B.C.'s Corner

    After a number of years and countless hours casting flies to the emerald green waters of The Deschutes in search of its Steelhead, I have determined that there are two factors that far outweigh all others in importance to consistent angling success. They are location and time of day. Of course there are no guarantees in Steelheading. However, if you can place yourself in a productive run at the magical hours of first and last light, your chances of raising a fish to the fly are greatly enhanced.

    The Deschutes Steelhead readily rise to the standard Steelhead fly patterns such as Skunks, Brad’s Brat, and Purple Peril to name just a few. Whether it is juvenile imprinting or territorial aggression, these fish will rise like their Redside cousin to the neatly swung wet fly tethered to the floating line.

    My favorite runs in August and September for fly fishing are located in the unroaded section of the lower river between Beavertail campground and Rattlesnake rapids near the mouth. Most are 4 to 8 feet deep with submerged fingers of basalt dominating the bottoms features. These runs are no secret among the rivers top guides, so a timely arrival is key in securing the location. Setting up camp assures solitary fishing during the evening and morning hours.

    We arrived at one of these runs around 2:00 PM, set the camp and waited in the shade of a nearby alder tree. As the canyons shade covered the water, I stepped into the run at my standard location, well above the sweet spot that had in previous years produced the majority of fish. As I moved down river with every cast, the finger of basalt became more familiar beneath my feet. The small depression in the otherwise flat basalt meant I had arrived at the sweet spot in the run. I stripped off 60 feet of line and cast it to the small patch of chop, near the head of a glassy section of water. The mirror smooth surface of the water hid several conflicting currents, which required close attention to the drift. Methodically, I responded to the lead of the rivers current, mend, swing, mend again, then gently with the rod tip, led the fly through to the bank.

    It felt like a small trout nipping at my fly. A touch so light I could dismiss it as nothing of importance. I cast again and replayed the drift of the fly as before. As the belly formed for the last of the drift, I saw a boil near the end of my line and set the hook. The instincts from dry fly fishing for trout has no place in Steelheading and the fish was gone. I knew my error was lifting the rod on the rise. The fish would not come again to this fly. I stripped in the line careful not to change its length or my location in the run. Opening my fly box, I noticed a fly of my own design, a size smaller and slimmer than the previous fully dressed purple peril. The first cast with the new fly produced three rises. I felt nothing on the first two, however the third rise produced a stopping of the fly line. I waited for the steady pull of the fish turning back to its lair, then came my strike and the fish was on! Two more fish rose and were hooked to the new fly. After each fish was played out and released, I moved back up river until feeling the depression in the basalt. Only then would I cast to the small patch of choppy water. I fished until the evenings magenta glare had left the water nothing more than a black slate. The evening sky still held enough light to cast faint shadows in the sage brush as I walked back to camp.

    On returning to camp I was greeted with familiar voices and the smell of sautéed garlic. It felt good to remove my waders and recount to my friends the evenings adventures. As we sat down to dinner we toasted the company, the river and its magnificent fish. We were glad some things on The Deschutes had not changed.

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Trout Fishing on The Deschutes River

   As the fishing season came to a winter hiatus, I looked back on the many wonderful people and the moments we shared on the river. The Deschutes is a tremendous fishery that tests the anglers skill and patience. The difficult wading and casting is unmatched by any other blue ribbon fishery. Fortunately, The Deschutes regularly rewards those that are persistent in their quest for a quality fishing experience. For many of you, the rewards came in the form of good numbers of rising trout, favorable weather, good company and even Steelhead to the surface fly.

    I have compiled a bit of information from this season’s log book and I hope it will bring back good memories as well as help in fly selection and trip planning.

TROUT

    The trout season was spectacular in 1997 and The Deschutes produced solid, timely hatches for most of the season. There were many sessions of truly classic dry fly fishing. I was rewarded, after a trip was canceled in mid-June, with two incredible hours of magical surface action to a #14 Royal Wulff. The white wings of this attractor showed brilliantly against the waters evening magenta glow. It seemed every drift was interrupted by a flash of green and crimson stealing the fly from the surface.

    The latter part of JUNE produced the best fishing of the month. The tail end of the Stonefly hatch gave way to #14 and #16 yellow Mayflies. During the midday hours, pods of fish were found feeding on hatches of these delectable Mayflies. The fish continued, through the end of the month, to take darker colored stimulators in the mornings and evenings.

    Warren Davis from New Jersey had a most memorable session on June 13. Warren took up a casting station around 1:00 p.m. and caught more than a dozen nice trout from one shoreline feeding lane. He rotated his offerings from dry flies to emergers to bead head soft hackle, then back to dries for two hours. The fish would get wise to a particular pattern after several were hooked, so he’d change and promptly hook up again. I observed from my spotting location, fish moving in from deeper water as feeding spots opened up from fish caught and released. I have never seen anything like it before or since.

    JULY fished well most of the month. Sight fishing in the micro eddies was the ticket to successful dry fly fishing. Some good numbers of rising trout in the evenings rounded out the days of fishing. Caddis dries in yellow, cinnamon and olive in #14 and #16 fished in the cooler a.m. and p.m. hours produced best. The big eddies held the largest trout, although by mid July the fish were wary to the errant cast of careless approach.

    Bill Wall from Portland, Oregon had the opportunity to look down on an eddy holding a dozen large fish. He made a great cast in tight quarters over the spooky fish, to land a nice 18 inch redside. It was Bill’s first, and definitely not his last big trout on a fly.

    AUGUST demanded smaller flies to catch the bigger trout. Tan, yellow and olive comparaduns and Elk Hair Caddis in #18 rose the selective trout occupying the eddies and foam lines. Larger #14 cinnamon Caddis patterns produced consistently along the grass tufts in the afternoons and evenings all month.

    In SEPTEMBER the BWO’s began hatching. This hatch brought the Trout into the larger eddies to dine aggressively on these prolific Mayflies. I was tying a dozen #16 and #18 olive as well as tan comparaduns for every trip. Larger wings on these patterns helped a little in seeing the fly disappear in the subtle rise of the Trout.

    Marilyn Everett from Chico, California was on fire with the cinnamon Caddis on September 2. Marilyn is an excellent caster and landed a bakers dozen of 14 inch and better trout. She was off on her own most of the day stalking the productive water. Every time her husband and I looked over she was releasing another nice Redside.

    OCTOBER hatch fishing really heated up as the BWO’s came off midday in tremendous numbers. The best hatch fishing of the season came on October 21-23 on a trip with Rick Reid from Redmond, Washington. We found fish rising from early morning to late evening in the eddies as well as current seams within riffles. The #16 and #18 olive comparaduns, parachute and Quill Gordon patterns produced best. The comparadun is far more difficult to see for the angler in October’s low light conditions. The big fish over 16 inches however, definitely preferred it over more visible hackled patterns like the Quill Gordon.

    The BWO’s continued to hatch through NOVEMBER and DECEMBER. The hatches were shorter and more isolated, but fish could be found rising in foam lines within the eddies from 11:00 a.m.- 3:00 p.m. virtually every day just minutes from Maupin.

Thank you all for your patronage and happy angling in 1998.

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Deschutes River Hatches

About your guide: Bill Cimock is a professional guide with 10 years experience on the Deschutes River. Bill is an accomplished fly casting instructor and author of a book on the subject of fly fishing the Deschutes. He loves presenting the dry fly to feeding Trout and incorporates sight fishing into his daily routine. His favorite methods for catching Trout on the Deschutes include: sight fishing, dry flies, dead drifting bead heads and large nymphs.


Important hatches:

May- Early season spring Trout; Fair/good fishing, using large nymphs in sizes #2-#10.

May 15 to May 30 - Good fishing, stone fly hatch on lower river using large dry flies in sizes #2-#8 and large nymphs and bead heads in sizes #8-#14.

June- Very good fishing as the stone fly hatch is in full swing. Using salmon and stone fly drys, sizes #2-#12.

June 15 to 30- PMD mayflies start showing in good nunbers. Drys in sizes #16-#18, nymphs in sizes #18-#20.

July- Caddis flies begin to dominate the Trouts diet. Drys and nymphs in sizes #12-#18

August through September- Caddis flies dominate the scene with a few BWO's showing in late September.

October- Blue Wing Olive drys and nymphs is all you need. Sizes #16-#20.

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