The Last Friday of a VERY BUSY MAY

The sun is just about to peak over the horizon on this Friday morning ( I am typing in bed at 4:20 AM), and today looks to be another great fishing day on the Deschutes. It is going to be 90 degrees today and TROUTFEST is taking place at the Oasis Campground just upstream of Maupin. This annual event, brought to you by Deschutes River Alliance, is a three-day gathering of fly fishing enthusiasts from all over the country. This free event is open to all ages and features casting clinics, a Dutch oven cook-off, a Trout Trivia contest, a beer garden, food vendors, and live music tonight by the Rahr Brothers (core members of an up and coming band, The Takes, who are fresh off a North American tour rubbing elbows back stage with musicians such as Billy Strings, Jason Isbell, Colter Wall, Ryan Brigham, Leann Rimes, and Whiskey Meyers). Tonight is going to be a blast!
On Saturday, you can walk around and check out gear in the manufacturer’s booths, get free casting tips from FFF certified casting instructors, and attend workshops and expert demonstrations I will be speaking at 4:30 Saturday about how to understand, approach, and fish the Deschutes salmonfly hatch. If you just want to fish a bit on the river and enjoy a frosty beer in the beer garden afterwords, rubbing elbows with the who’s who of fly fishing the Northwest, come on over to the Oasis campground and grab a cold brew from Freebridge Brewing, Pfriem Brewing, or a crispy cider from 2 Towns Cider House. It will be a fun couple of days seeing old friends and making new ones.
Speaking of making new friends, I was out on the edge of the river last night with the Ifishibelong gathering, and the conditions were perfect for the golden stones to be on the wing and laying eggs - and they certainly were flying around in big numbers. 
For the past three or four fishing reports, I have been writing a lot about the big bugs (the salmonfly hatch) because that one hatch is all-consuming for anglers who love the Deschutes. Everybody loves to fish the big bugs, and why wouldn’t you? Big stonefly patterns are easy to tie on, easy to see on the water, and exciting for both angler and trout when the big bug, the trout and the angler meet on the water. 
If someone asked me about this hatch, “Is the salmonfly/stonefly hatch an easy hatch to fish?” I would say that it very much depends on the day. This hatch can be an absolute joy to experience if you hit it on the right day. This hatch can also be frustrating for many reasons. You can show up too early before the trout have had a chance to key in on the bugs, you could be on the river when it is too cold for bugs to fly (though it is not always a bad thing, as you will discover if you read this report all the way through), you could be on the river when the bugs are everywhere but the trout are so stuffed that they can’t take another bite, or you could miss the hatch entirely by arriving late to the party. This is a tricky hatch to hit just right - but there have been happy anglers all week with the hot weather and lots of stoneflies on the water. The trout are now spread out all over the river eating the golden stones, so you don’t have to limit your fishing to precise water types as you should in the beginning of the hatch. Now, it is game-on all over the river in every section.

Ruby and Gwynn loving the salmonfly hatch! Ruby is back in the shop!

Here is a review of this year’s salmonfly hatch and where we stand at the moment:
Early on in the hatch, when the bugs were first crawling out of the river (you may have been standing on the river’s edge with a margarita in one hand and a taco in the other - because these guys emerge every year by Cinco de Mayo), the fishing was very very good with dry flies cast in the exact right habitats and very very good subsurface with stonefly nymphs and perdigon trailers. However, many anglers were frustrated in the early part of the hatch because they were casting their salmonfly dries into the correct types of water, where big fish should be waiting, and finding nothing.
During these early stages of the hatch many of our rainbow trout were actively spawning and were not particularly focused on feeding. The resident trout were also in a transition between their lazy winter holding water and their salmonfly hatch holding water. Upon seeing all of the huge insects crawling from the river, anglers reached for that fly box stuffed with Norm Woods Specials, Chubby Chernobyls, Emma Stones, Henry’s Fork Foam Stones, Clark’s Stones, and other foamy/buggy monster flies. Unfortunately, in the early part of the hatch, in many sections of the river, the dry fly action hadn’t quite kicked off due to the trout having better things to do (procreating). The bugs were also JUST out of the water and mostly focused on finding mates. Basically, there was a lot of hanky pinky going on both above and below the water and neither stoneflies nor trout were participating in the salmonfly hatch.
Historically, if the weather is in the 70s or 80s in the first week of May, the stoneflies that have emerged will be more active than if the weather stays in the low 60s or high 50s. Stoneflies are very temperature sensitive and will hide deep in the bushes if the temperatures turn cold or remain cold (in the 50s-low60s) after they have emerged from the river to become adult insects. Fortunately, for the anglers this year, we had the perfect weather pattern for prolonging the salmonfly hatch and gifting some of the best fishing to those who toughed out cool weather and strong winds. 
Just after the first heavy week of emergence that began in the first few days of the month - after the bushes and trees were dripping with stoneflies - we had a weekend that hit nearly 80 degrees. That was the weekend of the Spey Clave on the Sandy River (May 9-10). I gave my Spey presentation at the clave on Friday May 9th and hustled right home to help in the shop because anglers were slinging big bugs on the river and we were slinging flies in the fly shop, filling boxes back up with the bushy flies lost to trout and trees. That was 20 days ago. 
The window of hot weather slammed shut on the night of May 10 and we entered a long period of cold and windy days on the Deschutes. From the 11th of May until the 25th of May the maximum high temperature of the day struggled to get warmer than the mid 60s and the low temperatures at night were in the 30s. Gardeners in Maupin had to cover their tomato plants in case of frost, and the stoneflies burrowed down into the base of the grasses huddling for warmth. It was difficult to even find a stonefly on the edge of the Deschutes for two full weeks, yet the fishing was very good to excellent for anglers targeting the correct water types with stonefly dries. Ironically, with the real bugs stalled in the bushes during the cold snap, the trout were hungrier and more frenzied to grab whatever fake stonefly they found in their feeding lane. 
Conditions were not pleasant during our two weeks of cold weather thanks to the wicked witch of the wind howling nearly every day. Red-faced anglers and fishing guides coming off of the three-day Trout Creek to Maupin float reported seeing very few to zero stoneflies but also reported that the trout were grabbing dry flies despite the lack of live bugs falling off of trees and grasses. The few stoneflies that did manage to brave the cold, crawling through the swaying tree branches to join in on the ongoing orgy, occasionally got knocked into the water by a particularly strong gust. There were just enough stones getting blown into the water to keep the trout looking up. 
In the middle of that two week cold spell, one of my very favorite Deschutes guides came into the shop to resupply on flies. He was windburned and crunchy after guiding and rowing for three days with 30 mph gusts, but willing to share some stories from the river with a fly-slinger stuck behind the counter of the fly shop. He told me about one of the cloudy and stormy days of the trip when he had his clients spread out below a riffle just waiting for a good mayfly hatch to pop. Suddenly, a fierce wind blasted through the trees and bushes and onto the river, whipping up a froth on the water as it spawned mini water spouts (like baby tornados). Seconds later the water exploded with heads gobbling all the salmonflies and golden stones that had been stripped from their cold weather hiding spots. The trout were eager to grab the real deal after flossing their teeth on Chubby Chernobyls and 3X for the past week. 
The two week cold snap kept the hatch alive and the trout interested and hungry. When we finally hit 80 degrees on May 24th (last Saturday) all Hell broke loose on the river. Pent up stoneflies tired of sex on the beach (the actual act, not the cocktail with the mini umbrella in it), took to the wing and began distributing their eggs on the water. Salmonflies flew high and dropped bombs of eggs from the air, whilst their slightly smaller cousins, the golden stones, began landing on the water to lay their eggs. The water warmed enough for the tiny yellow sallies to begin crawling from the depths, and the trout did a lot of heavy feeding all throughout the week. As we now enter the final weekend of May, we are likely seeing the last big numbers of stoneflies in the Maupin area. One by one they will die on the water after completing the circle of life and one by one the trout will move into the prime holding water that they call home for most of the summer. 

So, this is where we are in the hatch today - the big bugs are going to be actively laying eggs and flying all over the place this weekend. Many of the trout will be in a food coma - too stuffed to eat another bite - and many others (especially down on the lower stretches of the river where the hatch came off a bit earlier) will be looking to grab one or two more stoneflies. For at least a week after we see the last stonefly, the trout will be looking for that one last cheeseburger before their summer diet of small bugs kicks off. 
By Sunday it will be June 1, which brings a few new things to the Deschutes. The big bugs will slowly disappear, and will be replaced by other bugs that are not as big but no less significant to the trout. Yellow Sally Stones, Pale Evening Duns, Pale Morning Duns, and many varieties of caddis flies will take the stage. The hoards of anglers who only fish the Deschutes during the stonefly hatch will head off to other rivers, giving the river back to the hardcore regulars who are dedicated to fishing the Deschutes through thick and thin. The majority of guides will move on to other rivers, less technical rivers with easier fishing where their clients can fish from the boat. And just like that the boom of the salmonfly hatch will be behind us for another year. The river will once again be a bit more pleasant to fish because there will be very few anglers with lots of undisturbed trout. The rafting traffic in early June is very light, and pressure on the river drops thanks to anglers having real-life commitments such as graduations, weddings, and festivals to attend. Fishing seems to fall down on the priority list.
Since the majority of anglers only hit the river in the month of May, let me tell you about the month of June and what it is like on the Deschutes. 
It is glorious. It is, without a doubt, my favorite month to fish dry flies for trout. 
There are so many interesting hatches in the month of June and so many trout riddles to solve. Sneaking up behind a trout that is actively feeding, picking insects off one by one, is still something that gets my heart beating a few beats faster. Sometimes I will crouch in the water merely 12 feet downstream of a feeding trout to observe that trout’s behavior for 5-6 minutes. I will watch the way it rises, is it leaving a bubble on the surface of the water after I see the tip of its nose break the surface? If so, I know that it is eating something on the surface - maybe a dead caddis from the previous evening’s hatch, or a spent spinner mayfly. As a bird nerd, my binoculars are always around my neck, and I have taken to using them to get up close and personal with the trout snout just beyond the tip of my fly rod. With the binos, I get to watch the steady parade of tiny bugs trapped in the foam line and can clearly see which bugs are favored by the trout and which he allows to float on past. Once I see that this particular trout is feeding on size 16 tan dead caddis, I go to my well-stocked fly boxes to find the perfect imitation (or what I believe to be the perfect imitation - the trout will have the final say). If all I had was an elk hair caddis, I would trim all the hackle off the belly of the fly and mash the elk hair down to flatten it out and to make it look dead rather than alive. A final inspection of the leader might reveal a small casting knot (those looking to excuse poor casting will dub this a wind knot) and that must be repaired immediately. After the knot has been cut out, new tippet has been added, and the fly is tied on, it is time to make the cast. I know that this fish is mine to land but I must do everything correctly in order to see it come to my net. The cast must land with the fly 2-3 feet upstream of the holding lie of the trout. I must have a little slack line in the cast to keep the fly from having drag, since the currents are always changing on the Deschutes and few trout hold in calm glassy water - trout prefer to hold in water with lots of foam, shifting seams and a heavy flow. I must time my cast to land in the heaviest surge of foam - because that is the foam line that will draw the interest of the trout. I must watch carefully before making the cast - I don’t want the trout to be off on a side mission chasing a real live morsel, I want to see that trout swimming into the current with eyes looking up. I must land the fly gently and watch it like a hawk as it floats into the feeding lane of my carefully observed trout buddy. If I see that fish do absolutely nothing as the fly floats past, I will think to myself, “Hmm, that was certainly in the window of vision of this fellow, why was it completely ignored? That floated slightly to the left of the fish, maybe the trout has limited vision out of the left eye, or maybe the trout is more right eye dominant…” To check my theory, I make another cast, but I first make sure that the fly has drifted completely through and beyond the trout’s feeding window before I lift it from the water. I don’t want to be hasty in my pick-up and risk spooking this trout before making cast number two. The next cast lands two feet to the right of the first cast, and this time the trout sees the fly. The dark slab slowly moves upwards, his body tilting towards the surface as he drifts vertically with the current, his nose just an inch below my dry. The inspection lasts an eternity, it seems, but my fly is ultimately rejected and I let it drift back to me quietly while contemplating the next move. 
Rejection is something that all trout anglers will deal with at one time or another - not the rejection of your non-fishing significant other as you pack your gear into the truck for another jaunt to the Deschutes - but the rejection of a trout (which might even be more heart-breaking than the rejection of a non-fishing significant other). How an angler handles trout rejection will largely determine whether that angler succeeds or fails on the water. Most anglers who watch their dry fly float over a feeding trout only to be swirled at and ignored, followed and ignored, or slapped at….most of those anglers will immediately pick that same fly up and cast it right back at the trout in an attempt to force-feed it. This is a fool’s errand! Don’t do this! The trout JUST told you that he is NOT eating that particular fly at the moment. That trout just told you, “You are on the right track here, but something is just not quite right and I do not want to put my lips on that offering.” You should, at this moment, bring your fly and leader back to your hand to make a change in your fishing approach. 
There are two things that you can change at this time, your tippet/leader diameter, or your fly selection. If you are fishing with 5X tippet on the Deschutes, you are typically fishing a small enough diameter material to fool 99% of the trout. Having a tippet gauge on hand can help you check the thickness of your nylon at the point where you are attaching it to the fly. Most anglers don’t have a tippet gauge, but most do have eyeballs and can compare the diameter of nylon left at the end of the leader to the diameter of the nylon on their spool of 5X tippet. If in doubt, if you think that you may have cut the 9 foot 5X leader back a couple of times and have gotten yourself back towards 4X territory, then it is easiest to just add a 3 foot piece of 5X tippet to the end of your leader using a blood knot or a triple surgeon’s knot. 
Once you know that the diameter of your nylon is fine enough, it is time to look at the fly selection. Your first selection was close. The trout was interested enough to rise up and follow it for quite a ways, but there was something just not right. You should not cast that exact same fly out to that trout - unless your first assessment of your tippet diameter revealed that you had the fly tied on with 3X or 4X diameter tippet - only in that case would I carefully cast that exact same fly into the feeding lane. Otherwise, I would change the fly to something of a similar size in a slightly different color or the same fly pattern in a smaller size. If the first dead caddis was tan, I might try olive. I might tie on a cripple PMD. I might choose a small, delicate crane fly pattern. If you hit the river with a limited fly selection, you won’t have as many options and that could cost you the fish. Should you find yourself in this situation, you will have to creatively modify one of the flies in your box to mold it into something that will fool a picky trout. It doesn’t have to be sophisticated, a bit of belly button lint tied onto a size 18 hook might be the magic fly for you on any given trout-fooling expedition. 
In the time that it takes me to change the fly, and maybe the tippet (if deemed necessary), the trout 12 feet upstream from my position will be feeding happily. Though he may have raised a trout eyebrow in suspicion when his inspection of my first fly resulted in a big fat rejection, he is now feeding on naturals and doesn’t seem to have a care in the world. With the next cast, with a slightly smaller and more mashed up caddis, I remember to cast it to drift more on his right side. This time, the fly passes inspection and I come tight with my trout buddy on the end of the line. After a quick battle, he slides into the rubber net and gives me the stink eye as I gently remove the barbless hook from his lip. Keeping him underwater, hovering in the net and pointing upstream, he is breathing and recovering as I admire his beauty. The native trout of the Deschutes are beautiful. I notice a small dot of white on his left eye. It might be a scar left over from being hooked as a little guy, before he became wise to the ways of the fisher people. It explains why the fly passed his left side without being noticed. It explains his right eye dominance. I file that into the memory banks and mark my internal human GPS to know on subsequent trips that Howard, as I have named him, who lives in this spot, happens to be right eye dominant. 
Sure, this is a story that came to me this morning, but it is based on many years spent guiding the Deschutes and many many encounters with trout over the years. To me, this story paints a picture of what every day in June can be like if you are willing to work hard and have patience. Dry fly fishing for trout was my specialty when guiding, and it remains my favorite pursuit whenever I can sneak away from the shop. I know that I could net a lot more fish using other techniques, but I don’t really care about racking numbers of trout. I care about the quality of the experience, the solving of a riddle, the ping of excitement I feel when seeing a trout rise to a dry, and the satisfaction of using every skill that I have learned over the years to successfully fool the largest and pickiest trout on the river. 
June is the month when the hunt for trout on the dry fly and the challenge of figuring out what fly pattern will fool them becomes a game to be played throughout the day on the water. Let the games begin!
Just a friendly reminder to campers that June 1 is the beginning of the summer and fall fire ban. This is a ban of all open flames on the Deschutes River that goes through to October 15. Campfires are, obviously, not allowed, nor are charcoal BBQ grills. Even the fancy propane- powered Fire pits that are tidy and popular amongst campers and #vanlife folks are illegal to use on the Deschutes during our dry summer months. There are already fires burning in central Oregon on the John Day River, and the tall grasses around Maupin are on their way to getting crispy. We don’t want to see the massive fires that burnt up Maupin and Tygh Valley last year. Please do your part to protect this beautiful area. If you see a camper with a fire, I have found that telling them the rules is not the best way to get them to extinguish the fire, doing that usually results in getting told off. My approach when I see an illegal camp fire is to let the campers know that the Sheriff is always on the lookout for smoke and the fine for a fire on the river can be thousands of dollars or more with jail time a possibility. Best to get the fire out before you are reported or before the rangers and sheriffs patrolling the river get a whiff of the smoke. That little friendly conversation usually results in campers scrambling to put the fire out.