Pulling back the curtain on the Deschutes Situation
WE WILL BE CLOSED SUNDAY, DECEMBER 22 THROUGH NEW YEAR’S DAY. HAPPY HOLIDAYS AND HAPPY NEW YEAR TO YOU ALL!
If you are able to get away over the holiday week, the fishing has been quite good out here. The trout are happy and have moved into their winter holding water. Very few anglers are venturing out, so the fish have relaxed a bit and are enjoying their winter vacation. The upper half of the lower Deschutes closes to angling on January 1 (the portion of the river that borders the Warm Springs Reservation is closed on both banks), but the river in the Maupin area remains open all year long. To make it easy to understand, Warm Springs, Mecca Flats, Dry Creek, Trout Creek, and South Junction access points are all within the area of the Deschutes that closes on January 1. If you are in Maupin and on the access roads that travel up or down the river from Maupin, you are fishing in the waters that remain open year-round.
We do have hatches in the winter - caddis, midge, flightless stones, and blue winged olives. Nymphing and streamer fishing is going to make up the bulk of your most productive fishing, but the hatches can be epic in the mid-day. Keep a dry fly rod on hand with a size 18 or 20 BWO dry tied onto 6X tippet and keep your eyes peeled from noon to 2PM because that is when the hatch will happen.
Don't forget to buy your new fishing license on January 1, 2025!!!
For my final fishing report of the year 2024, I want to share with you all some developments that have taken place in our fight for the health of the Deschutes River. Those of you who have been fishing this river long enough have seen the negative changes brought about by the Selective Water Withdrawl Tower installed by Portland General Electric in 2014. Our river is filled with algae and weeds, our fish are infected by black spot disease due to the warmer water and explosion in the population of parasites. Our dry fly fishing is a whole lot tougher than it ever has been because the hatches and aquatic insect abundance have been impacted by the poor water quality.
PGE denies that there have been any negative impacts to the Deschutes from their change in the water releases, but we anglers see it first hand and we are fed up. We are fed up with a private for-profit fat cat corporation violating the clean water act day in and day out. We are fed up with Oregon Department of Environmental Quality for failing to enforce the law - they allow the water quality violations that are killing our insects and our fish. We are fed up with Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife for failing to step up to protect native fish in the Deschutes. We are simply FED UP.
What can we do? We can't just stand back and watch the crown jewel of Oregon rivers get destroyed.
Here are some ways to educate yourself about this complex issue:
1. Go to one of the screenings of the movie "The Last 100 Miles" This movie describes the situation on the Deschutes in great detail and it is still traveling around the Northwest being shown in local venues.
Bend residents, Deschutes River Alliance is working on getting a showing to you. Since Bend is in the backyard of PGE, they do not want this movie seen because it does not portray them in a very good light. Two venues were booked in Bend in November - but the movie showings were cancelled because the Confederated Tribes of the Warm Springs (partners with PGE in the Pelton-Round Butte Dam Complex) hired a PR firm to put pressure on the venue to pull the movie. The movie was pulled in November but it will be shown in Bend, come Hell or high water, in January. We will not let PGE or the Tribes crush our First Ammendment right to Free Speech. The fact that they are trying to keep this movie from being shown should make everyone even more eager to see the film The Last 100 Miles.
Yes, the movie will eventually be released online for the masses, but Deschutes River Alliance is currently doing the screenings and holding an educational question and answer session after each showing to help people process the complex issues.
2. Read the Latest Article in the Willamette Week about the Deschutes. This is a front page article about the Deschutes River and how the SWW tower has had a negative impact on the water quality. We are thrilled that this story is finally getting out there to the general public. Here's a link:
3. Explore the many articles and the data collected over the past ten years by The Deschutes River Alliance.
https://www.deschutesriveralliance.org/
Once you have educated yourself on the issues, there are actions that you can take to help in the fight to get the Deschutes restored to its former glory.
1. Write a letter to Governor Tina Kotek to express your concern for the health of the Deschutes River. Here's a link with all the info:
https://www.deschutesriveralliance.org/advocacy101
2. Support the Deschutes River Alliance - the non-profit organization that has been working tirelessly since 2014 to bring light to the issues on the lower Deschutes. The science-based DRA focuses solely on the Deschutes. Support can come in many forms - attend our annual auction, donate money, attend one of the many events that we hold throughout the year, like TroutFest on the Deschutes over the last weekend in May. DRA events are listed here:
https://www.deschutesriveralliance.org/events
3. Spend time on the Deschutes River - this river needs people who love it. Spend a weekend on the river, wading and fishing, boating, camping, sleeping under the stars in this wild desert habitat, and you will surely fall in love. The river is magical and, despite the water quality issues it has faced over the past 14 years, it is still a good fishery. It can be better, water quality can improve, insect populations can rebound, and the river can, once again, flow cold and clean.
Tomorrow - Saturday December 22 will be our last day open for the year. We will continue to fill web orders even when closed.
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