The Heat of Summer

Summer is in full swing on the Deschutes now - it is hot and sunny and the river is being loved by all types of outdoors people. Rafting is now kicked into high gear - which means that there will be lots of rafts on the water floating mainly through the stretch from Harpham Flat (about 5.5 Miles upstream of Maupin) to Sandy Beach (about 8.5 Miles downstream of Maupin).  The good news is that fishing with dries is best early in the morning long before any of the splash and giggle crowd gets out of bed and in the evening when the sun is off the water and most of the rafts are too. With the main rafting activity taking place in a 14 mile stretch, this leaves 36 miles of river with road access (great fishing access) and little to no rafting traffic.

Put on your eyeglasses and see all the little insects that the trout feed on all morning!

Most anglers are targeting trout - and the best fishing hours have now shifted to fishing in the early morning with dead caddis and crippled mayflies; during the mid-day with a dropper nymph, two weighted nymphs under an indicator or fished Euro-style; and again in the evening using adult caddis, or swinging caddis pupa. In the mid-day you also have the option of fishing a deep streamer - stripping it works a bit better than just swinging it, and a good chunk of sink tip will help you get that streamer down deep. 

Tonight we have a full moon - which can trigger the trout to feed all night. This can make daytime trout fishing a bit more of a challenge. Keep the faith, change your methodology, fish deep cold pools and fast oxygenated water, and you will find trout.  If you are looking for bigger trout - like the migratory-type, read on for a little information on steelhead. 

Water conditions are good at the moment - here in Maupin the river temperature is fluctuating with cooler temps around 58 degrees and warmer temps in the late afternoon climbing into the mid-60s. Fortunately, these are decently cool enough temps to allow us to fish all day in the Maupin area. As you get closer and closer to the mouth of the Deschutes the temperatures rise into the high 60s, nearly 70 degrees, and those temperatures are not safe for hooking and playing fish.  Down near the mouth, anglers should think about a self-imposed HOOT OWL restriction - which means that you fish from dawn until 2:00 PM, after that you find other things to do because water temperatures are lethal for hooking and playing fish. In general, trout and salmonids are unlikely to bite in water temperatures near 70 degrees. 

Since we are started to get bombarded with steelhead questions already, let's talk about the state of steelhead on the Deschutes. Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife has published their Deschutes River Steelhead Fishery Framework - which, is even more difficult to read and understand than their fishing regulations (and that is saying a lot). Basically, in order for steelhead fishing to remain open in the Deschutes this year, we are going to need to see the number of unclipped/wild steelhead passing over Bonneville Dam between July 1-31 exceed 18,700 fish. Here is the current state of the run: 

https://www.fpc.org/adults/R_dailyadultcountsgraph_resultsV6.php

It looks like we are on track to hit that goal, so keep thinking positive thoughts! Through July 10, we had 8,331 unclipped steelhead over Bonneville for the year. However, we are only counting the number of unclipped steelhead over Bonneville since July 1, and from July 1-10 we are sitting at 5102 wild steelhead over Bonneville.  In the next 21 days we need a minimum of 14,475 unclipped/wild steelhead to pass over Bonneville Dam. We need an average of 689 wild steelhead per day to hit our goal number.

As you can see by the above graph, the next 21 days have, historically, been days with pretty high numbers in terms of fish passage. The Columbia is low this year - the water at the Bonneville gauge shows that the river is four feet lower than it was last year at the same time and both years are feet lower than the median flow for this time of year. The low water could certainly impact the movement of steelhead upriver - we hope the steelhead decide to push their way towards the Deschutes despite the water conditions. 

I did a bit of calculating using numbers from the ten-year average and using the numbers from last year. From July 10-31 the ten-year average for unclipped steelhead over Bonneville was 13.525 fish. That number would NOT be sufficient to meet our goal number this year. However, KEEP THE FAITH, last year from July 10 - July 31 we saw 17,349 unclipped steelhead pass over Bonneville. Those kind of numbers would certainly help us exceed the magic 18,700 number and steelhead fishing would not close down. 

Here are the possibilities: 

1. IF we hit the number of more than 18,700 (fingers crossed, we will) THEN steelhead fishing will remain open on the Deschutes for the rest of the season.
2. IF the July1-31 number is between 9,900 and 18,700 wild fish, THEN we need to hit the goal number of 23,100 wild steelhead over Bonneville from July 1 - AUGUST 31.

• • If we exceed 23,100 unclipped steelhead over Bonneville July 1-Aug 31, the Deschutes remains open for steelhead fishing
  • If we do not reach that goal of 23.100 unclipped steelhead over Bonneville July 1-Aug 31, the Deschutes will close by September 15.

I REALLY don't think this will happen, but if we get less than 9,900 unclipped steelhead above Bonneville from July 1-31, the steelhead fishery will close on August 15. It will only reopen on the 15th of September if the July 1 - August 31 number exceeds 23,100. The numbers would have to COMPLETELY TANK at this point to trigger this August 15 closure. 

I hope that explains things to everyone in a clear and concise manner which, I hope, is somewhat easier to understand than the ODFW framework.

I have heard nary a peep about steelhead being hooked in the Deschutes, though this is the time of the year that the die-hards will start swinging flies with fingers and toes crossed hoping for an encounter. The steelhead that are swimming up the Columbia River will be less likely to nose into the Deschutes when the Deschutes water temperatures are warmer than those in the Columbia, but we had a crazy dip in water temps last week and that surely invited a few steelhead into the Deschutes. Once in the river, steelhead are likely to swim quickly upstream in search of cooler temperatures than they feel in the lower 20 miles of river. This puts a few steelhead in the section of river between BuckHollow and Mack's Canyon - possibly. 

If you do go out to try your luck at steelhead, keep an eye on the water temperatures. Even near Mack's Canyon the evening temps will be getting dicey. We sell a wonderful little thermometer from Cling that you can attach to a wading staff or a net handle - it has sticky tape on it and will grip to many types of surfaces. We also sell the Fishpond thermometer - which is very accurate and gives out a digital reading.

Swinging for steelhead - fingers crossed, we will hit the numbers we need to hit to stay open!

Morning and evening are the best times for steelhead. From 12:00 noon to about 5:30-6:00 the sun will be shining directly in their eyes, making it nearly impossible to see the swinging flies. You don't need to use monster flies for Deschutes steelhead - these are not winter steelhead and it has been quite a while since they saw anything as big as a prawn pattern or any sort of fly like an intruder. A size 5 or 7 hair wing pattern (like a green butt skunk) fished on a floating line and a floating leader (Scandi set-up is the most popular) will do the job of covering a lot of water and putting your fly in the living room of a steelhead. You only need to find one willing participant to make your day. 

Let's keep our fingers crossed for good counts of wild steelhead at Bonneville. We are keeping a running total here in the shop and will be celebrating big-time when we reach the goal of 18,700 wild steelhead before August 1.