Insane Storm Last Saturday Night

If you were out here last Saturday night, then you could be writing this story and it would probably add some juicy details to paint the full picture of what happened last night.....

The big storm that hit Portland came roaring over the mountain at about 6:00 PM on Saturday night and it was like nothing that I have seen in the 25 years that I have lived in the Maupin area. The wind went from 15 miles an hour to maybe 60 miles an hour in just a few minutes. Tumbleweeds were flying through the air about 6 feet off the ground slamming into trees, trucks, whatever was in their path. The air was filled with so much dust, it looked like smoke and visibility was down to just a hundred yards.

The most intense part of the storm was the concentration of lightning strikes - never welcome here in August when the fire danger is at its highest!! Here is a photo from a lightning strike app - I took this screen shot to show just how many strikes happened in the Maupin area. Note, you cannot even see the word Maupin written on this map because it is covered in layers of lightning: 

The interesting thing about the big storm is that we expected the White River to possibly blow out due to an immense amount of rain up on the mountain. We checked the river daily - sometimes twice a day all week this week and it has been perfectly fine. It is low and clear and has no white color. So, that is the good news for those of you planning to fish below the White River. In this picture, taken two days after the big storm, you can see how clear the water is and how low:

John and I floated with friends last Saturday and the river was pretty quiet. We were with friends who were getting ready for a trip to British Columbia - so they were tuning up their skills with both floating line (Scandis) and sink tips (Skagit heads). We hooked steelhead on the floating line rods with floating leaders and using streetwalkers. The steelhead are out there in pods, so you have to cover lots of water to find them, but they are out there. The lower river below Macks has been quite busy - boaters passes have been sold out. Here is a selfie that my friend, Tabitha, took of us with her landed steelhead:

The trout are getting a lot happier with the cooler weather and cooling water temps. The main three hatches right now are caddis, aquatic moths, and pale yellow mayflies (big hatches on cloudy days). With more clouds in the forecast, it will be wise to pack your mayfly boxes with you when you hit the river. A lot of anglers see clouds of bugs emerge from the riverside trees and think, "Caddis!" Yes, some of those bugs are caddis and all of them look like caddis in the air, but upon closer inspection you may be seeing aquatic moths. If they land on you and the wings are flat and not tented, then you are seeing aquatic moths. Here is a photo of two aquatic moths on my knee:

So, as things cool off, the fishing all-around promises to get better and better. With school starting soon, the river rafting will dwindle down in the Maupin area and more and more campsites will be open to anglers. Even though it is rainy at the moment, we still have a fire ban in place until the 15th of October. We hope to see you in the shop before you hit the water!