Last Non-Jet Boat Weekend

Bob Shoemaker swinging for steelhead - lower Deschutes River

The river above Mack’s canyon was about as busy as John has seen in the past 43 years of guiding the Deschutes. People must be putting out a bunch of fishing reports that are glowing about the steelhead returns - or they are looking at the numbers of steelhead crossing Bonneville Dam and thinking that every one of those steelhead is somehow instantly swimming up the Deschutes - or there are a ton of people out here because it is mid September and the very last weekend to enjoy the lower river float without jet boats buzzing all over the place. A lot of folks want to float a wild and scenic river without the noise and the wake that motorized boats introduce to the environment.

For those who don’t know how the Deschutes works, there are 4 sections of the lower Deschutes and the furthest north of the sections is section 4 which starts at Mack’s Canyon and ends at the mouth (Heritage Landing). Section 4 allows jet boats, but they are required to be off the water for 4-day stretches (Thursday through Sunday) every other week from June through September. In October, jet boats are allowed every day. This section, like all sections of the Deschutes, requires that each person floating in any type of craft - from float tube, to one man raft/pontoon, to frame raft, to paddleboard, to drift boat, to inflatable pool toy, etc ALL PERSONS must be covered under a Deschutes River Boater Pass which is issued by the website www.recreation.gov. You can buy a pass for the boat which covers all of the people in the boat, but everyone must have a pass. There are rangers checking for boater passes and you will be checked at the mouth of the Deschutes by state parks or a BLM ranger. The most heavily used sections are under “LIMITED ENTRY” which means that only a set number of floaters can be on the water on that section on any given day. If you don’t buy your boater pass ahead of time, you may find that the boater passes are sold out, which means that you cannot float. 

The boater passes were sold out for section 4 this weekend - at least I know they were all sold out on Saturday - which means that you could not buy a pass for Friday and Sunday because you are still considered to be boating on Saturday even if your boat is tied up at your camp. The issue is that the holding capacity for the river, in terms of campgrounds, is limited in nature. 

The pressure on the river being very intense might be one of the reasons that fishing has really gotten tough in the past couple of weeks. We are still managing to find fish here and there - hooking a steelhead or two a day - but there are blank days and I would not call this year a “banner year” in any way if compared to the past 30-40 years of steelhead fishing on the Deschutes. It may be a banner year for you if you have just picked up a steelhead rod in the past couple of years and have had tough Deschutes fishing until now, and now you hooked your first 2-3 steelhead. I am really happy for those people who are getting their first steelhead. Especially happy for those anglers who have worked hard and have invested a ton of time into learning the water on their own and have been studying the craft. 

If you have been fishing all week and getting blanked, you are not alone. Most of the visiting anglers who are stopping into the shop have reported to me that they have been struggling to find steelhead. Many people ask me WHY. Why, why, why? Well, there are a few reasons that I suppose are impacting the catching - but there is always some part of fishing that just remains a bit of a mystery. However, here are some reasons for the slow down in hook ups with steelhead:

First off, on September 15 (this past Monday) the sanctuary water protections for the Deschutes were lifted. This means that the area below Moody Rapids and out into the Columbia that had been closed as a cool water sanctuary for migrating steelhead is now open to fishing. There are now dozens of power boats hanging out in the narrow area that steelhead must navigate in order to enter the Deschutes. In addition, once the steelhead actually make it into the Deschutes River, they are met with a ton of pressure from anglers crowded onto a small island just in front of the Heritage Landing boat ramp. There are a few gauntlets that these steelhead have to get past before they even make it a quarter mile into the Deschutes. Then, once they make it into the river, they are met with a lot of fishing pressure in the first 5 miles of river in the way of walk-in anglers, boat-in anglers, bike-in anglers, and jet boat anglers. The pressure is immense. 

If they happen to make it through all of this, they may have already been hooked and released a few times if they happened to be a bit grabby. Many fish will learn from this negative experience and will become extremely wary or even lockjawed - refusing to grab or be aggressive towards any fly or lure swinging past them. 

Secondly, the great smoky/cloudy conditions that we experienced a few weeks ago have given way to really bright sunny days and the weather has continued to be warm to hot every day. The bright sunny days shines directly in the eyes of the steelhead on most parts of the river between noon and about 4-5 PM, so it limits our hours of effective swinging when we have these super bright sunny days.

For whatever the reason, the steelhead catching rates have dropped off a bit in the last few weeks. This does not mean that you won’t be the lucky guy or gal who runs into a pod of steelhead some fine morning. If you don’t get out here and put in your time, you certainly won’t catch a steelhead. Just spending a day on the river stepping and swinging is a great use of your time and, for me anyway, an effective way to clear out the clutter in my mind. If a steelhead interrupts me while I am stepping and swinging, that is just a bonus. If steelhead are in the run that you are fishing AND they are in the mood to follow and grab a fly, you will hook them. 

For those of you looking to trout fish right now, the trout are quite happy. They are heading into fall and winter and they know that now is the time to eat eat eat before the hatches begin to wane. Many methods work for trout - but the dry fly fishing will be best during the same hours that the steelhead fishing is the best. That is, of course, early morning and late evening as the sun is not on the water. During the mid-day you will find trout in the deep water on nymphs or streamers stripped. 

We are still open seven days a week to help you get what you need before you hit the water or while you are taking a mid-day break from the fishing. Come on in, enjoy a little air conditioning and the best fly selection you will see anywhere for steelhead and trout. 

Tight lines out there!