Salmonfly Aftermath

Spring is rolling into summer quickly on the Lower Deschutes River and we are feeling the HEAT in Maupin right now.  We are several weeks ahead of schedule on the bug program.  The salmonflies and golden stones have come and gone.  We caught our first trout on stones down stream from Maupin (but above Sherar's) at the end of April.  Our first trout on salmonflies from Warm Springs to Trout Creek came on May 3!  This year's hatch was good despite the usual atomic bomb of fishing pressure that goes off.

With the recent blast of heat the caddis have made their presence known to the trout.  Yellow Sallies have been on the menu as well.  We have been spending our guide days on all parts of the river from Warm Springs to the mouth, hunting for happy trout and the perfect hatch.  The relative slack in crowds combined with a huge biomass of food makes for a pleasant day of solitude and plenty of big fish sight casting opportunities.

If these walls could talk...

A stunning trout we found hammering caddis in some slack water under a tree... we put in some blood sweat and tears for this fish!

Don O'Brien laying out some beautiful presentations to a fussy trout feeding in the afternoon shade of an alder tree.  We had no idea how big this trout was...

Runaway redside!  Don chased this fish down river through the boulders and riffles.  This beast had raw line snapping strength.  A second wind late in round five left Don with a snapped tippet and heavy hearty.

Small creek angler Alex Maxson was right at home bow casting and dapping under trees on the Deschutes, illustrating my point of fishing the stream within the river.

For the next month we will be focused purely on trout fishing the Deschutes.  There are a few days open late in June and early July if you feel the itch to hunt trout with us (or is that poison ivy?!).  Life is good on the Deschutes... summer time and the living is easy!

Sincerely,

Chris