Deschutes River Dry Fly Fishing

The Deschutes salmonfly and golden stone hatch has finally subsided.  When the hatch began two weeks earlier than normal, I imagined a crowd of anglers during the second week of June wondering, "where are all the bugs?"  The cool moist weather that has enveloped the Pacific Northwest for the last month of spring prolonged the salmonfly hatch through most of June.

NOTE:  The Deschutes ran high and off color for about a week beginning June 3.  By June 10 the river had receded to fishable levels.  We had outstanding fishing agin by June 12.

Our most recent three day float trip involved a mixed bag of stoneflies, caddis flies, and one absolute blanket hatch of PMD mayflies.  On day one we got soaked with a constant mist.  At times it flat out rained for hours.  Although our Simms jackets were zipped tight, we all had grins on our faces.  Just as predicted, 2:00 pm brought droves of PMD's and a few other mayflies to the surface.  We pulled the drift boats over to the first broad riffle we came to and spent the next hour and a half casting small to medium sized purple hazes and parachute adams to rising trout.

The next two days were a mix of stone and mayfly patterns.  Although there were very few adult stones on the water, trout were still looking for them.  Now, redsides are keying into smaller bugs in the size 14 to 16 range.  Exact imitation is not nearly as important as presentation and being in the right water!

Expect the best dry fly fishing of the year over the next month.

Chris