October rolls in like a summer day….j
FALL HOURS: MONDAY-SATURDAY 8:00 AM - 5:00 PM CLOSED ON SUNDAYS
Yes, I know it has been quite a while since my last fishing report. I went dark for over a month and just couldn’t bring myself to write about the river. I apologize for that. Having our steelhead season close down has been very difficult for everyone who lives on or works on the Deschutes. The situation is made worse by the fact that so many other Columbia River tributaries remain open for steelhead fishing - including the mainstem of the Columbia which I have to drive along while traveling to Portland. I see clusters of boats around the river mouths of the Deschutes, the Klickitat, the White Salmon, the Wind and other tributaries targeting the very fish that the closure of our river is supposedly protecting. I see gill nets strewn everywhere and commercial harvest taking place - our threatened wild steelhead being sold on the side of the road. I even saw a post about gill-netted fish being given away for free somewhere near Hood River because the netters had been unable to sell them on the side of the road.
Meanwhile, I see guides with whom I once worked alongside on the river struggling for their financial survival. Many are leaving. Some have been able to convince die-hard steelhead angling clients to fish for trout instead of steelhead, and are making the best of a bad situation, but they are only able to do a fraction of what they would do if the river had not been closed down to steelhead fishing.
Some anglers don’t seem to care about breaking the rules, they are continuing to fish (but with really light gear so they can claim to be trout fishing) while standing in steelhead runs swinging flies and using methods that are not commonly used to target trout. When they do hook steelhead they are played nearly to death - or to death - because the gear is not sufficient to get the fish to hand without exhausting it. Instead of doing the ethical thing, which would be to intentionally break the fish off once you recognize that it is a steelhead, they baby and play the fish for far too long because they want to land it and hold it up for photos after a 45 minute fight (holding it out of the water as it gasps).
The community of guides on the Deschutes is being broken apart. The community of Maupin is hurting without the strong influx of anglers who flock to the river every fall to chase steelhead. Hotels, restaurants, the bar, our gas station, the grocery store, the hardware store(going out of business), and other businesses that depend on fishermen are hurting. It is tough to see, and this is why it has taken me a while to get back to writing.
However, on a positive note, I think this closure of steelhead fishing can help our river out in one really great way: anglers can finally discover how great the trout fishing is on the Deschutes River year-round and not only in the month of MAY when the salmonfly hatch is in full swing.
Yes, there are die-hard anglers who fish this river for trout year-round. I see you in the shop month after month with big smiles because you have taken the time to learn the river intimately and you have learned its nuances and secrets. You have many favorite spots and you have learned how the fish will move from habitat to habitat throughout the seasons. The anglers who study the hatches and the fish and their habitats and feeding behaviors are rewarded with the best fishing because they have put in the time that it takes to learn this complex river. When anglers come into the fly shop to ask for our help on selecting flies or what type of water to fish, we want them to leave armed with nuggets of information that they can use on that day and for many days to come.
Those who come out 2-3 weekends a year, in May, just for the big bugs, they will never learn this river well enough to know how to fish it at any other time of year. Those May anglers also believe that the Deschutes is always a ZOO - super crowded with anglers at every pull out. That is not the case for the other 11 months of the year, only in May.
The weather we are having right now is absolutely beautiful - sunny and calm with temperatures in the low 80s during the day and cool and crisp in the evenings. The water conditions are perfect - the river is flowing at near-normal flows. Last week the gauges showed flows a few hundred CFS above the median for this time of year and this week the flows are just slightly below the median for this time of year. The water is clear and cool and the fish are happy.
Fall fishing is especially good because the trout know that winter is coming. They want to get as much protein as they can before the cold sets in and their lives become more difficult. Now, let’s talk about what they are looking for in terms of good morsels of protein…
The first bug that comes to mind this month is the October Caddis (dicosmoecus) which is a really LARGE orange caddis that could give a salmonfly a run for its money in a fight. When anglers see these huge caddis flopping in the trees or hovering around at dusk, they get very excited. Most of the October Caddis activity happens in the late evening and into the night, as this is a nocturnally emerging species.
As much as I wish this could be a replay of May in October - the dry fly fishing with October Caddis imitations has never really been that great. The trout just don’t seem to be lit up by these bugs in their adult stage. Why? I think only the trout know. Trout on other rivers seem to like them as dry flies, but other rivers don’t have the variety on the menu that Deschutes trout enjoy. Maybe it is the hatch timing, maybe they don’t taste good, probably there are other yummy things to eat out there that taste better or are easier to catch, who knows? What I do know is that the trout will eat the October Caddis nymphs and pupae in the late afternoon and evening. They will eat the cased caddis nymphs - the pre-pupa stage of the October Caddis. So, have a few of those in your box before you head out.
The trout are also eating sculpin patterns stripped on a sink tip. Put some action on your streamer patterns by casting upstream, letting them sink down for a few seconds, and then stripping the fly in jerky movements so that it swims (flees) downstream. weighted sculpins can be olive, natural tan, black, olive, or orange. The best color or pattern can really depend on the day. Some days are better than others for streamer fishing, so be ready to change up your techniques if the streamer doesn’t seem to be doing the trick.
When in doubt, tie on a double nymph rig. Fish nymphs under an indicator or without an indicator on a tight line. Euro nymphing is highly effective everywhere and the Deschutes is no exception. If you have not tried this form of fishing, give it a whirl - it is eye-opening to see the number of big trout one can land on very light tippets using these ultra-sensitive rods. We have more tungsten bead Euro nymphs than most shops have flies, so stop in to pick up a few of these no matter what style of nymphing you are doing. Tungsten beads on flies have completely eliminated the need to use lead split shot weights in most of our fishing. The tungsten-bead “Euro-Nymphs” are not just for people who use the longer more sensitive Euro rods.
Dry fly fishing might be a bit limited right now under the sunny skies and nearly full moon. If you really want to fish dry flies, try a small size 18 or 20 caddis in the last 25 minutes of daylight, or a mayfly dry on an overcast or cloudy day.
This weekend might be one of the finest weekends in terms of weather and water conditions that we will see this entire year. Come on out and get your flies wet! We will see you on your stop through Maupin!
As a bonus - especially for those of you who have read the report this far… we have a ton of deeply discounted items in our store right now. Waders, bags, clothing, rods, reels, etc. Don’t miss out on these discounts!
Sorry for the long absence…..Amy Hazel
