymphing set-up. 

John and I are currently on a summer road trip with Lupine, so there is no shop dog at Deschutes Angler this week. She is living her best life up north in Minnesota where she is swimming in the lake, learning about sunfish, getting used to the scary old wooden dock, riding in boats, and hanging out with her Griff cousin, Greta.

Lupine living large

It was a long drive with a 15 year-old anxious dog, but well worth it to see her rolling in the green grass and watching the loons swim past the end of the dock. She can’t hear the calls of the loon echoing across the lake at all hours of the day and night, she hasn’t heard much of anything for a year or so, but the haunting calls of the Common Loon wake me every morning and lull me to sleep every evening here where my love for fishing really began.

8th grader - Amy - already obsessed with fishing 

Here comes some bird nerd stuff - the Common Loon was my “Spark Bird” the bird that really got me interested in birds. Minnesota’s state bird is incredible - a very large diving and fishing bird with an array of the most incredible and bone-chilling vocalizations. The call of the loon brings me back to every fishing trip, every canoe camping trip on the Boundary Waters Canoe Area, and to every weekend spent at our 100 year old stockade-style vertical log cabin on the edge of Bay Lake in Minnesota’s north country. These master anglers can dive up to 250 feet deep and have eyes that can focus underwater as well as above. Their feet are further behind them than any duck, making them swift and powerful swimmers, but unable to walk on the land. Their nests are in the reeds on the edge of the lake right at water level so they can scoot up onto them. Since they cannot walk, they must always be on open water, but they must choose their open water carefully because they need quite a runway to take flight. They literally run across the water in an attempt to get off the water and they need a fair bit of space to get airborn. The reason it is difficult is that they have denser bones than most waterfowl - which helps them get depth while diving and helps them stay underwater. They can hold their breath for up to five minutes underwater and compress their feathers to be less buoyant while hunting. A group of loons is called an  “asylum” of loons due to their calls, which sound like those of a mad man. As I type this report from the end of the dock, they are yodeling all around me in between fishing sessions. These monogamous critters must fly south before the lakes freeze up - and many spend the winters on saltwater where they adapt their diets. They return each year to the same lake and the same bay of the lake to raise 1-2 babies. They live 15 to 30 years - so the loons I see swimming in front of me are probably the offspring of the loons I knew as we both grew up fishing Echo Bay. Only once have I seen a Common Loon on the Deschutes River - migrating south from Canada - I flipped out! That was over twenty years ago.

A Common Loon pair and their pre-teen.

Yesterday morning, I tied on a Jolly Rancher fly and stood on the dock like a little kid catching tiny little sunfish, bass, and bluegill from the end of the dock. I could have taken one of our boats out to fish any of my old favorite spots around the 2,800 acre lake - but my inner kid was having too much fun trying to hook only the biggest of the fish sucking in and spitting out my fly.

Not exactly a “Lunker” but a beautiful Pumpkinseed Sunfish

 
After an hour on the dock, having caught and released about 50 fish on my sweet Winston Pure 2 rod, John came out to see if I had “had enough.”To be honest, I really never have enough when it comes to fishing - but the sunnies were pretty well educated at that point and I was able to clearly see the ones who had been hooked doing their best to ignore my offering. I had the same fly on for all 50 fish, lost one nicer smallmouth bass to a mass of weeds, and I am tying this report as fast as I can so that I can get back out there to do it again this morning! 

John with a true “LUNKER” but caught by Paul & Babe

I hope you are all enjoying your summer! I am not looking forward to the days of driving ahead, but we are breaking up the return trip with some fishing in Montana. The crew in the shop will help you out with your fishing needs while John and I are away. They can always reach us if needed. Tight lines!