July is here!
Greetings from sunny Maupin, where we are gliding into summer, embracing some hot weather, and fishing a lot of caddis flies. The warmer weather was welcome after a cold and rainy spring, and it seemed as if someone triggered the light switch overnight to go from cool and cloudy to hot and sunny.
The bugs like the hot and sunny weather, however, so be ready with caddis, little yellow sallies, craneflies, and aquatic moths. These are the main food items for the redsides in the summer. If you want to fish dry flies, those are the patterns to use. If you want to fish down deep in the cooler, colder water where a lot of the trout are hanging out in the middle of the day, then you want to fish a nymph. A nymph can either be dangled below a dry fly or fished in tandem with other nymphs under an indicator or in a Euro-nymph setup.
Leading up to the holiday weekend, we are seeing things around here get quiet. July 4th weekend in Maupin is not a big one, simply because fireworks are not allowed out here due to concerns of wildfires.
Wildfire season is upon us now. This is a scary time for those of us who live in this extremely dry climate. This year, with the wet spring, there is a lot of fuel to burn and things are going to get wild. It is illegal to smoke a cigarette or cigar, or whatever, unless you are standing in the water or sitting in a closed car. Campfires, it should go without saying, are banned on the Deschutes and anywhere east of the Cascades. Propane stoves are okay to use on the river. Charcoal is illegal.
We will be hanging out all weekend. Hope to see you through our doors.
Tight Lines and Happy 4th!
Water at moody hit 72 degrees yesterday. Those dam operators don’t care about the fishery