Deschutes Fishing Report 04/29/19: Guide Edition

“EURO” nymphing

 I missed the upper Deschutes opener on Monday (who has a trout opener on a Monday?).  Friday, I went up to Warm Springs and did the day stretch. The weather was nice but the wind was nuking down stream all day. The river is high with runoff and will probably stay that way until summer, that’s great news for fish.  Spring fishing is a mid-day show for fishing dry flies, and in our case it was a no show.  A stiff east wind all day and high pressure usually means no bugs.  I saw exactly two adult insects all day, and saw a couple fish eat on the surface but I give the river a D+ for dry fly fishing yesterday.

The fishing was as good as I have ever seen for this time of year. Despite a pretty full parking lot at Warm Springs boat ramp we found the river fairly open and the fish very willing.  When rivers run high and fast most fish will be sitting in the softer water, and that’s where we found them…a lot of them.

I spent the day “euro” nymphing, and my partner did the American thing…results, six in one half dozen in the other, but had it not been so windy I believe the “euro” rig would reign supreme.  A couple takeaways;  The fish are on the stonefly nymphs HARD!  We caught a few fish on smaller bead head nymphs but for the most part they weren’t interested.  The most successful presentation was tight line nymphing (with or without a bobber).  Lastly, the hatchery steelhead smolt abound, if you get into them it’s best to move along.

We found a bunch of nice bright healthy fat fish 12-15 inches, and a half dozen or so fish 15-18.  Pre-salmon fly hatch trout fishing can be some of the best of the year but make no mistake the big bugs will be around the first week of May in the lower river and that will change everything.  Salmon Flies and Golden Stones should be above Maupin by Mid-may and then they’ll work their way upriver with the water temps.  I expect stone fly good dry fly fishing into June this year.

We’ve got open dates this week and we’re pretty well booked through May, with a day here and there.


Sam Sickles
(541) 400-0855
www.steelheadoutfitters.com