Deschutes River

November 5, 2023November 5, 2023

Fall on the Deschutes

Days are growing shorter and mornings colder. Leaves have shifted from green to gold and paint the ground amber around our picnic spot.

Fall in Central Oregon is a very short season . . . a brief few weeks between ‘Indian summer’ and first snow.

I’m still looking for Steelhead, so we’re making the trek to the Lower Deschutes.

This week we scouted different access spots, a task acknowledging Tip’s desire to wade, as well as the need to access good holding water.

Just upstream from where the White River empties turbid waters into the Deschutes was a nice stretch. Still no luck catching Steelhead.

However, the sun tempered a morning chill and we found a nice spot to brew a cup of coffee and enjoy our lunch.

Winter looms and we wake to a dusting of snow on the ground more than once.

The week ahead promises wet but mild weather. We’ll pack rain gear, break out the beanies and generally prepare for colder days.

However, this day was a perfect Fall day on the Lower Deschutes and we took advantage of that.

May 28, 2023May 27, 2023

Chasing Bugs

Just a brief post this week as we’ve been busy tracking Stoneflies.

Flyfishing is always about the aquatic insects. However, in late spring there is an increase in activity. As rivers come out of their winter hibernation, water warms and invertebrates start to move about.

This usually means dry fly fishing . . . that’s the best kind.

Plecoptera; stonefly (Pteronarcys californica: Salmon fly and Calineuria Californica; Golden Stones) have been burrowed in gravel on the river’s bottom for a few years.

When the water temperature gets around fifty degrees, these very large bugs crawl to the bank, shuck their aquatic shell and fly up into the bushes.

Come evening they fly back over the water and deposit their eggs, which sink to the rocky bottoms and the cycle starts over.

To a flyfisher this means those large fish who normally hold in deep pools are lured out into the shallows along the bank to feast on stoneflies. Thus, we are prowling river’s edge hoping for a hook-up.

May 21, 2023May 20, 2023

Return to Maupin

Spring shifts to summer quickly in Central Oregon. The days are already getting near eighty . . . not complaining, but rivers will get crowded soon enough.

In the spring the canyon is all shades of green

In a typical year the Deschutes has a salmon fly hatch at the end of spring. This is not a typical year and with the high run-off we’ll not see salmon flies for a few more weeks.

The other infamous Deschutes River event is the ‘rubber hatch’ which fills the river with rafts overloaded with happy boaters. This year it’s looking like that event will overtake the salmon fly hatch, at least downstream from Maupin.

Musical trills of redwinged blackbirds echo through the canyon

This week we made one more trip to Maupin, hoping to enjoy a relatively uncrowded river and a canyon just coming into summer foliage.

The day was sunny and warm, though we didn’t hit any hatch, the fishing was good.

Caught in mid-flight protecting his territory

As is usually the case, wildlife was active along this stretch of water. JQ managed to get some great images of Red-winged blackbird and a Heron who seems like a permanent resident of this stretch of river.

Male Merganser, the perfect shape to hunt fish

We’ll try to fish salmon flies a little further upstream in the next few weeks. In the mean time, we just set up the camp chairs and enjoy a rare quiet day on the Lower Deschutes.

March 26, 2023March 25, 2023

Maupin, Oregon

Spring officially started this week.

While we have no illusions this marks an end to snowfall, it does mean days are getting longer and warmer. When there is one of those warmer days we head to the river. We’ve made several trips to the Lower Deschutes this winter and have gotten more familar with Maupin.

Hwy 197 crosses the Deschutes River in Maupin

It’s a small town precariously occupying a hillside over looking the Deschutes River. It’s really returning to an old haunt and with a bit of exploring we discovered a stretch of river with easy access for all.

Highway 197 (Deschutes Ave.) winds it’s way in and back out of the canyon passing through the center of Maupin.

Where the highway crosses fifth street is the Deschutes Angler. . . . a flyfishing shop.

Among the hundreds of shops in river towns only a handful are must stop locations.

The adage “if they don’t have it you don’t need it” hallmarks these places. Deschutes Angler is on that list.

A fishing shop visit could replenish a tying bench or fishing pack, however mostly it’s a means to acquire current intel on local waters. Not all establishments are equal in these aspects, so when you find a good one it gets marked on the map.

The sun helps cut the chill but hasn’t been around enough to coax spring color back into the canyon walls.

A narrow road follows a section of the Lower Deschutes River

We need wadeable access so take advantage of pullouts along the Deschutes River Access Road.

Fishing alongside traffic comes with some limits. Tip is on constant duty, so if the road offers the shortest route between JQ and Jack he’ll be on it.

Fortunately he is a good listener.

The spot we settled into this winter offers lots of dog friendly access to the river. There’s a wide swath of river silt and grass cut with jagged outcropping of lava rock.

Hunting Red Band Trout on the Deschutes River

The scattering of trees and willow bushes at river’s edge seem bare from the road. Ducking under a branch to gain access to a new pool I notice bud sites and the beginnings of summer foliage.

Won’t be long before the banks are lined with fisherman and the water is full of rafters. By then other waters will become our regular haunt.

February 5, 2023February 7, 2023

A day trip to Maupin

Early morning light on the Lower Deschutes River

January brought warmer days which cleared off the roads. When that happens we tend to venture out at greater distance.

Maupin and the Lower Deschutes River is this type of destination.

Winter fishing presents some problems, but it’s not impossible … just more fiddley.

I’m not adept at nymph fishing. It’s not the rig, tight-line or indicator that’s a problem. Patterns fished subsurface, any fashion, are uncharted water.

However, since moving to Central Oregon I’ve put a lot more effort into this type of fishing.

Drifting a dropper rig along the edge of a riffle.

The lower section of the Deschutes is a wide stream in a narrow canyon. Taking off from the northern edge of Maupin, the Deschutes River Road hugs the eastern edge of the river for thirty miles, offering perfect fishing access.

Downstream you can see the road ahead, cut into the hill side.

From November to April you can often have a stretch of this river all to yourself and it’s easy to drive until an open spot is found.

Taking a break at the confluence of the White River and Deschutes.

Winter this side of the Cascades presents frequent mild sun drenched days if you have an open schedule. Our schedule may not be open as much as it’s flexible.

This week’s trip was in hopes of finding a particular Baetis hatch. Blue Wing Olives, or BWO’s to the locals, is a small grayish winged Mayfly that shows up numerous times a year in Western Waters.

There has been a reliable hatch coming off the Deschutes mid to late January.

The draw of the Deschutes is that even if you don’t hit a hatch there are lots of other patterns that will catch fish. I know the ‘what’ now I’m working on the ‘how’. A week ago I hooked a very nice Rainbow on a Stonefly nymph, while this week’s trip drew a blank.

It’s a pretty long road trip but if the weather is decent there are lots of interesting pieces of nature . . . and time on the river is reward.