The First Hint of Fall

A brisk breeze greeted me at the door this morning - perhaps signaling the very first hint of fall. Though we are nearly through September, so it’s about damn time we started to cool down a bit. This weekend looks to be hot again with temps on Saturday and Sunday forecast to be in the low to mid-eighties. After that, however, we will see temperatures start dropping and the clouds rolling in. Monday has a good chance to being a rainy fall day - perhaps the perfect steelhead day for those lucky enough to be on the water. 

The general consensus on our steelhead season thus far is that it has been a bit better than in previous years, though not without its challenges. Anglers returning from camp trips floating to the mouth have, for the most part, reported good fishing. Some trips have been better than others, but some anglers are better than others and some anglers and guides know the nook and cranny spots better than others do. If you are willing to get out there, to wade the tough wades, to get up early and stay out late, to cover water quickly and efficiently, you will be rewarded with fish. 

John was out earlier this week and his buddy hooked up with a chinook right out of the gate - swinging a small hairwing fly at first light on a floating line, floating leader. He followed that up a few runs later with a steelhead on the same set-up, even with the sun shining brightly on the water. 

It is absolutely a myth that you can’t catch steelhead in the sun. I absolutely love to fish a run with a floater just before the sun climbs over the rim of the canyon and then fish it again with the sun shining intensely on the water. The sun lights up the flash in my polar bear winged fly, as well as the hot spot of fluorescent pink or green I have on the butt. The sun has always made it easier to see my client’s flies as I stand on the bank above the run they are swinging, and I was able to create a fishing program that allowed us to fish floating lines and floating leaders all day long without ever having the need (or the desire) to switch to a sink tip and a Skagit line. 

The Deschutes flows north to the Columbia River and, because of this general direction of flow, the sun tends to shine downstream as the sun travels from East to West through the course of the day. Think about the mountains…which side of the mountain will hold its snow the longest because it rarely gets full sunlight? Any skier, mountaineer, or outdoors person will tell you the the NORTH FACE is the coldest, darkest, iciest, and more densely covered with snow. That’s where the brand name on the jackets and tents came from. The sun does not shine on things that face north - and the Deschutes is no exception. When the sun comes up on the Deschutes, it warms the river from the east bank first and slowly moves to its most intense and highest position by noon. Wherever the river flows straight north, at noon, that sun will be blindingly bright and will shine directly into the eyes of the steelhead. We do not try to catch fish on floating lines in this situation because the steelhead cannot see a thing with the sun directly in their eyes. 

However, rivers do not flow in a straight line. The Deschutes twists and turns and snakes its way through the deep canyon, generally flowing to the north, but for small stretches it flows straight west, straight east, and even flows south. Knowing the bends in the river and how the sun hits the water on those bends is key to being able to keep your floating lines on and to keep swinging near the surface. The taller the canyon walls and the narrower the canyon, the more able we are to find places where the sun is not an issue for all but a few hours of the day.

A wild Deschutes Steelhead hooked in the sun - damaged right maxillary might have happened when this fish was hooked as a juvenile

If the sun is warming your face as you swing the fly down and across, then you are probably ok - your fly is being lit up from the side or from behind. If the sun, however, is heating up the back of your head as you face downstream while swinging your fly - then you are probably fishing in a spot where the steelhead are blinded by the sun. Just drive the winding road heading north out of Maupin at 5:00 or 6:00 PM and you will experience exactly what the steelhead experience in the Deschutes. On certain portions of the winding road you will be blinded by the sun, but the hillsides will block it for short stretches, and the curves will give you relief in between the blinding sections.

As we head into next week, it looks like the rain and cloudy weather will make for some great fishing conditions. The steelhead are not just confined to the lower stretches of the Deschutes - we are now getting reports river-wide that the steelhead are everywhere. Guides coming off the Warm Springs to Maupin float have been hooking steelhead, guys fishing the paved road around Maupin have been hooking them, and the river below Sherar’s Falls has a healthy number of steelhead on the move. 

Quite a few anglers go out with the plan of steelhead fishing in the morning and evenings and trout fishing in the mid-day. That is a good way to divide up your time. If you want to give yourself the best catching odds - use your time wisely and fish for steelhead from dawn til 11:00, take quick lunch break, fish for trout until 4:00 PM, then swing for steelhead when the light comes off the water. 

Trout are feeling the seasonal change and starting to eat with a purpose - knowing that the winter is ahead. What’s on the menu? Caddis are the mainstay, that last few hoppers are being slurped off the surface, the mayfly hatches proliferate with the clouds, the nymph versions of their favorite insects are always available down in the rocky depths, and who doesn’t love to chase down a sculpin streamer every now and again? Hungry hard-fighting rainbow trout are a welcome distraction for many steelhead anglers who might start to lose faith after fishless hours of swinging. Sure, there are a handful of hardcore steelhead junkies out there who live a nomadic life in their vans down by the river and refer to the anglers who target trout during steelhead season as “pedophiles” - but most anglers just want to feel the tug on the end of the line at some point during a visit to the Deschutes. 

We are going to be a little light on labor in the shop over the next few weeks - the saltwater is calling and I must be going. My annual trip to Christmas Island starts next week. I am hosting 9 people each week for a two-week stay on Kiritimati, Kiribati. As many of you know, I do this trip every year and sometimes multiple times per year. We have a great group of both men and women heading to the lodge next week and the week after. Taylor and Ruby will be joining me - Taylor on the first week and Ruby on the second week. This will be Ruby’s second trip to Kiritimati (she was with me there about a year and a half ago just before she started working in the fly shop)  and Taylor’s first trip. I cannot wait for those two gals to experience the incredible sights and mind-blowing fish from the saltwater world!

A Surge Wrasse is a colorful surprise while fishing for bonefish on Kiritimati

I love hosting Christmas Island trips because I know that everyone is going to have a great time and is going to catch a lot of fish. Out of the two groups of ten people per week, there are six of us who are opting to stay for the entire two week span. Since it is a bit of a journey to get to such a remote atoll, many anglers opt for the longer stay. There is such a variety of fishing opportunities on the world’s largest coral atoll, it takes more than two weeks to try for the many species. One thing that I have yet to try is to go out into the blue water to catch a sailfish. Weather permitting, I want to give that a try on this trip. 

So, my next few fishing reports will be coming from the equator - but my intel will be coming from my sources back home. Good luck on the river!