Deschutes River Fly Fishing Report
The steelhead season is now in full swing. Like most years around this
time, the White River is acting up and is kicking mud into the
Deschutes. When it does this, some days it kicks so much mud the
Deschutes is un-fishable. Other days it does nothing more than put a
little extra color in the Deschutes. Remember if you can see two feet in
the river, the fish can see five or six feet. The Deschutes doesn’t
have to be crystal clear to catch fish. Sometimes a bit of color is a
good thing. With the days getting shorter and the nights getting cooler,
the White River should become less and less of a problem. If you happen
to show up on the Deschutes ready to chase steelhead and the river is
muddier than you like, don’t worry; there is over 13 miles of fishable
water up river that you can access by car or boat that has plenty of
steelhead in it. Before you know it, there will be enough steelhead in
the entire Deschutes River to start targeting them any and every square
inch you want.
If trout is more your thing, fishing has been good of late. The great thing about fishing for trout right now is that you will pretty much have the river to yourself. There are still some smaller caddis and a few PMD’s buzzing around. But before you know it, October Caddis will be showing up and this will get some of the trout focusing on some bigger bugs. Generally the best times to hit the river this time of season is earlier in the morning until about noon or from 5 pm until dark. If you are wanting to fish dries, look in back eddies and slow moving banks. If you enjoy fishing nymphs, head for any riffle that catches your eye. The great thing about nymphing this time of season is there’s always trout in the riffles and you also have a chance of hooking a steelhead.
Water levels on the Deschutes are looking great.
Tight Lines
Cory
Deschutes River Anglers
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