It is an excellent time of year to be on the Lower Deschutes. Trout fishing has been pretty awesome and the chance of finding a Steelhead on the end of the line provides an underlying sense of excitement and anticipation through each day. Everyone here at the shop was lucky enough to take a few days to float the camp stretch over the weekend, the trout fishing was great and we managed to find a few hatchery Steelhead. Several of the fish came on nymph rigs but we also found a decent number that were willing to grab a swung fly. Nymphing is the primary way to find trout right now, and there aren’t many bugs out other than the occasional October Caddis which peaked a couple of weeks ago. We did find a couple of fish willing to come up take a big Clarks Stone while we were down there, but most of our fish came on big Stonefly nymphs and small-medium Mayfly patterns. The day stretch has been fishing excellent as well and similar tactics should provide for consistent action and quality fish.
When swinging flies we found our success on small Hoh Bo spey and Intruder style flies fished on a light sink tip, but fish are still being caught on a dry line and traditional flies. This time of year we tend to catch decent numbers of trout and some awfully nice ones at that with the bigger, darker, marabou flies.
Suggested Dries: Purple Haze #14-18, Parachute Adams #14-18, Clarks Stone #8-10, Orange Chubby Chernobyl #8-10, Henry’s Fork Caddis #16-18, X Caddis #16-18, Cutters Caddis #16-18
Suggested Nymphs: Black or Brown Jimmy Legs #8-12, Deep October Pupa #8-10, Guide’s Choice Hare’s Ear #14-18, Jigged Tungsten Hare’s Ear #14-16, BH Real Hare’s Ear #14-18, Red Two Bit Hooker #14-18, Red Pheasant Tail #14-18, CDC Jigged Pheasant Tail #14-16, Olive Micro Mayfly #16-18