Lower Deschutes Dog Days
July 25, 2017
The proper Dog Days of Summer are finally upon us. These are long, hot, caddis-filled days on the big river. The fishing can be really tough. The fish are there and the bugs cover everything and yet get a hookup can take a lot of effort. As much as we want to be knee-deep wet wading in the riffles, often times the best chance for a fish is working the banks with great stealth, hunting for cruising fish in the eddies. Some of these fish are breathtakingly large and just as spooky. My favorite technique over these fish is a dry-dropper, with a Juju Baetis under an X-Caddis or Foam-Bodied Caddis. The dropper is a #18, the dry a #16. And I put the dropper on 5 or 6X Fluoro. We’ve hooked some massive fish on this rig over the last week.