Real Steelheading Weather Ahead!

The Friday morning fishing report is back on track after a brief intermission. I spent the first two weeks of October on Kiritimati, Kiribati (Christmas Island) in the middle of of the South Pacific. Ten anglers, ten guides, three boats, and the world’s largest coral atoll all to ourselves. We had an incredible two weeks of fishing for bonefish, triggers, and Giant Trevally. Taylor and Ruby each joined me for a week - and both gals came home with photos of their fish encounters and memories to last a lifetime. I’ll post a few photos at the end of this report. 

I returned home at 2:00 AM on Wednesday the 15th and was in the shop that very same day to give the employees time off after covering for me. Unfortunately, on the plane ride home I caught a cold and ended up in bed for this entire week. If you see me in the shop wearing a mask, I tested negative for Covid but don’t want anyone else to get this nasty cough/cold.

We are in for a drastic wether change starting today - the atmospheric river is coming in off the coast and this will bring very windy conditions with rain and cloud cover. The wind today and tomorrow is forecast to be quite severe, so be prepared if you are coming to camp. We are not supposed to get much in the way of rain accumulation (one tenth of an inch) but the stormy conditions will make casting quite a challenge, The really heavy rain on the mountain could wind up changing the White River dramatically, possibly even causing our first blow-out event of the year by Sunday - but I will keep you posted on that. So far, the White River is still low and clear. 

Overall this year, steelhead anglers have been happy with the better return of fish than we have seen in the past 10 years or so. It hasn’t been lights out fishing, you still have to work for them by covering lots of prime water over the course of the day. We are still using floating lines and swinging unweighted flies or skaters in the mornings and evenings with a very small portion of the mid-day now where a sink tip might be the go-to choice of lines. With the sun this low on the horizon, it is possible to find areas in the canyon where the sun doesn’t hit the water all day.

Most of the guides that I know will be pushing on into November a bit and will then either wrap it for the season on the Deschutes and get ready for their late fall program. Some will take a breather before guiding for winter steelhead over the mountain or on the coast. Others will head further east to rivers that get a later return of summer-run steelhead. If you want to chase steelhead into the new year - look for the fresh new fish that will be hitting the rivers right out of the ocean. Dark and weak summer-run steelhead that will start spawning in the Deschutes and its tributaries in a few months are not a very sporting species to target once they darken up and don their spawning colors. 

At this point in the steelhead run, they are spread out throughout the Deschutes River to the point that your chances of hooking a steelhead are pretty equal on any section of the river. The steelhead have entered the “hurry up and wait” period of their migration which is a bit like arriving at the airport 3 hours before departure time. They are glad to be present and ready for their particular tributary to get enough water in it to be navigable.

Trout anglers have been doing quite well using a variety of methods - and the coming days of clouds and rain may bring on some great dry fly fishing with mayflies. The dry-dropper method, using an October caddis up top with a bead head two to three feet below is one way to find a bunch of trout. Euro nymphing and indicator nymphing have both been producing well, and the streamer guys throwing sculpins are getting trout to gobble the big patterns. Generally speaking, this is the time of year that you will find trout bulking up for the lean winter months that lie ahead. It is a great tim eto enjoy some excellent trout fishing. 

Since I have not had any time on the water here, I will share these photos from our CXI trip...

Ruby with one of her many GTs landed on the flats.                                                                                                                                                                                                                     The bonefish were plentiful!             

                      Beach Party Entertainment                               

Hunting tuna in the bluewater when Taylor hooked this beast! A black GT -35 lbs. The GT was quickly released unharmed.

Bluewater mission accomplished! We ate lots of sashimi. Thanks, Rube!

Landing these big fish on fly rods was not an easy task!

Even the little triggers are beautiful. This is a Picasso Trigger.