Fly Fishing the Deschutes River June 19, 2012

Fly fishing for wild rainbows is good right now on the Lower Deschutes... what else did you expect?  The salmonfly and golden stonefly hatch is wrapping up, but trout are still munching the big dry flies upstream from Maupin.  The trout have been keyed into the stoneflies for over a month, so it is no surprise they are still looking for them after they're gone.  The fish notice when the bugs thin out, and won't hesitate to grab that last big meal before the caddis fly hatch really takes off.

Yellow sallies, PMD's, and caddis are all hatching now, and making up most of the trout's diet.  A size 14 elk hair or x-caddis is a great searching pattern.  Have some purple para wulffs handy also... a size 12 is a great rough water dry fly that floats high and is easy to see.  Cream or yellow sparkle duns make great PMD imitations, and the purple haze is good too (all size 16).  Look for the PMD hatch shortly after noon in backeddies and riffles that have weed beds close by.

On another subject, I just got married Saturday!

Thanks for reading,

Chris