Home Forums Fishing Flyfishing Oregon's Deschutes River Steelhead Report.

Just spent 6 days swinging flies for steelhead. Slow is an understatement. Had about 8 known passes at my flies (all in the AM). Four hooked up, and I landed two (1 native and 1 hatchery about 26 inches each). Two of the other 4 passes made contact and the remaining two were swirls that missed the flies. Did catch a couple small mouth bass in the evening hours, but that is a most undesirable thing on the Deschutes. Just looked at the Columbia dam counts and the steelhead run is doing about 18% of the most recent 10-year average. That being, it will be a tough season throughout the Columbia system this fall.

Most other anglers we encountered had reports like: "my wife’s grandmother’s sister knows a mechanic whose son met a guy whose kid had heard that one had been seen just above Moody Rapids. Saw one guy hooked up on the way out, but he lost the fish about the same time I offered to cut it off for him as we floated past. About 50% of the premium campsites were vacant on the river, so fishing pressure is light.

Hope things pick up in the coming years, as this has been one of my annual passions.

The Cascade Locks (Eagle Creek) fire had the area heavily smoked up for 4 of our 6 days on the river. Had we kept anything, one could have simply hung it in a tree to smoke and dry.

Cookie chased bighorn with her cameras, but did not score any publishable images of rams.

Our only other excitement was the taking of a deer by a mountain lion a couple hundred yards from camp. The cat returned and finished things up the following night, but we never actually got eyes on it. Should have taken a trail cam along.

Good luck to those of you that do get with it, and do file a report.

Even if you do much better than I,

About 20 years ago my brother was killing steelhead on the Hood using spawn sacks. Not my cup of tea. I came up and threw salmon flies with my 9 1/2 ' 7 wt. IMX and got skunked. Switched to large stonefly nymphs with lead on the leader to get them down. Caught a half dozen redhorse suckers and gave up in disgust. Congratulations on your technique and your fish. Better than spending 6 Grand at the Silver Hilton for the same result. Way to go!

Hiked down to the lower Deshutes about 1980 as I recall through that hot loamy wheat land. Threw spinners at them caught a few came back up the canyon at dusk, rattlesnake hit my leg,had good reflex,s back then! as I crossed the RR tracks.
They like to lay along side the tracks for the heat.

Hate snakes nice about AK is the lack of them, at least you can see the bears!

kk Alaska:
Yes. Did not mention it, as rattlers are a typical happening in that environment. Did one in on the trip about 4 ft from the door of my brother's tent the next to last evening. Had on waders and boots, so it got the heel treatment. Normally I leave them alone, but when they are underfoot in camp they don't get a pass.

Limapapa: Back to the fish - With more normal run numbers, one can get into 3 or 4 fish each morning and evening session. Seem to readily come to flies when the sun's off the river. Been doing that water for about 30+ seasons now, and can often call strikes within 1 or two casts as one works a run with flies. There are very specific places where they like to hold. Still a great place to be. I think the draw for my eastern brother is that he went for 6 days without a cell phone call.

I was wearing tennis shoes no socks and cutoffs! Young and dumb and it was hot! Buzz Bomb glanced off the side of my leg as I jumped.

Was running water plant at Warm Springs on the Resv. at the time. Used to fish Redsides a lot, lots of fun! Kurt

My family has one of the old Buffalo ranch,s in Burns, grow clean mint roots now & Alfala.