Weekend Forecast

It took a while, but the Deschutes has finally droppped back into a normal(ish) flow for this time of year. Those of you who came out to fish last weekend and during the week found out that the river was fishing well, despite the higher than normal water. The key thing is that the river cleaned up fairly quickly and was fishable long before it dropped back down into normal winter flows. 

The river is a bit more green than I like it, but that probably means that the water is 100% surface water off the top of the reservoir. This water is full of algae and has a high nutrient load, and it also tends to be significantly warmer than water released from the bottom of the reservoir. Here is a photo that shows the green tint but also shows that it is clear despite the overall green-ness.

With the water being high, a lot of anglers discovered that it isn't necessary to wade into the water in order to catch trout. There were very few places where an angler COULD wade into the water last week when it was so high, and this forced several people to approach the water differently. When they fished those places that they would have normally waded through, they were shocked and amazed to hook 15-16 inch trout in only a few inches of water. 

The weather forecast for today shows a chance of rain, but tomorrow looks to be sunny all day and a little bit breezy. Today - no wind and overcast will bring a good Blue Winged Olive hatch. We have also been seeing some strong caddis hatches lately - size 14, brown.

Though it is March, the namesake March Brown mayfly hatch is not something we usually see until April. The scientific name of this mayfly is Rithrogena morrisoni and it is unique amongst mayflies in the Deschutes in the way it emerges. The nymph sheds everything on the bottom of the river and swims to the surface with wings trailing in the water as it goes. Soft hackles are an important pattern to have in your fly box to imitate this hatch. Here is a photo of the dun - notice the extra tall wings which are heavily speckled or mottled. Phot courtesy of Deschutes River Alliance board member Rick Hafele.

As I was driving up the access road to film a little snip for our Instagram this morning, I saw two big birds perched on the osprey nest platform on the left hand side of the road. I thought to myself, "Oh, the pair of ospreys is back for the summer!" Then, as I got closer, I realized they were Bald Eagles - and they were really working hard on a nice big nest. The female was carrying big sticks back to the nest while the male stood by observing - not helping much.