June has Arrived!

Ruby and Taylor Getting After it on the Deschutes

After several horrifically long and exhaustive fishing reports over the past month, I am going to try to keep this one short and sweet. We will see how that goes....

First off - This Saturday, June 7 and Sunday June 8 are FREE FISHING DAYS - which means that you do not need a fishing license to fish on those two days. If you have a friend or partner or parent or kid whom you want to take fishing, this is a good weekend to do so. This free fishing weekend is valid in all parts of Oregon.

We are now entering the final stage of the salmonfly hatch - which is the stage where the trout start to panic and think, "Oh, man, I want to eat another big bug! Where are they? I would KILL for just one more big juicy golden stone..." Boom - just like that you can make that trout's wishes come true. For nearly one full month these trout have had a conveyer belt of cheeseburgers floating overhead and they are reluctant to give them up. In the middle of the hatch, last week was a good example, the trout are STUFFED. They couldn't eat another bite if they tried. But now, the big bugs are fewer and further between, yet the trout are eager for one last cheeseburger! 

"How DARE you call me a CHEESEBURGER!" Golden Stonefly

We have a lot of other bugs on the water at this time of year, so keeping your mind open to changing flies often is important to success during a multi-hatch time of year. There will be dead caddis on the water from the break of dawn, drown stoneflies of all varieties - salmonfly, golden stone, yellow sallies - as well as live yellow sallies all the way through the month. The craneflies will start coming off soon, but they can't compete with the mayflies. Mayfly hatches that we have seen coming off in the past few weeks are the Pale Morning Dun, Pale Evening Dun, Pink Albert, and Green Drake. A cloudy warm day is ideal for mayflies, but they also hatch on sunny days. 

Speaking of sunny days - we have a string of them coming up and it will be HOT through the weekend and into Monday. HOT HOT HOT! Then it will begin to cool down through the next week and we should have temps in the 70s by next weekend. 

June is a great time out here on the Deschutes because the crowds are gone, the bugs are good, anglers are doing other things that they just can't get out of doing - like going to graduations, weddings, celebrating Father's Day, and so on. If you were out here two weeks ago and then came out this next week, it would shock you to find out how empty the river is. Rafting has just barely kicked off, so the full-on parade of rafts is not an issue until July. Lots of camping options are available up and down the river, and the weather is perfect for fishing, floating, swimming, and enjoying all that the Deschutes has to offer.